Photo Credit: @vancanucks

After months of debates, second looks, murders and snipes, the Vancouver Canucks have made their decisions on Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann; they’ll both be sticking with the team for the long haul. 

The two had the news broken to them using a tough love method. Willie Desjardins played a worst-of reel in the video room, showing all the rookie mistakes they’ve made to date with no stoppage of criticism. “All the guys were yelling at us” said Virtanen. “[Alex Burrows] was giving it to us good.” McCann, on the other hand, said that he was on the verge of tears, fearing the worst. “It was baaaaad,” chimed in goaltender Jacob Markstrom, with a laugh. “They were getting carved. I was like, ‘they are so gone'”.

In the end, it was Bo Horvat who stood up to give them the good news. Horvat, of course, had the same sort of initiation ceremony last season:

Now that the dust has settled, it’s time for the Canucks to figure out how to best utilize their two youngest forwards. To date, the pair have the lowest average ice time per game on the team, even lower than fellow youngsters Brendan Gaunce and Sven Baertschi. McCann has averaged 10:45, while Virtanen has averaged just 9:59.

The team likely didn’t have to cherry pick for holes in their games, either. McCann leads the Canucks in goals with five in nine games, but is riding on a sky-high shooting percentage of 31.3% and has the second lowest relative possession numbers on the team. Virtanen hasn’t been particularly mindblowing in this regard either and has picked up just two points in eight games.

But at the same time, that’s okay; these are a pair of teenagers that we’re talking about, and it’s very early in their season and their professional careers. It would be tough to expect them to dominate right from the start. From here, it’s up to coach Desjardins to find them their best opportunities for success; even if giving them the extra minutes and tough situations makes the team a little worse in the short-term, it’ll be to the long-term benefit of the organization.