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NHL DRAFTJune 27, 2014Jake VirtanenPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA JAKE VIRTANEN: It's always a dream come true for a hometown kid to get picked, and I'm looking at it, it's pretty surreal for me. I'm still trying to soak it in, and it's an amazing feeling. Q. Walk us through today, your emotions. JAKE VIRTANEN: Yeah, I kind of just sat at the hotel just sweating all day, but it came to me, and it really hit me now, and it's pretty crazy to get drafted by Vancouver. It's always a dream for me. Being picked the whole day was pretty crazy, and just trying to kill time until right now, so it's an amazing feeling. Q. Talk about what the Calgary Hitmen has meant for your development? JAKE VIRTANEN: Yeah, it's really big. Calgary has been a great development program for me and being drafted there, and I knew it's a great place to play, and playing in the Saddledome, I got the experience of playing in an NHL rink at a young age, so that really helped me, and so far it's really helped me develop as a player. They take time out of their day to always make us better players, so it's really good. Q. How big a Canucks fan were you growing up? Did you have a favorite player that you idolized? JAKE VIRTANEN: Yeah, like I said earlier, growing up, Markus Naslund was always my favorite player. I idolize him still. He was an amazing player, and when the team needed him, he was always there to make the team better and make his teammates better around him. He did a great job of that, and he was always a guy to look at at a young age and all the kids looked at at a young age to look up to, so him for sure. Q. It's been a while since the Canucks have picked a local kid in the draft. That comes with big expectations. How much do you look forward to the challenge of playing in the spotlight in your own backyard? JAKE VIRTANEN: It's amazing. I'm kind of looking at it like it's playing at my home barn, and growing up and watching them play, and I'm really excited to play in front of my friends and family. I've lived in Langley and Abbotsford both, so I know my friends are going to be excited, so I'm really looking forward to it. Q. As your fan what's your reaction to the Ryan Kesler trade earlier? JAKE VIRTANEN: Yeah, you know, I didn't really know until not very long ago about it, but I heard about it, and I just tried to shake it off and try not to worry about it. I know that Vancouver is picking us six, and it's a big step for me. I think it's a little stepping‑stone for me to just get drafted, and there's still more to come and there's still lots of stuff to do to make the NHL. I'm really looking forward to improving and trying to make the step to the NHL. Q. Were you expecting this point? Were you thinking you would go a little later? Were you caught off guard? JAKE VIRTANEN: I wasn't too caught off guard. I think Vancouver, I had a pretty good interview with them at the combine and they were impressed by how I played during the year. They were really friendly people, and I know Vancouver is a great place to play. I knew with the whole shoulder issue that there could have been controversy of me dropping spots or something. But I think with technology nowadays, I don't think that's a big deal. Q. At what point did you start to think, it might actually happen, probably when you were 10 years old you wanted to play for the Canucks. At what point did you think it might happen? JAKE VIRTANEN: You know, growing up, it was around probably the age of 12 that I knew that I had a little bit of skill, but around bantam I knew that I was kind of a high‑end player, and growing up in the lower mainland I have an NHL team and an AHL team right there so I got to experience a lot of hockey. We're kind of a hockey town there. It's surreal right now. I'm pretty much speechless. I won't be able to say too much more. But it's an amazing honor to be drafted by Vancouver. Q. How much did you get out of going to watch the Vancouver giants? JAKE VIRTANEN: Yeah, growing up I watched more Giants games than I did Canucks games. But growing up and watching the Giants, Milan Lucic and Evander Kane, those were big name guys on their teams, and they made a big impact right away, and I always had told my dad that I wanted to play in the Western Hockey League since I was a young kid watching those guys play, and my dream came true in that sensation, and now it's came true again. It's pretty crazy right now. Q. How did you sleep last night? JAKE VIRTANEN: Not very good. You know, I was tossing and turning throughout the night, and my brother woke me up, and I was like, already? This is pretty early. It's pretty crazy. I think not sleeping is kind of worth it right now, and it's an amazing feeling. Q. What's your recovery schedule like? JAKE VIRTANEN: I think around‑‑ I'm not sure exactly when the contact will be able to start, but I'm really aiming for mid‑October. I think that's when I'll be ready, and I want to be‑‑ if it's not mid‑October, I think I just want to be 100 percent healthy. I think that's the goal. I'm not going to rush anything, and I just want to be healthy and be able to play my best game. Q. Talk about the technology. What did they tell you about what you can expect? JAKE VIRTANEN: Yeah, the recovery, the whole thing, it's pretty simple. It's just bands and simple things just to make it stronger. There's nothing too much, but with the technology nowadays, like I said, it's just the whole‑‑ we have great doctors, and where I got my surgery was in Vancouver. I had a great doctor do the surgery, and it's pretty special to be drafted by Vancouver and doing the whole surgery there. It's crazy. Q. People have talked about your skating and how strong you are at 18, and those are generally the two biggest obstacles for guys who want to play in the NHL. Do you think you might be two or three years, that you might play sooner? JAKE VIRTANEN: Yeah, right now I think if the shoulder was ready, I think I'd for surely be NHL ready. I think my size and my speed and shot is a pretty good combination. There's still room to improve, like I said plenty of times before. But I think with the coaching staff in Vancouver, I know they're great. It's pretty crazy right now, the whole feeling. I think if I just keep improving, I think I'll be NHL ready for sure. Q. How much interaction have you had with ownership here? JAKE VIRTANEN: Yeah, me and Hunter actually had been talking this week, and he just had said good luck, and he's a nice guy to talk to. He was just trying to kind of break the ice. It's pretty cool, I know Hunter is a great player. He didn't play too much here because he was injured, as well, but the games we did play, he's a great player, and he had a strong couple years there when he was in Medicine Hat there, and he's a skilled player and he's definitely a big impact on Medicine Hat, and he will be for Vancouver, as well. Q. He's been going through a rehab himself. Have you asked him about the mental side of that, getting through it? JAKE VIRTANEN: Yeah, and I haven't really asked him about it too much, but I know my brother went to the same situation as me, and he gave me a lot of advice, and it was just to just stay positive and stay focused and always just try to get better all the time and be healthy, so I think that was the main thing. Q. How do you respond to the assist thing? JAKE VIRTANEN: You know, I don't worry about it too much. I think this year on Calgary we had a lot of skilled playmakers on our team and guys who could make plays. We acquired some guys that could make plays such as Adam Tambellini and we had Greg Chase and guys who could make plays, and I think my team and my coach really relied on me to shoot the puck this year from pretty much anywhere in the zone and I feel like I did a good job of that this year, and I think if I can kind of even that whole assist‑goal thing out, I think that would be a good improvement, and I'm really looking forward to doing that, as well. Q. (Inaudible). JAKE VIRTANEN: Yeah, it kind of just depends on how the coach uses me, like you said. It kind of just depends on how they do it. I think playing in Calgary, going in as a young kid, you had to earn your ice. That was a big thing in Calgary. I didn't get just chucked out there on the first power play. I had to earn my ice and earn my power play. So going up there, it's pretty crazy. Q. Did you feel like that puts you maybe on not equal balance with everyone else, being so young? JAKE VIRTANEN: You know, I don't think so. I think I develop pretty easy. I think if I play a certain state, I think obviously going into midget and obviously adapting to that and then the Western League I think I did a great job of adapting to it. I think overall I think I'll have a great time adapting to the NHL, and I'm really looking forward to it. Q. What's your take on the pressure? Obviously there's going to be more attention on you being the highest pick they've had since '99. How do you think that you're prepared to deal with that? JAKE VIRTANEN: Yeah, I think I play pretty well under pressure. I play strong and play hard all the time. I don't think that's too big of a deal. I like playing in front of my friends and family. I like to kind of impress them a little bit and kind of put on a show for them. I love having fun with my friends and family. I know they're really ecstatic about it, and same with me, and it's an amazing feeling. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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