This week, the Straight will analyze what might be done with each of the Vancouver Canucks’ five restricted free agents. In the final instalment, we look at Virtanen’s fate.

At the start of the 2016-17 season, you’d be hard pressed to find a Vancouver Canuck more polarizing to the majority of the team’s fanbase than Jake Virtanen.

The power forward, drafted sixth overall in 2014 was either a massive bust or still had potential, depending on whom you were talking to.

After all, Virtanen was banished to the depths of Utica in the American Hockey League for much of that year.

This past season was supposed to be the campaign that changed everything for the youngster. If he didn’t make the team, his career was in jeopardy, and if he didn’t play in the team’s top six, he was a disappointment.

In the end, he wasn’t a top six forward for most of the campaign, but it’s hard to regard his season as a disappoint, particularly the second half.

That’s when Virtanen started to gain the respect of coach Travis Green, as he saw ice time with Bo Horvat and Brendan Leipsic after Brock Boeser’s injury. He’s likely the fastest player on the team and at times looked like one of Vancouver’s most dangerous forwards.

He also started throwing his 6’1, 229-pound frame around and though his point production wasn’t much to write home about (10 goals and 10 assists in 75 games), Travis Green remarked that the Abbotsford native had “turned a corner”. It was hard to disagree with him.

What the player will want:

Though Virtanen is improving, he’s still coming into what is basically his third year in the league and remains an unproven player. Virtanen and his agent will try to grab a one-year deal worth around $1.5 million a season, but they don’t have a ton of negotiating power, even if he is one of the team’s more promising forwards.

What the team will offer:

A modest increase on his current $894, 167 cap hit, maybe a clean $1 million on a two-year deal while they evaluate what’s next for the young forward and where he truly fits in on the team. 

Verdict:

We can see the two sides agreeing on something like $1.3 million over two years, and extending him before the contract runs his course if Virtanen keeps improving. If he doesn’t, the Canucks aren’t breaking the bank too much on a player who hasn’t fully shown he can stick around as a consistent producer in the NHL yet.

Follow @ncaddell on Twitter

Previous RFAs:Sven Baertschi, Markus Granlund, Derrick Pouliot, Troy Stecher