Faksa

I do the deal for Virtanen & a 2nd. The additional pieces & prospects are a nice bonus to throw in for Dallas. A little weary about whether Virtanen is able to find his offensive spark in Bowness offensive black hole of a system, but he's young enough that he could find that spark under a new coach when Bowness is out of Dallas (hopefully after this season).

I never considered Faksa as a potential target. He fits in well on first glance, filling an organizational need and being right in line with our core in terms of age. Add in that he's got term left on a good deal and it looks like a great get.

I want to know a bit more about him though. His offensive numbers are solid for 25-30 points. Is he used on PP2? I'm fairly certain I remember him being on the PK. What type of players does he fit well with?

I'm fairly certain that if Virtanen get's away from Vancouver (his hometown) and all the distractions and has support in staying committed, he'll be a 20 goal 40 point force.

Is he on the 2PP unit? Yes. Should he be? Probably not. He's alright if you're dealing with injuries (like Dallas is), but he's not a fantastic shot, so he's really relegated to parking in front of the crease & hoping that the puck deflects off of his big body & into the net. He'll win you faceoffs, which is a large reason Dallas throws him out on the PP, but outside of that you'd probably be better off going with a better offensive threat on the Power Play.

He's good for 10-15 goals a year & about 30 points as well, and that's really due to him have the size and physicality to get into the dirty areas in order to create chances for him and his linemates. Like on the PP, 80% of his goals come from the dirty areas in front of the net, which is perfect when you've got guys that can generate rebounds.

Aside from his defensive skills on the PK, where Faksa gets his value from is the fact that he's really a swiss army knife in terms of the type of players he likes to play with. Throw him on a checking line & he plays a strong, shutdown game that can really irritate opposing top lines. You can also throw him on the 2nd line & he's not a liability, simply due to the fact that he is a pretty decent puck-facilitator & as stated above can be a nuisance when he camps in the opposing crease.

In a perfect world, he is your 3C that chews up 75% (or more) of a team's PK time per game & can slide into a slightly more offensive role in a pinch, if the situation demands it.



That's kind of my hope with Virtanen. The kid is still young enough that he's by no means a "bust" yet. He's shown flashes of what he could do. I'd love to see what someone like Gerard Gallant (please hire him, Dallas) could do with him on a line with any combination of Benn, Seguin, Hintz, Gurianov, Pavelski, and Radulov

I think Faksa would replace Gaudette in the second PP unit, but Gaudette would still remain on that PP unit, just not as a centreman. If you put Hoglander on the left hand side of this unit, I think this would interesting to see. He may be a bit rusty because of quarantine but overall, I can see him in PP unit.

He could fill a big whole if everything goes right. When fully healthy I would put him with Benn and Seguin to try and spark those two again, then Kivi, Pavs and Radu, after that JRob, Hintz and Guri, lastly Cogs, Dicky and Dell, that would be my lines. I would try to highball him for a little bit more than you asked but just a 2nd is fine. After that if everything goes right, we become buyers (hopefully) and we could use the picks to get a decent RHD rental come playoff time for one last push before the decline.