Wake With Elias: Kesler’s chirping, Hughes is chomping & Virtanen stirs up the masses

You gotta give Jake Virtanen credit, he always knows how to make the city go crazy.

Whether it’s from inspiring swaths of people to shotgun beers, or seeing the winger film himself while driving on Instagram, the dude from Abbotsford is a lightning rod for both criticism and entertainment.

That was the case once again on Wednesday, as many people spent a rainy Canada day on the West Coast criticizing a video on Instagram, which showed Virtanen hanging out with some friends at Celebrities nightclub in Vancouver.

The video has since been removed from social media.

I mean, I know it was raining on Canada Day, but do people have nothing better to do?

When I saw the video, my first thought was simply: if Jake Virtanen is getting roasted for this, I can see every single NHL player who used to party before social media, absolutely cringing at the thought of having some of their antics films and posted.

Virtanen is simply a victim of the social media era. Droves of players have done far worse and really, there was nothing wrong with the video. Is it responsible to go to a club during a pandemic? Probably not. Is it worth the vitriol from fans online? Absolutely not.

In fairness, many online seem to be giving Jake a pass as well.

Brendan Leipsic will never play in the NHL again. The only shame in that? We will never get to see Virtanen chirp him on the ice.

The last thing on this: if you’re one of the people on Twitter harassing Vanessa Jang for sharing the video, you’re an absolute loser.

• One funny little tidbit that probably got lost in the Virtanen madness yesterday, was Ryan Kesler hilariously chirping the city of Edmonton on Twitter.

• That brings us to the other notable announcement on Canada Day. Edmonton and Toronto were unofficially named the NHL’s two hub cities, although no formal announcement has come from the NHL just yet.
• Quinn Hughes says he’s chomping at the bit to get back to NHL hockey, which should be music to the ears of Canucks fans. [NHL]

Here’s a snippet of what he had to say.

“Definitely recharged and chomping at the bit. I think maybe the four months here were a blessing in disguise for me because I feel really strong now and think that I can perform better in the playoffs now than I would have 3 1/2 months ago. ... I feel as strong as I’ve ever been, so I’m confident, excited and ready to come back here.”

• Finally, if the negativity of Canucks fandom has you in a tizzy, join us on the latest episode of Sippin’ on a 40, where the three podcasters here on the Nucks Misconduct network reconvene for a little ‘Nucks talk. [Nucks Misconduct]