"Such an honour to sign with the Vancouver Canucks!," Virtanen wrote on his official Twitter account. "I'd like to thank everybody who's helped me get to this point especially my family!!"
Virtanen, a 17-year-old right wing, had 45 goals and 71 points in 71 games last season with the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League. He had three goals and three assists in seven games to help Canada win the bronze medal at the 2014 IIHF World Under-18 Championship.
He accomplished most of that with a torn labrum in his left shoulder sustained midway through the season. Virtanen had surgery in May, after the U-18 championship, and told NHL.com before the draft he hoped to be able to play again by the middle of October.
"I don't want to rush anything," he said in June. "I want to make sure I'm 100 percent healthy and doing the things I have to do to be healthy and get back in the lineup."
The Canucks have signed both their 2014 first-round picks; center Jared McCann, the 24th pick, signed Thursday.
Virtanen is the 10th player taken in the first round of the draft to sign, joining Sam Reinhart (Buffalo Sabres, No. 2), Sam Bennett (No. 4, Calgary Flames), Brendan Perlini (No. 12, Arizona Coyotes), Jakub Vrana (No. 13, Washington Capitals), Julius Honka (No. 14, Dallas Stars), Kasperi Kapanen (No. 22, Pittsburgh Penguins), McCann, David Pastrnak (No. 25, Boston Bruins), Nikita Scherbak (No. 26, Montreal Canadiens).
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