Thomas Vanek

[qcsabresfan84]

I hate to complain about Vanek, because he has so much talent and I've seen him succeed before. The problem though, is that he's got six goals this season. Now once the free trial of Center Ice ended, I havent been able to watch any of the games, so before I complain, can someone who's been watching please tell me what's going on with him?

Is he just not capitalizing on his opportunities? Is he getting bad bounces? Or is he not playing hard enough and not skating hard to the net? If he's just getting bad bounces then I can't really complain about that, because I know that streaks like that can happen. When I used to play, sometimes it would feel like I was doing everything right and playing great just not finding the net or getting the bounces. It happens, so that wouldn't upset me about Vanek. But if he is not skating hard and getting into the right positions then that would piss me off because its a huge waste of talent.

Can someone please let me know what's going on with him?

[Ingtar33]

Re: Thomas Vanek

I hate to complain about Vanek, because he has so much talent and I've seen him succeed before. The problem though, is that he's got six goals this season. Now once the free trial of Center Ice ended, I havent been able to watch any of the games, so before I complain, can someone who's been watching please tell me what's going on with him?

Is he just not capitalizing on his opportunities? Is he getting bad bounces? Or is he not playing hard enough and not skating hard to the net? If he's just getting bad bounces then I can't really complain about that, because I know that streaks like that can happen. When I used to play, sometimes it would feel like I was doing everything right and playing great just not finding the net or getting the bounces. It happens, so that wouldn't upset me about Vanek. But if he is not skating hard and getting into the right positions then that would piss me off because its a huge waste of talent.

Can someone please let me know what's going on with him?

I think it's a two fold problem...

1) he's a winger without a quality center... say what you will about Roy (and i think he makes a fine 2nd or 3rd center) but he's not a no.1 center. That makes a winger's job a little hard

2) he's on the first line with a 2nd or 3rd line center drawing the other team's top defensive lines. Now... he still scores a lot... and probably will be close to 40 goals again this season, but without a better center to feed him the puck through traffic it's hard to score against top defensive lines



i guess if you want to throw in another issue... he's like Dave Andreychuk in that he's best within 15 feet of the net. and unless you're controlling the puck in the offensive zone, and have a center that can get him the puck through a solid defensive unit... it will be hard for him to get a lot of his "choice" opportunities.

That's not to say he's not pretty good with the puck, he clearly is. But he's not good enough to do it all by himself all the time.

and yes... sometimes he "floats" taking shifts off. No where near as badly as he used to be (his first year namely) but it still happens.

[DMBcrew36]

Re: Thomas Vanek

We should've let Edmonton take him in exchange for 3 first rounders or whatever it was we would've gotten for letting Edmonton steal him with the offer sheet.

He is WAY overpaid right now.

[OpIv37]

Re: Thomas Vanek

We should've let Edmonton take him in exchange for 3 first rounders or whatever it was we would've gotten for letting Edmonton steal him with the offer sheet.

He is WAY overpaid right now.

that's revisionist history. Remember, we lost drury and briere that off season as well. If we lost vanek for draft picks, then we'd probably miss thenplayoffs for 2 or 3 years while... Oh wait, nevermind.

[SabreEleven]

Re: Thomas Vanek

The 2008 Sabres are starting to peek their head out...Which one is here to stay?

[Michael82]

Re: Thomas Vanek

The 2008 Sabres are starting to peek their head out...Which one is here to stay?

Once Grier comes back, it will be the 2009 Sabres.

[rbochan]

Re: Thomas Vanek

that's revisionist history. Remember, we lost drury and briere that off season as well. If we lost vanek for draft picks, then we'd probably miss thenplayoffs for 2 or 3 years while... Oh wait, nevermind.

Poor, poor Vanek. If only he was given bags full of fresh hundred dollar bills every game to wipe away his tears... Oh wait...

[JD]

Re: Thomas Vanek

Kaleta has half as many goals as him, what a ****ing shame. Miro Satan Jr.

[JD]

Re: Thomas Vanek

We should've let Edmonton take him in exchange for 3 first rounders or whatever it was we would've gotten for letting Edmonton steal him with the offer sheet.

He is WAY overpaid right now.

Wasn't it 4 first rounders?

[THATHURMANATOR]

Re: Thomas Vanek

that's revisionist history. Remember, we lost drury and briere that off season as well. If we lost vanek for draft picks, then we'd probably miss thenplayoffs for 2 or 3 years while... Oh wait, nevermind.

Please imagine if we let him go too how much you would be complaining...

[SabreEleven]

Re: Thomas Vanek

We are complaining with him, Corey, but of course, if went to Edmonton he would have 50 to 60 goals a year and the complaining would be unbearable.

[DMBcrew36]

Re: Thomas Vanek

Please imagine if we let him go too how much you would be complaining...

You have a point. The City of Buffalo would have flipped out if we let Vanek walk with that offer-sheet since we had just lost Briere and Drury. If the Briere and Drury situation had NOT just happened, letting Vanek go may have been an option. Of course, the organization was also set on showing other teams that poaching our talent was not how you do business.

But in retrospect, I would rather have those 1st round picks. I guess it's something to remember in the future if any of our guys get offer sheets.

[OpIv37]

Re: Thomas Vanek

Please imagine if we let him go too how much you would be complaining...

Of course I would have. The team failed to re sign either Briere or Drury, so when Edmonton signed the offer sheet, we were ****ed. Either pay top dollar for slightly above average talent, or lose our top 3 scorers at once. The fo created a situation where there was no good option, so I would have *****ed either way.

In hindsight, we should have let him go. We didn't make the playoffs with him, and by now some of those draft picks might have been contributing. In addition, we'd have an extra $7 mil in cap space for FA's. Of course, there was no way of truly knowing this at the time, but it would have been nice if this fo could have recognized that they didn't have playoff talent on this roster without briere and drury.

[RockStar36]

Re: Thomas Vanek

Just wondering because I don't see a ton of Flyers or Rangers games, but have Drury or Briere really been worth they money they are being paid?

Last I heard the Flyers were desperately trying to trade Briere during the Summer and get out of his huge contract.

[BlackMetalNinja]

Re: Thomas Vanek

Just wondering because I don't see a ton of Flyers or Rangers games, but have Drury or Briere really been worth they money they are being paid?

Last I heard the Flyers were desperately trying to trade Briere during the Summer and get out of his huge contract.

Well that sort of revisionist history is perfectly alright around here, because it shows the incompetence of the organization... They never would have tanked if we kept them... or else they would have, and then everybody could ***** about overpaying them instead!