I really respect CHAPIN and consider him one of the best posters on this list, but I agree with you. I thought Vanek played fairly well. Regarding his pass to Tavares on his goal, have we EVER seen that type of pass from Moulson. Maybe, I am overstating things, but the point is that Vanek is THAT type of player. I thought Vanek played fairly well tonight...and I think they are going to get better together.
Over the years, we've probably seen about a dozen such passes from Moulson to Tavares. Don't know how many necessarily led to goals... I felt this one tonight had little to do with some special skill or above-average awareness. It should be tried more often, because you never know who you might catch sleeping, but it was little more than a quick sliding of the puck in some manner towards the slot. I.e. anybody can do it. In most cases it'll be blocked and moved in the other direction. Now, I might feel differently if 30 plays of this nature from him end up being primary assists this season.
Don't get me wrong though, Vanek did some good things tonight, no doubt, but it's a bit like Redbull was referring to with the effort thing. He's not a Cizikas or an Okposo out there. He's not a hustler who puts opponents under pressure or goes digging out pucks all over the ice. Maybe to a degree every now and then, but not with rectless abandon.
And another thing; considering what he costs AND what we paid to get him, I was not expecting him to come in here and be out of breath after 20-30 seconds almost every shift. He looks really out of shape or like someone who's dealing with a lingering injury of some sort. I think it's a bit of a cop-out to say that has more to do with Buffalo's system than his actual physical fitness. He just kind of wanders around slowly and carefully and then looks to get himself into a hole somewhere around the net, but the work is pretty much left up to everyone else. I didn't necessarily think he would be someone whose impact was only going to be felt from in tight around the net or through the odd, clever play. I mean common', we already had that in Moulson.
Don't know who posted it, but I too didn't care for the nonchalant attempts during the breakaway and shootout either. Sure hope he's got more up his sleeve than that.
In general, I guess that in Vanek I'm pretty much expecting Bobby Ryan. That's who I thought he was pretty much gonna be right off the bat. I'm not seeing it. At that paycheck and that trade cost, that's the effort and visibility I was thinking we were getting...
I do expect the situation to develop positively though as he gets used to things and the team gets used to him. But how much more positively?
We'll find out one way or another.
) and his line usually looks for him more in the corners and at the blue line than the isles do. I think Vanek is putting in some extra effort to get included in the play, as he is not receiving pucks in his usual spots. This is not to say that he is well conditioned, that was always one of his problems (leading to very low TOI for a first line forward who plays a lot on the pp). However I think it will get better when the line gels better further into the season.
