orcatown said:
I agree that Vanek has better upside potential than Kesler. Vanek could be great. But he is very poor without the puck and does not use his teammates well. If you compare stats right now in the AHL they are as follows
Kesler 14 16 30
Vanek 15 9 24
Biggest stat maybe that Kesler is a +16 and Vanek, on maybe the best team, in the AHL is -1. Also Kesler has to go against the other teams top line every night and Vanek has scored 10 goals on the power play.
Vanek probably has as much offensive potential as any in the draft. But there are some pretty glaring holes in his game.
Couple of things. First going against the other teams top line in the ahl is good for your offense because most time those players don't play defense as well. An offensive player can learn to back check more than a defensive forward can learn to score.
gp g a p +/- pim pp sh gw gt fg ot vg shots pct
96/97 53 23 25 48 8 81 3 1 3 0 4 0 1 180 12.8
97/98 45 30 26 56 20 74 14 2 2 0 8 0 4 160 18.8
These are the stats for another former Rochester Amerk: Vaclav Varada.
Now his NHL stats:
Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM PP SH GW GT Shots Pct
1995-1996 Sabres 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
1996-1997 Sabres 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0
1997-1998 Sabres 27 5 6 11 0 15 0 0 1 1 27 18.5
1998-1999 Sabres 72 7 24 31 11 61 1 0 1 0 123 5.7
1999-2000 Sabres 76 10 27 37 12 62 0 0 0 0 140 7.1
2000-2001 Sabres 75 10 21 31 -2 81 2 0 2 0 112 8.9
2001-2002 Sabres 76 7 16 23 -7 82 1 0 1 0 138 5.1
2002-2003 Sabres 44 7 4 11 -2 23 1 0 0 0 64 10.9
2002-2003 Senators 11 2 6 8 3 8 1 0 0 0 17 11.8
2003-2004 Senators 30 5 5 10 2 26 0 0 1 0 47 10.6
NHL Totals 417 53 109 162 17 360 6 0 6 1 672 7.9
The AHL isn't a snipers game. It is a muckers and grinders game. You can be very successful in the AHL as a mucker and a grinder. Vaclav Varada didn't develop hands of stone in the NHL, it's just harder for muckers and grinders to score in the NHL.
I'm not saying that Vanek doesn't have to work on parts of his game, I'm sure he does but to take half a years statistics try to reevaluate a 2 year old draft before 95% of them have had an opportunity to play in the NHL is a bit much. I suppose with no NHL to watch we all have time on our hands but I suspect many of you would still be making these lists during intermissions instead of watching the Zamboni go round and round.