To be fair to everyone dumping on him after a few games in Columbus, Vanek really had a bizarre first few games. It was truly like he couldn't do anything right. Fumbled pucks. Turned pucks over constantly. Fanned shots. Threw pucks into space where no CBJ player was anywhere near.
Something clicked.
I think it was a reflection of him being a cerebral high IQ player and just how off the Columbus offense has been all season. Very much thanks to Vanek, we have seen the best play of the year from Jenner and Wennberg. Something that Vanek said or did has energized these guys. It seems like everyone has been working so hard to create offense with no idea why it wasn't working.
Jenner is playing the best hockey that he has played in over 2 years, maybe longer, since getting put with him.
Yes he is prone to coasting and bad penalties and other infuriating intangibles. I'm willing to live with that, because he is really helping to eliminate a lot of CBJs offensive zone struggles. He's not being challenged to change his game but Torts. He's being put in a secondary scoring role with 2nd/3rd line tweener minutes. He is in a position to succeed and it's working right now.
I guess all I can add is that people probably shouldn't freak out after 3 games of a player with a new team traded midseason.