JVR does not have the playmaking ability of Lupul.
Oh well that settles it.
.... I'm honored that the all mighty know it all, bothered himself enough to correct my statement.
Lupul and JVR are both goal scorers, one look at their career stats and you'll notice that they normally score as much as they are credited with an assist. Quickly doing the math, they both are pretty much neck in neck in terms of career statistics, with both of them hovering around 50% in goals\assists.
Although when watching games, I've yet to see Lupul consistently make the seeing eye passes that JVR is making currently. His pinpoint accurate saucer passes, and even the behind the back one he recently made Kessel.... are things of beauty.
Lupul:
Here is the one pass I was able to find for Lups, which is similar to the JVR ones, but again, I just see more consistency from JVR in his passing plays than Lupul.
Again, statistically they are probably neck and neck, but I see JVR improving each season in this regard, while again I think Lupul's game has peaked.