No reason to fret, Isles fans. Soon enough he'll show that he actually has some wheels, can back-check, won't be found cheating in the defensive zone and will be putting up points in bunches.
That's the way he rolls.
When all things come together, Vanek will marvel fans with his slapshot, tip-ins and deft passing and he will look as if he should be one of the highest paid players in the league. Then...
Usually around this time he'll slip into a slump, probably because a nagging injury that will keep him in and out of the line up short-term.
That's Thomas Vanek and that's why I'm glad that he reportedly rejected a Sabres offer to make him the highest paid player in the league.
Thank you, Thomas. You go follow that money trail somewhere else.
The Buffalo News still hating on Regier.
The above link on the offer to Thomas Vanek from the Sabres came from the Buffalo News' Jon Vogl, a good solid hockey writer.
But.
What seemed to do was subtly take a swipe at the Sabres organization. Not to defend what GM Darcy Regier has done at times, but this was a good move. Clearly Vanek didn't want to stay in Buffalo during a long rebuild. Here's what he wrote:
"Thomas Vanek could have been paid handsomely to stay in Buffalo. A source, in fact, says the Sabres were willing to make him the highest-paid player in the NHL.
He'd rather win than take part in a rebuild, which has been his message since last season."
Of course he would, Jon. What player worth his salt wouldn't? At the end of the season, Vanek will be able to make money and pick his team.
It could be that I took it all wrong with that Vogl line, but there's no mistaking what Bucky Gleason of the News' was getting at when he penned, Good Vanek deal won't cover Regier' mistakes.
The Ol' Buckster busted out the knitting needles once again. The wanna-be GM/Sports writer who has "all the answers" finally, begrudgingly gave Regier some credit. Only it was cloaked in a piece that continues to dredge up mostly some bad moments in Regier's 17-year history as GM of the Sabres.
He writes that he could "do this (rag on Regier) all day." Yes, Buckster, we know that, you've been doing it for years now. And there's a lot that's agreeable about your ragging, pre-2012.
But may I add, Bucky, the "good Vanek trade" was after the:
- Great Pominville trade and
- Pretty Damn Good Leopold and Regehr trades and
- the Solid Roy trade and
- the Very, Very Good, Possible Steal, Hodgson trade and
- the Unfathomably Lopsided, Freakin' Awesome Gaustad trade
Sorry Buckster. Get over yourself. This is the direction the team is going and Regier's in charge of the return on his core players. It's all Pegula cares about right now.
Fret not thou, thy champion of the Bucky Gleason Knitting Society, Regier will be gone soon enough. After he's finished dismantling his core while hording two more years of draft picks.
TSN's McKenzie: The rest of the (Vanek/Moulson) story.
There was more to the Vanek/Matt Moulson trade that met the eye.
Accoding to TSN's Bob McKenzie, the Buffalo Sabres will retain a portion of Vanek's salary as part of the deal with the NY Islanders. The amount is somewhere around $1.4m.
In addition, McKenzie reported that the 2014 1st round pick the Sabres are to receive is conditional.
Isles GM Garth Snow protected himself: if the Islanders finish in the bottom-10 in the league, they will have the option "to defer the first round pick to 2015."
There's not a Sabres' fan around that wouldn't mind defering. They want the opportunity to possibly gain another first round pick in the 2015 draft. The Connor McDavid Draft, so to speak.
Looking ahead to the 2015 Draft (yes, already.)
With the Sabres falling to the bottom of the heap this season, unless something weird happens, they will end up with at least a top-five and probably will end up in the top-three pick in the 2014 draft.
Even though it's said to be a thin draft, there is almost always high quality at the very top of the every draft.
But, 2015 has phenom Connor McDavid.
Yeah, yeah, you might say. There's always a lot of hype for a top pick in any sport.
When it comes to hockey, though, they're usually right. When the scouts say this guy will be next in line after Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux--a franchise altering center--they're usually on target or really not that far off if they miss.
The National Post covered McDavid as he skated with some of the NHL's best back in August. The overall feeling on McDavid was amazement with the question, "How old is this kid?"
He's 16 yrs. old and he has a good opportunity to make Canada's World Junior Team. If he does make it he will join the likes of joining Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Eric Lindros, Jason Spezza and Jay Bouwmeester.
Scouts have been marvelling at McDavid's skills and although his 5'11" 170 frame will need to fill out a bit, Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com thinks it will and projects McDavid at about 6', 190 lbs. "He'll be like MacKinnon," he said. MacKinnon is presently 6' 185 lbs.
Sounds good to me.
With the Sabres in rebuild mode, maybe it's time to start thinking about stockpiling up some 2015 1st-rounders to increase the odds of landing him.
No comments:
Post a Comment