Thomas Vanek Likely Retires

[Andrew Amerk]

Whether you liked him or not, he did give us some memories. 

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/vanek-if-i-dont-go-anywhere-today-im-done

[Weave]

Helluva career.  

[dudacek]

Vanek is among the all-time Sabres, full stop.

One-way wingers aren’t usually my cup of tea, but damn he could score goals and he paid the price to do it.

[PerreaultForever]

18 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Vanek is among the all-time Sabres, full stop.

One-way wingers aren’t usually my cup of tea, but damn he could score goals and he paid the price to do it.

I'm going to dissent and say no to both parts of that. 

I still think matching the Oilers offer was a huge mistake for this franchise. We were a really good team with Drury, Briere and Vanek and then we screwed it up royally and had just Vanek. Big mistake era. 

[Broken Ankles]

15 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I'm going to dissent and say no to both parts of that. 

I still think matching the Oilers offer was a huge mistake for this franchise. We were a really good team with Drury, Briere and Vanek and then we screwed it up royally and had just Vanek. Big mistake era. 

You, a dissenter?  Shut the front door.   You cannot blame Thomas for the mistakes of Darcy at the end of his career or the restrictions imposed on the GM by ownership.   He was a pure goal scorer.  Questionable ethics as it pertains to gambling, but solid on the ice.  Your an effort guy.  Thomas brought his lunch pail to work each day.  How can you not respect that?

Edited February 26, 2020 by Broken Ankles

[GASabresIUFAN]

Scored one of the best goals ever by a Sabre.

From the great 2003 draft class.

Vanek is 11th in games, 5th in goals, 6th in pts

[nfreeman]

I was not a fan of Vanek’s but I certainly wish him well in his future endeavors.  

[Andrew Amerk]

48 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Scored one of the best goals ever by a Sabre.

From the great 2003 draft class.

Vanek is 11th in games, 5th in goals, 6th in pts

Made Carlson look silly there, and now he’s a Norris candidate. And some people want to rag on a young Dahlin. 

[Doohicksie]

52 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Scored one of the best goals ever by a Sabre.

From the great 2003 draft class.

Vanek is 11th in games, 5th in goals, 6th in pts

Hard to remember anyone but Jack pulling moves like that...

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Whether you liked him or not, he did give us some memories. 

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/vanek-if-i-dont-go-anywhere-today-im-done

My goalie's favorite Sabre was Miller and his brother's favorite was Vanek.

Realize he had his demons off the ice, but always liked watching him play.  Always cringed a bit at the "Vanek face" stuff he caught (but probably indulged once or twice in it much like the "wtf wave" of his brother's favorite).

[sabremike]

Honestly when the inevitable happens and we get eliminated sign him and Pommer to one day contracts and have them play in the home finale so that we get at least one nice memorable moment from this season.

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, Broken Ankles said:

You, a dissenter?  Shut the front door.   You cannot blame Thomas for the mistakes of Darcy at the end of his career or the restrictions imposed on the GM by ownership.   He was a pure goal scorer.  Questionable ethics as it pertains to gambling, but solid on the ice.  Your an effort guy.  Thomas brought his lunch pail to work each day.  How can you not respect that?

I never felt that was true. Come to think of it now, I kind of felt about him the same as I do about Sam now - I never thought of that before but I think maybe yes. Very talented hockey player but inconsistent effort and I always felt he never really gave his all or tried to be all he could be. Sort of just rested on his given gifts. If he'd given it his all, he could have been one of the greats, but as is he was just a goal scorer with questionable defensive skills. Sorry, that's just how I feel about him. 

[Taro T]

17 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I never felt that was true. Come to think of it now, I kind of felt about him the same as I do about Sam now - I never thought of that before but I think maybe yes. Very talented hockey player but inconsistent effort and I always felt he never really gave his all or tried to be all he could be. Sort of just rested on his given gifts. If he'd given it his all, he could have been one of the greats, but as is he was just a goal scorer with questionable defensive skills. Sorry, that's just how I feel about him. 

That fact that he was a flawed (but overall very good) player didn't mean he didn't try / care / give his all.

IMHO, if anything he cared too much and had slumps last longer than they should've because he tended to grip it too tight when things weren't going right.

[PerreaultForever]

27 minutes ago, Taro T said:

That fact that he was a flawed (but overall very good) player didn't mean he didn't try / care / give his all.

IMHO, if anything he cared too much and had slumps last longer than they should've because he tended to grip it too tight when things weren't going right.

I'm not alone in this depiction. He was heavily criticised in Minnesota for not working hard and there were numerous comments over the years about him disappearing in tough games or the playoffs. There were question marks about his level of commitment all through his career.

[gilbert11]

2 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Hard to remember anyone but Jack pulling moves like that...

You probably are too young to remember Gil Perrault.  He scored goals like that frequently.  Many times he started behind his own net and weaved through the whole opposing team.  Guy LaFleur was similar.

[FogBat]

51 minutes ago, gilbert11 said:

You probably are too young to remember Gil Perrault.  He scored goals like that frequently.  Many times he started behind his own net and weaved through the whole opposing team.  Guy LaFleur was similar.

What a time that was in the NHL! Unless I'm mistaken, we'll never see that again.

[Weave]

For whatever reason, TV did not inspire the fans.  Maybe it was Vanek face.  Maybe it was failing to live up to the expectations after 06-07.

I didn’t buy into the idea that Vanek wasn’t leaving it all on the ice.  I always felt his game  looked uninspired, but he took his beatings to make plays and for alot of his time here made those plays with not much behind him.

No reason for Vanek to hang his head over his time here.  He was a star for us when we had very few.

[Cascade Youth]

If there were a Hall of Fame for hands...

[Doohicksie]

3 hours ago, gilbert11 said:

You probably are too young to remember Gil Perrault.  He scored goals like that frequently.  Many times he started behind his own net and weaved through the whole opposing team.  Guy LaFleur was similar.

No, not at all.  And Guy LaFleur was my favorite non-Sabre of that era.

[Radar]

9 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I'm going to dissent and say no to both parts of that. 

I still think matching the Oilers offer was a huge mistake for this franchise. We were a really good team with Drury, Briere and Vanek and then we screwed it up royally and had just Vanek. Big mistake era. 

Ahh, and you're blaming Vanek? 

[Skibum]

I always liked TV a lot as a player here. He scored some beautiful goals and generally made the team fun to watch.

I just thought it was a huge mistake to build the team around him when Drury and Briere left. He was never going to be that kind of guy (and didn't have to be). I didn't want to see Vanek go, but at that point they had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to just blow it up and start fresh with four freaking first round picks. Eight first rounders if you count their own! Then Darcy's pride got the best of him. And now, here we are. 

Edited February 26, 2020 by Skibum

[mphs mike]

6 hours ago, gilbert11 said:

You probably are too young to remember Gil Perrault.  He scored goals like that frequently.  Many times he started behind his own net and weaved through the whole opposing team.  Guy LaFleur was similar.

I think it was Larry Carriere that said something like - get the puck in your own end, take it behind the net, wait for Bert to circle back, pick it up, skate through both teams and score. Easiest plus 1 possible"

I remember LaFleur flying down the wing and getting a pass, not waeving through both teams with the puck, but he was a Hab and it was a long time ago!

[Zamboni]

Meh. Liked Vanek for about 5 years, then started to slowly want him off the team. By the time he was moved I was rather pleased.

[Broken Ankles]

10 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I never felt that was true. Come to think of it now, I kind of felt about him the same as I do about Sam now - I never thought of that before but I think maybe yes. Very talented hockey player but inconsistent effort and I always felt he never really gave his all or tried to be all he could be. Sort of just rested on his given gifts. If he'd given it his all, he could have been one of the greats, but as is he was just a goal scorer with questionable defensive skills. Sorry, that's just how I feel about him. 

The dude missed 27 games total in 9 years in Buffalo.  What's one level below Iron?  Maybe in his later years where it was reported he was not in good physical condition and used his skill to get by you could question effort, but just b/c a player isn't skating around with his head on fire and hitting everything in sight does not mean there was no effort.   

Also with respect to your Reinhart comparison-  When Thomas signed his contract in 2007 with an AAV of $7.14M, that was over 14% of the team cap.   So you should feel good about a $7.5-$8M number for Sam as that would only be 9%.  

[In The Buff]

11 hours ago, Taro T said:

My goalie's favorite Sabre was Miller and his brother's favorite was Vanek.

I loved Miller as well. We also share the same name. Back in the day when he lived downtown, he used to go into Pano's restaurant from time to time in the morning, where i worked. Short story about him but 1 day he was there with his Mom & i got caught up in a conversation with him. I showed him my license & made a joke about how we have the same name & that i used to play goalie too & that i was playing vicariously thru him. His mother had been drinking a few too many Mimosa's & samples of Plum Wine that morning. So she invited me to sit at their table (which of course i obliged) & a few minutes later she's laughing up our conversation & gets up & sits on my lap & puts her arm around me.

I never felt so uncomfortable as i tried not to look at Ryan's face haha. But he was laughing about it so perhaps that was just something he was used to or maybe he just thought it was funny. But anyways i have lots of little stories like that about that team back then. Run in's at local bars, or seeing all 5'9" of Derek Roy at Tops picking up cases of beer with a few 18 year olds draped all over him. Some stories i don't think i can share either!

But yeah I loved Vanek too. Its not his fault Darcy mismanaged that situation. I try not to think about that as the Oilers offered us the whole world & who knows how things wouldve turned out had he accepted it. But as a player for the Blue & Gold he gave it his all imo. 2005-2007, those were good days!

Edited February 26, 2020 by In The Buff