Because they're better offensively than Vanek.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Vanek gets a lot of time on the PP also, his ES time is always reduced so low that his PP time doesn't make up for anything.

I'm not saying he's as good as Crosby or Ovechkin or Stamkos. But Vanek has the tools to get 50 goals in a year, and even be a top ten in the scoring department at the end of the year.

He's honestly had a decent enough year this year, even without Roy with him. He's really picked up his game and his passing is starting to dissect teams in the league.

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50 would be the max he could ever do. Even then, he's lacking in other areas and gets many lucky goals.

Not saying he isn't a good player, but he's being overrated here.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

I think we finally agree on something again. Vanek gets a decent amount of power play time but not enough to justify his very low ES time. Among forwards he is tied for 29th in the league with 3:39 PPTOI/G. Add another minute of that and he's 7th overall in the league, and to me that is where he should be (4:30^) without exception. He could stand to draw more calls early in his shifts but other than that it's up to the coach to manage the ice time better. With as little ES time as he plays he's obvious got to be ready for another minute of PP time a game.

Doan, Kunitz, Perron, Weight...if they can do it so can Vanek.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

Exactly, he gets time on the PP, I wish he got more ES time, and I wish he got more SH time. Him and Kaleta were deadly on the PK those first few games last year. Vanek was the reason Kaleta had two SHG early in the year.

I don't get Ruff with his ice-time mix up. Yes you should play the players doing well in the game, but Vanek should consistently be getting 20+ minutes a night. If it's conditioning that's a problem, tell him, he'll work his ass off to fix it. We know how hard of a worker Vanek is.

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Kovalchuk played most of last season in Atlanta where he was able to cherry pick and float to his heart's content on a team that was built around him. Once he went to New Jersey, he was required to play defense and it slaughtered his offensive game. Wasn't hard to predict that happening.

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He still played around 16:30/g game and had 37 points in 37 games or something like that, I know it was a point per game. This season they are giving him way too much ES ice time and he's played like shit all season. I'm sure there's more to it than just that, but for all of those who automatically assume that the ice time makes the player, think about him.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

Kovie has not been so bad lately. 4 goals, 8 points and plus 3 over the last 7 games. 15 years is a long contract, so basing your opinion on the first 30 games of it isn't a real good idea. It seems like he's the biggest "told ya so" topic there is. Where will all the told ya so people be if he's scoring goals in the Stanley Cup? NJ has a long history of strong play, and I'm not willing to say they've got no future.

It is better to do something that contributes to a win than not doing anything.

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Let's go Buffalo!

If it wasn't for him, neither of those goals would have been scored.

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You could not have missed the point by a larger margin, you basically shot the puck into the stands 5 feet away from an empty net, and then impaled yourself on your own stick.

The point is that he did more with less ice time last season, I meant nothing more about it than that.

Here's another example with a less controversial player:

Jerome Iginla.

In 08-09 he played 82 games with 16:31 ESTOI/G.

The very next year he played 82 games with 17:02, but scored 20 fewer points.

All I'm saying is that simply playing Vanek more at even strength isn't necessarily going to make him a more productive player. Some players are wired to go harder with less ice time, some have to change their game so they can handle more ice time. History suggests that Vanek does better with around 14m of ESOTI/G. Now with power play time the sky is the limit, because that is when he feasts.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

That is correct and is why Vanek needs to play at the highest level possible.

Allowing Vanek to produce points for himself and others will allow more ice time for himself and other contributing players. This is why ice time is earned, not given.

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Let's go Buffalo!

Vanek failed to score a goal with five shots on goal last night. He also failed to assist on other goals. A jihad, a holy war, is being declared on him for not scoring. It will end when he scores, or he will face Allah's wrath.

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Let's go Buffalo!

Vanek's a cunt.

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Wheelhouse

Vanek tallied 1 goal and 2 assists against the Maple Leafs. Jihad is lifted.

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Let's go Buffalo!