MacArthur has 3 GWG, and Vanek has 2 GWG. 5 other guys have 2 GWG... Vanek scored in Toronto for the 5th goal, just one of the times he scores just to boost up his stats.

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

Vanek is also 14th in team history in game winning goals. I believe he was near the league lead last season. It's very mature of you to be able to admit that your assertion that most of his goals are worthless was wrong. A step in the right direction for sure.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Here's what I think.

You're acting like an ass hole.

I'm calling it the way I see it. Excuse me if my optimistic view is preventing you from being miserable, but in my opinion, you are very, very wrong about this group of players.

You are all taking away from a very impressive team that has allowed the 2nd fewest goals in the NHL so far this season.

They lose a game on a stretch where they had climbed back up to the top of the Northeast and added some padding after going 7-3-0, and you bash on the guys who lead the charge... who shut down some of the best talent in the NHL.

My was simply stating that an already weak power play was ineffective without one of its most important pieces.

If you want to be pissed about the great job this squad has done so far this season, so be it. But don't act holier than thou and try to come down on me for stating my opinion and being optimistic about a team that's given me no reason to be anything less than that.

Thanks.

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Wheelhouse

Unfortunately -The "Great Job" this squad has done has been attributable to a world-class goalie, a nineteen year-old rookie playing mad minutes, and a bunch of n-th tier scrubs, playing their hearts out.

If that's all it takes to get to the Cup, then what do we need all the dead weight for?

I know: Lets continue to pay these bums more money than god, and hope and pray they wake up, or find their game by mid-April...if it's not too late, by then.

Heaven forbid we should call them out. It might hurt their feelings.

Here's what I think.

You're acting like an ass hole.

I'm calling it the way I see it. Excuse me if my optimistic view is preventing you from being miserable, but in my opinion, you are very, very wrong about this group of players.

You are all taking away from a very impressive team that has allowed the 2nd fewest goals in the NHL so far this season.

They lose a game on a stretch where they had climbed back up to the top of the Northeast and added some padding after going 7-3-0, and you bash on the guys who lead the charge... who shut down some of the best talent in the NHL.

My was simply stating that an already weak power play was ineffective without one of its most important pieces.

If you want to be pissed about the great job this squad has done so far this season, so be it. But don't act holier than thou and try to come down on me for stating my opinion and being optimistic about a team that's given me no reason to be anything less than that.

Thanks.[/quote]

LOL, and you're apparently incapable of understanding the issue. This thread was not about how well overall the team is doing. I have enough posts around here to prove that I think the team is playing well, with a style that I've hoped they would adopt for several years now. As I've posted before, I'm happy with this team, even if they fall out of 1st and get in as a 5-8 seed.

Being happy with the team has NOTHING, ZERO, NADA to do with my opinion of certain aspects of the team. The PP clearly stinks so far, and it stunk while Vanek was playing. To say after one game Vanek missed and the PP went 0-8 that he's the reason is just ignoring reality. I even said in this thread that it's not his fault, but you just want to lump me in with the more negative posters and blow off steam at me. Whatever. I like the team, but I don't sugar coat anything about it. You like the team and you also pump up everything about it regardless of reason. Good for you, but don't get all cranky because I pointed out a fairly obvious flaw in your reasoning on an issue.

Dude, the power play problems are OBVIOUSLY related to coaching. That stupid ass drop pass is a cute move the fails 80% of the time, but they're coached to do it.

Nor did I say that the main reason the power play was terrible was Vanek's absence. All I was saying was that we would have had a much better chance to bury the puck if we had our best goal scorer on the ice. I think that's a pretty fucking simple concept.

And after a miserable night on the power play, what happened? They relieved McCutcheon from his duties and allowed James Patrick to take over the power play.

Which once again shows that my optimism and belief in this club to make the right decisions is reinforced.

Outside of arguing my point, all I was telling you to do was find a nicer way to convey your ideas if you want to disagree.

AKA, don't be an ass hole.

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Wheelhouse

Nope. They've been a big part of the puzzle, but if the forwards weren't coming back to double team the puck carrier and clog passing lanes, I'd have a hard time believing that we'd be having the same results.

I've said time and time again that there are areas that they can improve upon, but I refuse to take away the effort that EVERYONE on this team has very clearly put in.

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Wheelhouse

Ok, my first post was not meant to ridicule you. I'll be sure to use more emoticons to make you feel better next time.

What ice said.

Whenever someone in this town is called out, another person will go on a frenzy and go "HE IS TIED FOR 439334th IN SCORING! YOU KNOW NOTHING!"

In new york city, if a player starts to be lazy, they call him out. It'll get tough on that player, and it DRIVES him to be better.

In buffalo, we seem to have the "it's ok" mentality. These players make seven figures a year. Why do we have to pamper them again?

And some of us look way too much into stats. I'm sorry but a padded 7th goal in a 7-1 game doesn't matter as much as a Grier type game winning block to give us the win. Big difference.

But those "fair weather" fans like their goals, and they'll defend whoever scores the most to the very end, even if that is all that he does.


And fyi, i'm not just talking about Vanek. I'm talking about the Alex Kovalevs of the league.

Not trying to bust your balls Markus, but would Gretzky be a one-dimensional player? Would it be ok if he scored goals(played offense only), and did nothing else?

Vanek is not worth 7 million. That's all i will ever say about him. Would i have flipped out if we lost him with Briere and Dru? Damn right i would have. OUR PP SUCKS SO DAMN BAD.

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Well, you know what the answer to the $7 million question is then?
Vanek has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt he's a beast down low on the PP. If you ever think it's going to work it's not gonna be because of Connolly or Roy, it will be Vanek. C'mon, he led the league ffs.

To Vanek's defense, it seems that Ruff has made sure that Vanek makes defense a priority, and that in the end, offense will come about. Ruff's been trying to do this for years, and I know that a hell of a lot of us have put in the lazy card for Vanek game-in and game-out.

However, there haven't been many games this year, if any at all, where I have sat down and said "Wow, Vanek is being lazy....again." The guy is digging in and skating his ass off (however slow that may be).

He exits the lineup, and we're 1-1-1. Not cool.

At first we think it's Grier, now we think it's Vanek. I think it's that whole line in general. The Vanek-Kennedy-Grier line has great chemistry, and when Ruff has no choice but to juggle it, the Kennedy-Wingers combination without one of them looks like garbage.

I think the number of man-games-lost is something that needs to be looked at when games are lost. We're just not the same team without certain combinations. No one seems to be on the same page when that happens.

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Girgensons for captain. Team Keep Nick DesLauriers forever.

@TJLuckman550

Don't start throwing 'fair weather fan' comments around here. I'm restraining myself from most of what I want to say because it's Christmas.

I don't think there is one fair weather fan on this board. Most people on this board are migrants from a long tenure of the Sabres forums. None of which would post such passion if they were the fair weather type.

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No fair weather's here. We ride this horrible, horrible rollercoaster of Buffalo sports and are constantly tormented by failures. This is the real deal; true, deep, pure sports city angst.

I glanced at the thread title and though it said...Vanek looks pretty impotent.

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"...they came down into the stands and asked if I knew how to do play by play. I said...No. But. I'll take a shot at it if you want".- Rick Jeanneret

i hearby admit my fairweather fan status because i am a vanek fan. sorry.

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"""The Sabres had lost four of six -- and apparently their mojo -- before knocking off St. Louis on Sunday. But Thomas Vanek now appears on milk cartons throughout western New York."""
ESPN power ranking

what does that mean?

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HOCKEY IS BACK!

In the US, children on the National Missing and Exploited Children list were sometimes put on the side of milk cartons to help find them. (Although, I haven't seen this in years.)

It's a euphemism for someone being missing.