Thomas Vanek has 18 goals this season and is on a pace for his lowest total since his rookie season with 27. He's has years of 43, 36 and 40 goals so this season has been one big frustration for him. He did score in his final game before the Olympic break giving him 7 goals and 9 assists in his last 18 games. He joined us on the postgame show after the Sharks win and the last thing he said was that maybe he can use this break to learn how to score goals again. Now that the break is over Vanek said, "The break was nice, I went away a little bit with the family, but it's nice to be back and rejuvenate. I'm really looking forward to the last 20 here. I think starting off fresh can help. It's nice to get away, see a different scenery for a few days, just hang out with the family and not worry about hockey. I feel good now and hopefully the last twenty-some games here I can really kick it into another gear."

As I said earlier, points have been coming at a better pace for the winger for about a month. He's on a pace for 58 points and has averaged 66 points throughout his career. Vanek said of the current streak, "The last three weeks or so have been going better, but still, I'm disappointed at not putting my chances away. The San Jose game I could've had three or four and I ended up with one which was nice, but I think I'm leaving a lot out there so I'm just trying to work on it in practice, trying to score goals in practice and it will hopefully carry over."

Austria didn't qualify for the Olympics, but that hasn't ruined Vanek's enjoyment of the games, "It hasn't been tough at all. I'm just a fan of the Olympics and I realized last year that I'm wasn't going and that's OK. Just watching all my friends on the other teams and so far there have been a lot of good games. I know a lot of the guys on the U.S. team so it would be nice if they could keep advancing here.

The team practiced this morning for about an hour at the Pepsi Center.

No need for violence, just tell her she's got a game misconduct and show her the door.

As I said in the GDT, the call on Rivet was horseshit. The Bruins player was holding onto Rivet's stick like it was the last fucking raft on the Titanic.

Its nice to hear his head is now clear. I'll reserve judgement of his seasonal performance until the end of the season. Its not likely he will reach 40 goals this season, but 30+ could be achieved "if" he contributes according to his ability.
I like Vanek, he is a goal scorer, I want Darcy to get him and Roy a RWer worth a shit (Horton please).

I'll just come out and say it, I have a man crush on Thomas Vanek...There, it's been said, we can all deal with it accordingly now.

Honestly, I think that line would be pretty badass with Horton on it.

No need for violence, just tell her she's got a game misconduct and show her the door.

As I said in the GDT, the call on Rivet was horseshit. The Bruins player was holding onto Rivet's stick like it was the last fucking raft on the Titanic.

It's too bad Horton will miss around two more weeks though.

Meh, Dump Stafford in the trade for him and bring in Mancari for line 4 duty, slip Grier or Kaleta up to the Vanek-Roy line in the interim.

That or give Ennis a chance to come up and play for a roster spot.

It'll light a fire under MacArthur's ass at the very least.

It's a bad idea to mention Hortons in a Vanek thread.

No need for violence, just tell her she's got a game misconduct and show her the door.

As I said in the GDT, the call on Rivet was horseshit. The Bruins player was holding onto Rivet's stick like it was the last fucking raft on the Titanic.

Hahaha the donuts ain't coming to this thread.

Im excited to see all goal scoring techinques he learned on the beach..