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Vanek Factor

August 29, 2013, 3:34 PM ET [50 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
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vanek
Photo courtesy, Dan Hickling


Thursday morning, I gave you my take in the pressure points that I feel that Sabres RFA center Cody Hodgson’s agent is likely using to leverage a long term contract from Darcy Regier.

My points were:

1. Hodgson Is Buffalo's #1 Center
2. Vanek Factor
3. Point A Game Potential
4. Known Quantity Vs. Rookies


The "Vanek Factor" is real, people.

Earlier this afternoon, I had a chance to speak directly Vanek about his young centerman. Vanek has told me numerous times over the past season and a half that he enjoys playing left wing for Hodgson because the young center always finds Vanek is shooting positions in the offensive zone. Vanek’s game is simple. He fights his way to the blue ice and he looks for Hodgson to hit him off with the puck. Hodgson has found an uncanny knack for feeding Vanek the puck at the appropriate time. Vanek doesn’t have to call for the puck. He gets it where he wants it, when he wants it. Vanek likes to “quick on, quick off” the puck because he rarely ever has a ton of time and space to shoot, especially when he has a couple of 6’3 200 lb. defensemen and forwards slamming him around below the hash marks.

“Again, looking back over the years, the lines are more set. On the right side, I always had Jason (Pominville). I really think that Cody and I found good chemistry and I ’m convinced he’ll be here in training camp. At least I hope so. Down the middle is always a position that I think you need to be strong at. I think we’re getting better at it. We’re getting younger at it. You know, don’t know where it leads, so having Cody in camp is important and hopefully he’ll be here”.

Hodgson’s vision and his sense of rhythm that he has formed with Vanek in their past 68 games of playing together is what sets Hodgson apart from Buffalo’s other young centers Tyler Ennis, Mikhail Grigorenko, and Zemgus Girgensons. Hodgson’s added value is that the team’s leading scorer endorses him because of his skill level and his unselfish abilities to get Vanek on the score sheet, early and often. Darcy Regier should never under estimate the power of suggestion from his top scorer. As Vanek goes, so go the Sabres. Look what happened to Luke Adam. Vanek-Adam-Pomnville were the hottest line in the NHL for the first eight weeks of the 2010-11 NHL season. The rookie Adam vibed perfectly with Vanek and Pominville, scoring 10 goals himself and feeding saucy biscuits to Vanek and Pommer for their goals. Adam then hit the wall and his productivity fell off the face of the earth. When Adam’s confidence was at an all time low, his linemates vanek and Pominville fell into slumps of their own. All young players go through droughts and bouts of low confidence. How they handle it is the difference between being a creativity creator and a buzz kill. Adam still hasn’t recovered from his demotion to AHL Rochester in January 2012. He’s fallen down the organizational depth chart to the point that he isn’t playing center for the Amerks. Adam is a perfect example of how a young kid can show glimpses of greatness. What defines a young center is how he handles the adversity and what happens during the energy lulls and scoring slumps.

Cody Hodgson has braved the storm well, as has Tyler Ennis.

Ennis struggled last season after catching lightning in a bottle the year before when he his rhythm with Foligno and Stafford was the best in the NHL over the final 10 games of the 2011-12 season. Ron Rolston will likely lean on the 82-63-21 line early on in training camp to see if the sparks of creativity and production are still there. Grigorenko and Girgensons will enter camp as the challengers to Hodgson and Ennis, respectively. If becomes a Hodgson contract hold out in the next couple of weeks, Grigo and Girgo will do battle for the top center spot, as will Steve Ott.

Eventually, I see Ott playing the wing for Grigorenko and Leino. Girgensons can challenge Porter for his center spot, or, may end up a winger who will challenge Flynn and Tropp in Buffalo. More on that later.


Vanek and I spoke about his thankless rile on the Sabres as the net front guy who is constantly get hacked, slashed, jabbed, punched, cross-checked, slew-footed and attacked by opponents.

“I don’t look at it as a “thankless” job. I enjoy it, ya know? Its something I grew up doing and I like being in the so called “dirty areas’ because that where plays happen quickly… at times, puck go in that shouldn’t go in and those are great“.


Vanek looks to me to be in great physical shape. He told me that he’s 100% healthy and he can’t wait to get off to a hot start like he did last season when he was the best goal scorer in the NHL for the first four weeks of the season when it seemed like every shot was destined for the back of the net.

“I feel great, just like I did last year and for us its important that everyone shows up with that same mentality of being a difference maker each and every night “.

Hodgson is like Vanek in that he loves to see his name on the score sheet.

Vanek would like to see his center lined up next to him in training camp.


**

Vanek told me that he sat home in Minnesota over the summer and charted the progress of the great young, talented kids that Darcy Regier has drafted the past few years. He told me that he’s very impressed by the physical soze and the off the charts skill that his organization has acquired at the past three or so NHL drafts. Vanek cautions that the kids are great. However, a successful NHL team cannot have enough veteran players to lead by example.

“The youth movement is great. You see at the same time, 82 games is a lot of games. I know on my own, I think I learned a lot just by playing. Its like, you have a good stretch of 20 games and then you get tired for the next 20 (games). There are stretches when you aren’t as mentally sharp but that’s the biggest challenge with the young guys. They all have skill. They all can play. But the difference with the older you get, the more you mature, the more you know “this night I don’t have it” you have got to do something different to be a difference maker”.

Vanek is in favor of playing the kids. However, he cautions that a young team like his Sabres cannot have enough scar-faced vets in the room to help teach the youngsters how to deal with the rigors of the at-times brutal NHL game.

“Its an 82 game season. The young guys haven’t dealt with it. You need guys who have done it 7,8,9,10, 11 times. Its makes a difference. They might not be as explosive as some of the young guys, but at the end of the day they make good plays and there’s a reason why they’ve been in the NHL a long time, and you can’t have enough of those guys”.

Vanek cited veteran players like Matt Ellis and Cody McCormick as examples.

“That’s something you can’t teach. You have to learn it. You can tell young guys that this is what you have to prepare for, but you have to go through it yourself a few times. You don’t know”.

The NHL is not the NCAA. Its not the OHL. Its not the QMJHL. Its not the Western Hockey League. Its on the job training.

“ It is. It definitely is. Just like in any business. The more experience you get, the more comfortable you get. You learn what your body needs and what someone else’s needs”.

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