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Entries with the tag: thomas+vanek
Vanek May Return Earlier Than First Thought
by Paul on 10/14/09 at 02:43 PM ET
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from Erin Pollina of BuffaloSabres.com,
Lindy Ruff delivered some good news regarding Thomas Vanek on Wednesday afternoon.
The Buffalo Sabres Head Coach said the winger may only miss a few days - not weeks - after sustaining an upper body injury in Tuesday’s 6-2 win against the Red Wings....
“They thought he would feel a lot worse today, but he’s actually feeling a lot better,” Ruff said following practice on Wednesday. “He’s doing remarkably well which is good.. I wouldn’t even rule him out maybe for a game on the weekend, as well as he’s doing today.
“It’s a stretch but it’s something I won’t rule out now.”
more on the Sabres…
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Vanek Out With Upper Body Injury
by Paul on 10/14/09 at 08:22 AM ET
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from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News,
Thomas Vanek left for good with 7:14 to play in the second period after scoring his second goal in the 6-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. Coach Lindy Ruff revealed Vanek will miss several weeks with an undisclosed upper body injury.
Vanek slid hard into the end boards after scoring the goal on Derek Roy’s third assist in a 4½-minute span, but Ruff said the injury actually occurred before that play. Television shots of Vanek on the bench before the shift showed Vanek grimacing while moving his neck/shoulder area.
Vanek’s shoulder was not in a sling when he left the locker room about 40 minutes after the game was over, and he was believed to have undergone X-rays on his ribs.
“It was before the goal, when I collided with [former Sabre Brad] May,” Vanek told The Buffalo News. “I went to hit him, and it happened there. I just finished the shift and felt it after. I knew right away and just tried to tough it out. After the shift, I just got it checked out.”
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Save Of The Night
by Paul on 03/13/09 at 08:22 AM ET
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Tomas Vokoun of the Panthers with a great glove save on Thomas Vanek of the Sabres. Buffalo did defeat Florida 3-1.
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Vanek Expected Back For Sabres Next Game
by Paul on 03/02/09 at 07:05 PM ET
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from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News,
Vanek, who has missed the last nine games with a broken jaw suffered Feb. 7 in Ottawa, skated fully in contact drills Monday and proclaimed himself ready to take the ice against the Habs.
“That’s the plan for right now,” Vanek said. “It’s always tough to watch the team, especially when they’re not winning. That makes it even tougher. If you’re watching the game and you’re out injured or a healthy scratch, you hate watching your team struggle and lose. It’s nice to get back and hopefully help out."…
Ruff said winger Maxim Afinogenov is “definitely a possibility” to make the lineup Wednesday as well if he’s not traded. Afinogenov, who was battling groin and hip injuries, has been healthy for two weeks and reiterated for reporters Monday what he told The News Saturday on Long Island—he wants back on the ice or he wants out of Buffalo.
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Vanek Not Sure When He Will Return
by Paul on 02/19/09 at 08:26 AM ET
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from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News,
Thomas Vanek is back doing some light exercise but the Buffalo Sabres’ leading scorer says returning in 3-4 weeks from his fractured jaw may be an overly optimistic timetable.
“I hope that I haven’t lost too much of my fitness but we’ll see about that once I start skating again,” Vanek wrote in a diary entry posted on his official Web site for fans in his native Austria. “The doctors said that I would miss at least four weeks altogether but it also could be five to six weeks. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
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Vanek Out With Fractured Jaw
by Paul on 02/08/09 at 06:17 PM ET
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BUFFALO, NY (February 8, 2009) --- Buffalo Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier today announced that Thomas Vanek fractured his jaw when he was hit in the face with a puck during last night’s game vs. Ottawa. Vanek had successful surgery on his jaw today in Buffalo, and will be sidelined for at least 3-4 weeks.
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If Vanek Were In Edmonton
by Paul on 02/04/09 at 04:11 PM ET
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from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,
We can’t help but harp back to the Edmonton angle. Not only would the Oilers not have Penner on their hands right now if the Sabres had not matched, but they would have an elite forward to play with star winger Ales Hemsky, something the local Edmonton media has pointed out as a major issue with right now.
For as much heat as former Oilers GM/now team president Kevin Lowe got around the league in the summer of 2007, give him credit on this point—he was right about Vanek being worth the money.
more and some Pogge talk too…
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All Thomas Vanek
by Paul on 10/20/08 at 03:45 PM ET
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The First Star of the Week, Thomas Vanek took part in a tele-conference today....
Q. When you’re a goal scorer, is there a lot more weight put on you than if you’re a point producer? Is there a lot more pressure on guys who are known as goal scorers?
THOMAS VANEK: Sure, I mean, just like you said, I mean, it’s a good label and a bad label at the same time. I think if you’re known as a goal scorer, you want to be the one putting up the goals. Guys who are just known as point guys sometimes get away with I think a lot of maybe second assists or so.
But at the same time I think it is a team sport. Like myself, I’m not too worried about goals and points. Always at the end of the year you look back and you obviously want to be up there in the top 20 or top 15 in goal scoring.
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A Different Year For Vanek
by Paul on 10/17/08 at 05:39 PM ET
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from Matt Higgins at Slap Shot of the NYT,
Asked if he is faster this year, Vanek laughed. “I feel the same as the year before,” he said. “A lot of it has to do with confidence. Right now I feel good about myself. I’m getting my ice time. Any time you’re getting the ice time, gaining the coach’s trust, you feel better.
“Maybe the years before you had a couple bad shifts and all of a sudden you’re not playing anymore,” he said.
“You start thinking about things too much. Instead of doing the obvious thing and jumping into holes and going after loose pucks, you sit back and make sure you don’t do anything wrong.”
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Vanek Set Up for Failure
by Alanah McGinley on 01/10/08 at 12:06 PM ET
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From Brian Duff at The Hockey News,
At 23-and-a-half, he had the world by the tail. Six months later, his family’s finances secure for generations to come, the world of hockey is spinning him by the tail, in a tale of too much too soon for a player who has yet to complete his third NHL season.
On Jan. 19, Thomas Vanek will turn 24. And try as he might to live up to the pressure of a seven-year pact worth $50 million, nothing on the ice is going his way.
You know, it’s funny. When Vanek signed his long-term deal, a lifelong supporter of the team suggested to me “a contract like this could kill his career.” Sadly, her foreshadowing has been accurate so far.
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Three Sabres Coming Together
by Alanah McGinley on 12/18/07 at 11:56 AM ET
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From Mike Harrington at The Buffalo News,
“At times I wasn’t playing well and the other two guys were playing good,” Vanek said after practice Monday in the Amherst Pepsi Center. “Then maybe I had a few better games. Right now, we’re just finally playing all three on the same page, playing well at the same time and that makes a difference.”
Roy, in fact, is tied with Calgary’s Daymond Langkow for the best December plus-minus in the league at plus-10 and Vanek isn’t far behind at plus-7. Roy has 11 points in eight games this month, just three off the league lead.
“As a line, we’re getting to know each other and where we’ve got to be,” Roy said. “Team-wise, we’ve clamped down on things, we’re collapsing in the defensive zone, guys are blocking shots and Ryan [goaltender Ryan Miller] is making some great saves.”
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Tags: Derek+Roy, Drew+Stafford, Thomas+Vanek,
More Money Doesn’t Mean More Ice Time
by Paul on 12/01/07 at 08:25 AM ET
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from the Buffalo News,
No one in the NHL is getting a bigger paycheck this season than Vanek. His $10 million salary ties him with Philadelphia’s Daniel Briere and the New York Rangers’ Scott Gomez. Yet of the 10 highest-paid forwards, Vanek lags way behind in time on ice.
Gomez (19:58) and Briere (19:13) are much busier. Tampa Bay’s Brad Richards, fifth on the pay scale, leads forwards at 24:56 per game — eight minutes more than Vanek. The only player in the top 10 of pay who’s relatively close to Vanek is New Jersey’s Patrik Elias, and he still gets 1:14 more per game at 18:02.
Vanek’s total ice time of 386:27 is tied for 139th among NHL forwards.
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Vanek Feeling Pressure
by Paul on 11/09/07 at 08:09 AM ET
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from the Buffalo News,
With the Sabres’ record at 6-7-1, it’s clearly become bothersome for Vanek. His coach has noticed, his teammates have noticed and so has anyone who’s been watching.
“Sometimes, his emotions are right out there for everyone to see how frustrated he is,” Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller said. “It’s going to be part of his maturing process. You can’t let the other team see that. There’s little talks with him, but I think that’s part of his personality. I’m kind of OK with him doing it. I think he plays his best hockey when he’s holding himself accountable. It’s just you don’t want to get to the point where you’re beating yourself up.”
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Tags: buffalo+sabres, goalies, ryan+miller, Thomas+Vanek,
Sabres Looking For Consistent Vanek
by Paul on 10/02/07 at 10:13 AM ET
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from Sabres Edge at the Buffalo News,
“I need Thomas to play like he’s a $900,000 player because it seemed to do pretty good last year,” Ruff said with a laugh after this morning’s practice in HSBC Arena. “That’s my analogy. Just because you’re making more money doesn’t mean you have to change as a player. My expectations of him don’t change."…
“If he can be consistent with last year, that would be a darn good year for Thomas,” Ruff said. “Is it realistic to think he can go from 25 [goals] to 44 to 70-something? I don’t think so. But if we can keep him in that consistent area and have him be that 40- to 50-goal scorer, that would be pretty good.”
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