Sure it would be great if he’d score some goals, but the lack of scoring isn’t what’s bothering me. He has a ridiculous number of undisciplined penalties this year and the VAST majority of them are blatant cases of him being a step behind and hacking away at someone til he gets a slash/hook/trip call against him because he’s too slow to get in position to play D properly. It’s not like he’s playing Campbell’s ice time and it’s not like this only happens at the end of games…there’s a consistant lack of either effort or conditioning throughout the game in the second half of any 45-60 second shift.
None of us really know if it’s lack of effort or lack of conditioning. I really don’t care which it is…maybe he works out but he needs to put more time in than the other guys to get where he needs to be. One way or the other he needs to find a way to make it happen or he’ll continue aggrevating me LOL.
I’d rather watch guys like Paille, Kalleta, etc. going balls to the wall on every back check all night than a Vanek who occasionally pulls a nice move, but doesn’t show the hustle I enjoy seeing. I play ice hockey and I know what it takes to shift a minute at a time full blast. They’re professionals and far too many of them make it happen for me to say Vanek isn’t slacking.