WOW
u people are all way off on Vanek. He came to NA to play hockey. He could have been lazy and dominated in Austria or wherever he wanted to play in Europe. He has dedication and a good work ethic. He plays a simple game, not a lazy game. He sees the ice and knows where and who is on the ice with him. Lemieux and Gretzky did the same thing. You wonder what in the world the guys were thinking and then the puck is in the net. Vanek is no Lemieux or Gretzky but he is as comfortable out there. He is not a hard working grinder. His back checking is suspect or, if you ever watched the man play over a course of a season, you would notice he intercepts a lot of passes because he can read plays. He uses his intellegence to see what is going on, then reacts. And he can do it on the fly. He may not look fast but i have yet to see him get caught from behind. And he does play in front of the net not affraid of contact at all, he does prefer to play in space. He does like to lean into guys and carry them to the net with him. Call him lazy or a bust if you want. But the kid IS a hard worker that is coachable, and most importantly he is having fun, He has said he is happy to be in college and be in MN. Hockey is not a chore for him, it is a time for him to go out and prove himself, And he wants to be the best.
And who ever said he dominates a bad league. The WCHA and college hockey is way underratted. In the last few years you have. Leopold, Hale, Martin, Taffe, Pohl, Heatley, Reinprect, Roche, Senja all who are very close to making NHL rosters, Then Ballard, Sutter, Parise, Stuart, Tallackson are all first rounders. Thats just a few from the WCHA.