2008 July 31 | Honk if you love justice!

Archive for July 31st, 2008

Jul 31, 2008 NHL

Thanks to valorfaerie at flickr

Sabres.com put up a feature on TV’s stats from this past year, and it got me thinking about him again. I’ve defended him in this space before, and I must’ve inspired him as the next month he ripped it up big time. Here’s a few key things for the sourpusses out there to consider this season:

Thomas Vanek was credited with 9 game-winning goals, 2 of which were OT winners. Remember that the Sabres only won 39 games last year…so he had the winning tally in nearly 25% of games. Chris Drury had 5 last year, and 9 in his last Sabres season BTW. Briere had 3 last season and 4 in his final season in Buffalo. By the way, check out the sponsor for Danny at Hockey-Reference.
19 goals on the power play, behind only Alexander Ovechkin.
20 points in February, when the Sabres really needed to make up ground in the standings. Everybody mentions how he struggled early in the year, but you don’t hear much about that.
36 goals, in a season when he had that rough start (and the eyes of every fan and media member drilling into him).
He’s missed only 1 game since making the big show after the lockout. He works in front of the net a lot, and still manages to stay in the mix night after night.

I’ll be accused of fanboyism, or of having a mancrush, but whatever. I like the guy, and I’ll be very happy when he scores 40+ goals this season.