Published: October 21, 2008 10:59 pm      

SABRES: Vanek is living up to his big contract

BUFFALO — When Austrian Thomas Vanek started slowly last season after the Buffalo Sabres were forced to commit $43.6 million to keep him, he was more critical of his performance even than the news media were.

“He was very hard on himself,” said Buffalo general manager Darcy Regier. “He put a lot of pressure on himself, and that’s what we were concerned about when he got that deal.”

This season, Vanek might still be his own harshest critic, but thus far, he has nothing to criticize because he has seven goals in his first six games.

After Buffalo’s first five games, Vanek was tied for first with Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin for MVP honors in USA Today’s Power Rankings, and Vanek’s Sabres were fourth in the team rankings. The San Jose Sharks were No. 1.

“No one talked to me,” Vanek said. “I put the same pressure on myself this year as I did last year. And this year it’s working out.”

Vanek made $10 million last season, thanks to a six-year offer sheet from the Edmonton Oilers that the Sabres opted to match. It distressed him when he only netted 12 goals in his first 41 games.

“I would never say (the reason) I started slow was because of the contract,” Vanek said. “I would never excuse myself for that.”

Vanek came to the United States at age 14 to put himself on a path to the NHL, starting in the United States Hockey League before going to the University of Minnesota.

“The people that know me know that it has never been about the money,” he said. “I left at an early age from back home to chase my dream of playing in the NHL and win a Stanley Cup. The money is not going to change the work I do in the offseason.”

Even after a slow start, Vanek ended up with a 36-goal season in 2007-08. Counting last season, Vanek now has 15 goals in his past 15 NHL games.

“In the second half of last year, coach Lindy Ruff gave me a little bit more ice time, a bit more responsibilities,” Vanek said. “With that my minutes went up, and I kind of stayed in the game better, got a better flow of the game.”

He’s now up to a little more than 20 minutes a game, an increase of more than three minutes from last season’s average.

“I think that has been a tremendous help for me the first week of the season, getting some ice time on the penalty kill playing a lot of minutes. It makes the game a little easier,” Vanek said.