What if Thomas Vanek Had Accepted the New York Islanders’ Extension Offer?

What if, is an eternal question for those people who love to dwell on the possibilities.  What if I had said yes to a certain job offer, or what if I just found the courage to ask a certain girl out how could it have changed my life?  These are the type of what if questions that can nag at a person for much of their life.  The same is true of sports.  The Hockey News had a great special issue back during the 2004-05 lockout called the Great Debates.  In the issue they tackled questions like who was the best individual talent of all time and who was the greatest goal scorer ever.  The issue also had a section simply called ‘what if.’  Posing fascinating questions like ‘what if the New Jersey Devils had won the Mario Lemieux derby’ and ‘what if Eric Lindros had played for Quebec?’  I began to think, what if Thomas Vanek had accepted a contact extension from the New York Islanders?

While asking a what if about Thomas Vanek does not have nearly the same general sex appeal of those previously mentioned ‘what if’s’ I wonder if Wild fans and even management are wishing they could have a mulligan in regards to the Austrian-born winger.  A $6.5 season deal that so far has yielded just 2 goals, 14 points in 25 games.  If Vanek had accepted the 7-year, $50 million extension just think of how things could be different, for both clubs.  Would the Wild still find themselves in 10th place in the Western Conference and the Islanders in 3rd in the Eastern Conference?

Thomas Vanek doing what he hasn’t done much for the Wild, scoring a goal. Jan 21, 2014; New York, NY, USA; New York Islanders left wing Thomas Vanek (26) scores a goal on New York Rangers goalie Cam Talbot (33) during the third period at Madison Square Garden. The New York Islanders won the game 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

For the Wild, not being able to sign Vanek would’ve freed up a lot of salary as well as opened up a spot on its Top 6.  While Vanek has struggled to establish any kind of permanent chemistry which has caused the team to bounce him from line to line.  As of right now the Wild are kind of at a loss as to where to place him.  The Wild may have chosen to pick up another goal scorer for its Top 6 like Radim Vrbata, Mike Cammalleri, Mike Ribeiro to name a few or perhaps they would’ve opened up more opportunities for younger wingers like Nino Niederreiter and Jason Zucker to step into prime roles.  Zucker and Niederreiter would provide more speed to the team’s top 6 so the team can play an up-tempo game.  The salary saved from Vanek may have given the Wild the room it needed to make a stronger offer towards Matt Niskanen plus given the team the flexibility to lock down its talented youngsters in Jonas Brodin, Niederreiter, Marco Scandella, and Charlie Coyle.  That would’ve meant Mathew Dumba and Christian Folin would’ve started the season in Iowa and I think they’d benefit from a full season in the American Hockey League.  Its harsh to say suddenly the Wild would be way better off, but whoever stepped into Vanek’s role would benefit from increased ice time including on the power play.  Niederreiter leads the Wild in power play goals already and that is with almost half the time Vanek has spent on the power play.  Vanek is presently 4th on the team in power play minutes.  Even with Vanek under contract the Wild have left themselves lots of cap space, currently ranking 24th in the NHL in team salary according to CapGeek.com.  So how would Vanek’s acceptance may have effected the Islanders?

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The Islanders made a bunch of moves in the wake of Vanek balking on their offer, adding Nikolai Kulemin, Mikhail Grabovski, Jaroslav Halak as well as trading picks and prospects for defensemen Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk to their roster to go along with its own collection of young talent.  Forward Brock Nelson and Leddy are set to be restricted free agents this summer, while Boychuk is set to be an unrestricted free agent but the rest of the team’s top 6 forwards are all under contract for next season.   If the Islanders would’ve managed to have kept Vanek they probably would not have signed Kulemin or Grabovski which many experts felt the Islanders vastly overpaid.  Kulemin and Grabovski haven’t been the reason the Islanders have been so good as much has it been the superior goaltending of Halak, so its possible they would be just as good as they were with Vanek.  Afterall Vanek had 17 goals, 44 points in 48 games with the Islanders last season where he had good chemistry with John Tavares.  Vanek did most of his damage at even strength so he’d be a negligible boost to the Islanders’ power play.  The Islanders have not been a big spending team and the $7 million he was to make is slightly less than what they’re currently paying Kulemin and Grabovski.  Without Vanek, the Islanders are 20th in payroll according to Cap Geek.com.

The Islanders paid a steep price for Vanek by dealing a 1st round pick this last summer and a 2nd round pick in this year’s draft  regardless of whether he signed their extension offer.  The team learned after they dealt Vanek that Brock Nelson and Anders Lee had the ability to contribute being a part of the Top 9.  It might be a ‘what if’ but if Vanek continues to spin his wheels as a member of the Wild it might be a possibility fans only wish were true.