Minnesota Wild: Is Keeping Thomas Vanek Such a Bad Thing?

Today marks the beginning of a 15-day period where NHL franchises will be able to execute contract buyouts.  Many think that the Minnesota Wild have no choice but to buyout maligned forward Thomas Vanek.  Still with the penalties involved and the potential for a rebound, is keeping Vanek such a bad thing?

The biggest buzz around the State of Hockey right now seems to be if the Minnesota Wild will buyout Thomas Vanek from the last year of his contract.  This is a rumor that seems to have been swirling since at least January when the team was in the midst of an epic slump.  Today represents the first possible day NHL teams can buy out players for a 15-day period till Jun 30th, and as far as many people are concerned the Wild should the have signed the paper work to buy out Vanek in to the league office right at 5 pm EST sharp.

Since his signing before the 2014-15 season, Vanek has been expected to put the puck in the net and put points on the board.  The former Gopher and 40-goal scorer, has had a weight as big as Lake Minnetonka on his back since returning to Minnesota.  In his two seasons with the Wild he’s notched 21 and 18 goals and yet it has not been enough to quench the thirst of the fans for more scoring.

The issue really seems to revolve around Vanek’s salary, and that while his production which has been solid by modern NHL standards many seem to think it does not call for his $6.5 million cap hit which is third highest on the team.  That in-turn leads to questions of effort.  Basically people tend to ask if he’s making 30-40 goal scorer money, then why is he not scoring 30 or 40 goals?

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It’s a phenomenon that basically has labeled Vanek as a lazy player.  The idea that he has the talent to score at a higher level than he has made it very easy to draw the conclusion that lack of effort may be to blame.  In the case of Vanek that might be a bit unfair to completely blame it all on his effort.  After all, Vanek has been injured with a rib injury at the end of this season, and a groin injury at the end of last season.

Still many seem not to care and find his injuries a bit of a distraction from the underline issue of his lack of effort.  To undervalue the impact of his injuries might be a bit unfair, because in the case of this past season it certainly kept Vanek from scoring over 20 goals.  The season before that he scored 21 goals, but played almost half of his season on a groin that eventually required surgery.   So it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that he would have scored over 30 goals, but will never know for sure.

“I’m not happy with my year, but at the same time, I truly still believe that I’m a 30-goal scorer in this league.” -Thomas Vanek, from Star Tribune Interview

Vanek is still a competitor.  He still has the drive to want to play well, and recognizes that he needs to improve.  Back in April he explained to Michael Russo in an interview for the Star Tribune that “I’m not happy with my year, but at the same time, I truly still believe that I’m a 30-goal scorer in this league.”  He has the god given talent, and unless he’s lying to Russo, he’s got the drive to play well.  Had he given a defensive statement, you could make the case that he’s a lost cause.  But he’s staying positive and looking to the future which is a great start.

Finally, it seems that people see a buyout of Vanek as a way to gain cap space to acquire new forward help.  Sure the $5 million gained from the buyout would go a long way to signing a player, or giving the Wild the cap space to trade for a great player.  The Wild have the space to possibly acquire at least one blue-chip name without buying out Vanek as they will have according to Russo $10 million for free-agency.  Also if they were to buyout Vanek to bring in say Kyle Okposo or David Backes, both only scored four and three more goals than Vanek making for a situation where production wise you are bringing in the same player.  And while that might seem fine on the surface, the Wild will actually pay more in the long run for the same amount of goals due to buyout penalties.

So the question before the Wild is actually pretty simple.   Do they think Vanek can return to 30 goal scorer form as he is claiming he can, or do they think he’s done and there is nothing left in the tank?  A buyout of Vanek will cost the team extra monetarily for the possibility of adding a better producer than him.  On the other hand, keeping Vanek will incur no penalties and might actually provide that same possibility of adding scoring if he returns to 30 goal form.

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Buying out Vanek is about Vanek and his abilities.  To make the decision to buy him out says the Wild no longer believe in him and they are willing to pay a little extra to move on.  Like all decisions in life whatever the Wild do there might not be a right or wrong answer, there will just be a result they live with.  But with a new coach, the Wild’s decision might already be made.  Vanek’s agent Steve Barlett explains best what keeping Vanek might do “Maybe Bruce has exactly the right message to get the most out of Thomas and play to your pluses and find a way to work around your liabilities.”