Thomas Vanek Hit By Puck, Thumb “Throbbing”

Thomas Vanek took a Ryan Suter slapshot off the hand at 6:14 of the second period in Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Kings. Vanek was jostling for position in front of the net and took a shove from Robyn Regehr, which threw him into the line of fire.

After the shot, Vanek finished his shift before heading to the locker room and not returning for the second half of the second period. He returned to the game for the third period, which would indicate that he’s all right.

See the injury here:

Different angle:

In a post-game interview Vanek said that his thumb was “throbbing” and that “squeezing the stick wasn’t the easiest, but it was good enough to come back” to the game.

Vanek wound up playing 17:45, so despite missing a little over half a period of the game, he logged some good ice time.

Vanek currently has one assist through four games as a member of the Minnesota Wild. He looked like he was finding his rhythm in the first two games and looked much better on the two-game California road trip where the Wild arguably outplayed both opponents, despite losing both games. In those two games Vanek’s presence was felt around the net, he was getting pucks into the slot for teammates, and registered nine shots while logging nearly 18 minutes both nights.

Vanek may start to feel the heat soon and have fans demanding that score some goals, but he will. I still believe he’s better than Dany Heatley.