Through the first week of the NHL season, former Minnesota Wild winger Thomas Vanek is off to a solid start with the Detroit Red Wings.
Entering Wednesday’s game against the New York Rangers, Vanek leads Detroit in points with 2 goals and 3 assists.
The former Gopher hockey standout was bought out of his contract by the Wild this summer despite having a year left on his current deal.
When Vanek signed with the Wild in 2014, it was expected he would be a lethal goal-scorer but unfortunately, it didn’t work out.
Vanek scored just 21 and 18 goals respectively in his two years with the Wild, both career lows for a full season.
He also caused quite the stir before the start of last season when he felt he was more of ‘playmaker’ than goal scorer and he also expressed displeasure playing with a variety of different centers in his tenure with Minnesota.
Current St. Cloud State hockey coach Bob Motzko and former coach of Vanek’s told NHL.com:”It just never seemed to be a great fit for him in Minnesota. Though when you watched games you could see his creativity and his high hockey intelligence.
“Sometimes, I can guarantee you, he’s misread, because he cares deeply and he’s a team-first guy,”
