Vanek: Returning home to Twin Cities was 'bonus' to joining Wild
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Even though he went from a rebuilder to a postseason contender, Jason Pominville wasn't 100-percent thrilled to uproot himself and his family and start anew in the Twin Cities.
It took some encouragement from an old friend at first. "You get comfortable in the space that you like, it's hard to leave," newly acquired winger and longtime Pominville confidant Thomas Vanek said. "So it was hard for him to leave, but obviously he came here. I told him a little bit about it. I told him it would be OK, 'You'll like it,' and I think within a week or so he called me back and said that he loves it."
Now, about a year after Vanek's old Buffalo teammate was dealt to the Wild, Vanek's finding the merits in his own advice.
Unless you spent the past year vacationing in Antarctica, recently learned to read and don't own a television, or punished yourself with some sort of hockey media fast, you're aware that Vanek's arrival -- return is more accurate -- in Minnesota was highly predictable, anticipated and premeditated. He played his college pucks just across the Mississippi. He and his family are extraordinarily tight with the Pominvilles, and he's quite chummy with former Gophers national championship teammate Keith Ballard and some of the other vets in the Wild dressing room. He spends his offseasons in Stillwater, Minn.
But this is different. This, in some ways, is home.
"It feels nice not to move and have a home and have the same home all year round," said Vanek, a Vienna, Austria native who earned 2003 Frozen Four MVP honors, scoring the game-winning goals in both games en route to Minnesota's NCAA championship. "So that's obviously a bonus."
After spending the first eight seasons of his NHL career in Buffalo, Vanek became familiar with the grind of picking up and starting over elsewhere. Early last season, Buffalo traded the prized goal scorer to the Islanders in a package that included Matt Moulson and a pair of future draft picks. Vanek played a total of 47 games before being shipped to Montreal in a deadline deal.
The 30-year-old, who's finished as a top 10 goals-per-game scorer three times -- most recently 2012-13, his last full season with the Sabres -- spent the entire season deflecting rumors he'd sign with the Wild as an unrestricted free agent. Then, in the first few hours of free agency July 1, he did, inking a three-year deal that pays him $6.5 million annually.
Vanek expressed unbridled enthusiasm that day. But in these, the first few days of training camp, he's begun downplaying the Minnesota angle.
Apparently, the honeymoon affair has graduated to a more serious relationship.
"That's all TV talk," Vanek said. "It doesn't matter if you're from Canada or whatever. It really doesn't matter.
"I think a lot of people assumed that I wanted to come here because I live here in the offseason, but like I said before, it's a bonus, but that's not why I came here. The reason why I wanted to come here is I liked the team, I liked the depth, I liked the veteran players that we have, I like the young guys and overall I think it's a good mix that can compete. Are we going to be the best team at the end? I don't know. It's early, but I think we have the potential to be."
Reasons aside, this has long been the suitable destination for Vanek. He turned down bigger money from other suitors, including the Islanders.
In somewhat of a role reversal, Vanek contemplated the possibilities with Pominville before making his final decision.
It wasn't a very volatile conversation.
"It didn't take much to convince him," said Pominville, who signed a five-year, $28 million extension last October. "I think ultimately this is where he wanted to be. He had the decision to make, but this is where he wanted to be and everyone's excited to have him, for sure."
Vanek gives the Wild -- who tied as the NHL's sixth-worst scoring team last year -- a much-needed finisher who can find the net in a variety of ways. It was on display from Day 1 of camp Friday, his teammates said.
"He is always dangerous when he's got the puck," fellow left winger Zach Parise said. "He's a great, underrated passer and everyone knows how good of a scorer he is. So he's going to be a really good addition for our lines and for our power play."
Vanek also, along with Parise, Pominville and Ryan Suter -- like Parise, a monumental 2012 free-agent signing -- is further smashing the stigma that Minnesota isn't a desired destination for top pro athletes.
At least not in the official state sport.
"I think definitely, for sure, winning helps, and having good people always helps, as well," said Pominville, who lived in the same neighborhood as Vanek twice in Buffalo (the two and their families aren't as geographically close this time around). "Plus it's a great city to live in and play, so I don't see why this wouldn't be a destination choice for other guys."
Said Parise: "(In hockey), you want to go to the cold place. You want to go to the place that has the great hockey fans. We're pretty lucky here."
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