Homecoming ends as Wild buy out final year of Vanek's contract
Thomas Vanek called it a "beyond his wildest dreams" when he signed with the Minnesota Wild before the 2014-15 season.
But the homecoming for Vanek, who played at the University of Minnesota, came to a quicker end than expected when the Wild bought out the final year of his three-year, $19.5 million contract Friday Vanek will now be an unresticted free agent.
"In order to give our team more salary cap flexibility we needed to make this difficult decision," Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher said in a release. "We thank Thomas for his time with the Minnesota Wild and wish him the best going forward."
In two years with the Wild, Vanek had 39 goals and 54 assists in 154 games, with a plus/minus of -15. In his career, Vanek has 316 goals and 333 assists and is a +26. He had four seasons of 30+ goals with Buffalo and recorded 27 goals and 41 assists for three teams in 2013-14, the season before coming to Minnesota.
"Unfortunately for our situation we needed to clear some cap space and that was the easiest way for us to get the space we feel we need to move forward this summer," Fletcher told Wild.com.
Vanek had no goals and four assists in Minnesota's playoff run of 2014-15 but didn't play in the postseason this past year due to broken ribs.
Vanek, who was a first-round draft pick of the Sabres in 2003, will be 33 in January.
