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Thomas Vanek Officially Retires From the NHL

According to a report by The DerStandard, former NHL forward Thomas Vanek is officially hanging up his NHL skates and calling it a career in the NHL.

According to a report by The DerStandard, former NHL forward Thomas Vanek is officially hanging up his NHL skates and calling it a career in the NHL.

Vanek had options at the start of the season but didn’t sign. “Obviously I did not want to sign at the start of the regular season because I wasn’t 100% committed,” Vanek said. As the season wore on, things came up. Eventually, it sort of became too late.

“If I don’t go anywhere today, then yes, I’m done. I’m okay with that,” Vanek said when speaking with Andrew Peters and Craig Rivet on The Instigators on Monday. There wasn’t any talk of interested teams leading into the day and Vakek wasn’t on any of the rumor radars. Still, Vanek was hoping he might get a phone call. His agent, Steve Bartlett reached out to a few top teams to gauge interest as a free agent and possible depth/insurance player for a playoff push.

Vanek, 36, scored 16 goals and 36 points in 64 games for the Detroit Red Wings last season; 373 goals in his NHL career.

Even as that didn’t happen, Vanek said:

“I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished and whatever, and it’s been such a fun year being home and coaching my boys. I’m happy to be a dad at home. That’s been awesome, so no, I wouldn’t train and try to come back next year.”

Vanek was a player that moved around a lot of his NHL career wound down. He played parts of 14 NHL seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota Wild, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Vancouver Canucks and Columbus Blue Jackets. He had not appeared in an NHL game since March 23, 2019 while in his second stint with the Detroit Red Wings.

Congratulations on a long NHL career.

Related: Joe Thornton Comments, Upset He Wasn’t Traded

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