Frozen Forensics: Thomas Vanek

Derek Gibson

2015-06-26

USATSI 8504672 154511096 lowres

Can Thomas Vanek rebound fantasy-wise from a disappointing season?

As I type this on Thursday, and it gets published on Friday, I would like to wish a very Happy McDavid Day to any Oiler fans out there. A great fan base that deserves some reversal of fortunes. I hope it works out, and I hope that myself and all the other writers for Dobber Hockey get to conduct hours upon hours of research for superb Edmonton Oiler fantasy performers.

OK, glad to get that out of the way, now onto this week's frustrated (I mean featured) player. Remember Christmas time as a kid? You would put together a "wish list" of things you wanted to be wrapped under the tree. Every now and then, you would get a shiny new toy that just quite didn't live up to your standards, an item that kept you awake at night leading up to X-Mas, only to disappoint you come that special morning. Well, what I just described was the 2014-15 season for Minnesota Wild fans and fantasy hockey owners for a one Thomas Vanek. After signing a big, three-year, 19.5 million dollar deal in the summer of 2014 with the Wild, much was expected of Vanek. To say that his final numbers and putrid playoff point totals were disappointing would be an understatement. Last season was a horror show for both Vanek and fantasy owners, but is there hope for the upcoming campaign? Let's take a look.

Assists

Points

+/-

-1

-5

-8

-2

-7

PIM's

PPG

All total, Vanek tallied 21 goals, 31 assists, -6, 37 PIM's, and the aforementioned five power play goals in 80 games. Very un-Thomas Vanek like to say the least.

There are a couple of alarming stats that jumped out to me. The first I've mentioned already, but I have to repeat it: five power play goals from a guy who once had single-season totals of 20, 19, and 15. You have to hope those numbers go up moving forward.

What could help those goal totals not only on the man advantage, but five-on-five play as well, rise? I'm glad you asked! He could really, truly stand to shoot the puck a lot more than he did in '14-'15. His shot totals for last season were 171 (2.13 per game). In that seven year span I spoke of earlier in which Vanek averaged 14 power play goals per season, he also averaged 216 shots on goal (2.8/game), with a career high of 240 one year. Thomas Vanek is getting paid to score goals, so it's pretty simple, actually so simple, Pierre McGuire could even figure it out: Shoot more, score more!

Again, with a career shooting percentage of 14.5%, his 2014-15 season of 12.3% was not that insanely far off for his career average. If he put 222 total shots on goal, at a 12.3% clip, that comes to 27 goals. You never know, those extra six goals may have resulted in winning one of your head to head weeks, allowing you to perhaps make an epic playoff run. Wishful thinking I know, but we all really just want Vanek to shoot more and score more, we're not asking for much!

To make matters worse for Vanek, I just read an article that stated he underwent surgery in early June to repair a sports hernia that bothered him for much of the second half of the season. Add up the injury and the inconsistent play, and Thomas Vanek's fantasy outlook for 2015-16 looks grim.

That's where stashing his name in your player queue could potentially pay off. By no means am I saying to put him up there with the likes of Patrick Kane, or maybe even Evander Kane for that matter. But we all know that most of the time, fantasy leagues are won with picks coming from the middle to late rounds. I would absolutely not draft Vanek anywhere before Round 10, but I would indeed keep an eye on him as your draft gets into the 12-13 round range. There, perhaps Thomas Vanek can turn things around, shoot the puck more, and make me, you, and Pierre McGuire look like we know what we're talking about.

Frozen Forensics: Ryan Spooner

Frozen Forensics: Steve Downie