Former Wild Forward Thomas Vanek Joins Sharks Scouting Department

Thomas Vanek played over 1,000 games in the NHL with eight different teams where he racked up 373 goals and 789 points in 14 seasons. He played two years with the Wild.

Before his days in the NHL, Vanek played two seasons at the University of Minnesota where he collected 57 goals and 113 points in 83 total games in the Maroon and Gold. 

The last time the Wild made it to the second round of the NHL playoffs was in 2015 when they beat the St. Louis Blues in round one in six games and eventually got swept by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round. 

Vanek was on the team during both rounds and put up four assists in 10 games. 

The former first round pick by the Buffalo Sabres still lives in Minnesota today. After he retired in 2019, Vanek returned to Minnesota to coach his son's hockey team. 

He recently was hired as the Stillwater High School hockey assistant coach alongside another former Wild player in Greg Zanon. 

Vanek's son, Blake, will be entering his junior season with the Ponies. 

The Sharks have hired Vanek to be an amateur scout where he will stay locally in Minnesota and scout. The Sharks' general Manager, Mike Grier, was teammates with Vanek for three seasons in Buffalo.

Vanek has called Minnesota home for a bit now after playing his college hockey for the Gophers and playing over 150 games with the Wild. He was born in Austria and has the most goals, assists, points and games played in the NHL as an Austrian. 

He recently let Marco Rossi, the Wild's top prospect and 2020 first-round pick, live with him in Minnesota when Rossi was recovering and has been a big help in showing Rossi the ropes of playing professionally in America. 

Vanek, 39, joins another former Sabres teammate, Ryan Miller, in the hockey operations jobs the Sharks announced earlier.