I warned you. I had a feeling that there wouldn’t be any offers of value for Vanek. Not because he’s not a worthy pick-up, but because no team needed him enough to give up anything of value when they have already been told the only place he wants to go is Minnesota.
Isn’t it ironic that Minnesota is where the guy he was traded for got traded to? The Wild gave Buffalo two second round picks for Moulson’s services. Will Matt Moulson and Thomas Vanek be forever linked? Yes, forever a footnote in hockey history “This date in 2014.…
But while I said from the get-go that the Vanek for Moulson trade was a huge raging mistake, I also understand what was behind it. There was a hope that Vanek would be so taken with playing along side John Tavares and Kyle Okposo that he would accept the truck load of money the Islanders were willing to throw at him and forget about a dream of playing for the Wild.
Art Staple of Newsday has this quote from Vanek before his departure.
"I expected a lot more out of all of us," he said. "Looking back, that line with me, Okie [Kyle Okposo] and Johnny, it was the best line I've ever been on.…
So here’s the thing. Why would ANY team take a chance of forking over valuable assets and first round draft picks when they KNOW he has already rejected a sizable offer? Vanek’s agent, Steve Bartlett, broke that tidbit in early February also saying that Vanek would be testing free agency in July. So why not wait and present offers then? Why give the desperate Islanders, who without John Tavares, are going nowhere this season, anything they can use in the future? Vanek had lost his luster, he just wasn't that attractive to gamble on.
"It wasn't a very active market," Snow told Newsday Wednesday afternoon, shortly after the 3 p.m. ET deadline passed. There were certainly lots of players moved, but the Islanders' GM meant the offers were not pouring in for rentals like Vanek.
Actually, if I were GM of the Islanders, and my phone wasn’t ringing, and the only deal I could get for Thomas Vanek was not really a deal, I would have kept him in the line-up and worked him until he dropped. But that’s just me.
The Isles play tomorrow in Edmonton. Mike Halmo and Matt Donovan have joined the team and should be in the line-up tomorrow. The show must go on, and while the remaining games mean nothing, they are a showcase for jobs for next season.
We can be angry. We can be upset. We can be dissappointed. We are not the only ones. And… we just have to get over it. Just another footnote in the Islanders’ history book.