Thomas Vanek
Thomas Vanek (born 19 January 1984 in Baden) is an Austrian ice hockey player who plays for the Canadiens de Montréal in the National Hockey League in March 2014. In 2007, he was Austria's sportsman of the year. He is the highest paid athlete in Austria and in 2007 was sometimes the best -paid hockey player in the world.
- 2.1 International
- 4.1 International
Career
Vanek came two years after fleeing his parents from Czechoslovakia (his father is Czech, Slovakian his mother ) in Baden to the world. He is in Zell am See (Salzburg) and in Graz (Styria ) grew up, where his father, the Czech ice hockey player Zdeněk Vanek, was dedicated. This was training to November 2005 in Graz the next generation of EC Graz 99ers. Zdeněk plays itself still actively and enthusiastically in the NHL Graz ( Styrian a Hobby League ) at the Dolphins.
In 1998 he emigrated, then 14 years old, in the U.S.. In North America, began his career in the team of Sioux Falls O'Gorman High School ( Sioux Falls Stampede ) in the Junior League USHL. His best year there was the last, as the 188 cm winger 46 goals and 91 points in 53 games made . He was top scorer and third best assist provider in the league. His club career was founded in 2002 as the first Europeans at the University of Minnesota on. In his two years he made 113 points scorer. He became the 73rd player in the University, who reached the 100 -point mark there. NHL Entry Draft 2003, he was drawn by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round in fifth place. In the 2004/05 season he played with the Rochester Americans ( AHL ), where he recorded 73 points in 79 games and finished second in the points list in the regular season.
In the 2005/2006 season, he completed 81 of 82 games in the regular season for the Buffalo Sabres, scoring 25 goals and 23 assists. In the play-offs Buffalo reached the Conference Finals, Vanek was not recorded frequently in the squad and so came only on 10 missions, where he scored two goals. His goal on 28 April 2006 against the Philadelphia Flyers is also the first goal scored by an Austrian NHL playoff goal.
In the regular season the 2006/2007 season Vanek won the first Austrian and be the first Sabre since 1980 the NHL Plus / Minus Award with 47 in 82 games. With 43 goals scored in the regular season, he managed in these statistics to fifth place and was the top scorer of his team. He also presented with the Sabres to start a record of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1993 with ten wins in the first ten games. On 9 December 2006 he decided the game his Sabres against the Montreal Canadiens in the shootout, in which he defeated the Canadiens goalie with a slap shot. He was only the second player after Brian Rolston to have managed.
Vanek and his team started well in the playoffs and eliminated in the first round of the New York Islanders 4-1. He recorded it two goals and two assists. In Conference semifinals against the New York Rangers, he scored three goals, two of them in the first game and the winning goal in the second game. The Sabres won the series 4-2.
In the Conference Finals the Sabres played against the Ottawa Senators. The Canadians won the series 4-1. Thomas Vanek was able to achieve two assists and a goal.
In July 2007, Vanek was a restricted free agent and received an offer from the Edmonton Oilers, who offered him 50 million dollars for seven years. Buffalo but moved to coincide with the offer of the Oilers and was thus able to keep Vanek, Buffalo would have otherwise received from the Oilers four first-round draft picks as compensation. This Thomas Vanek is the highest paid athlete in Austria.
Thomas Vanek leads, according to the players' union NHLPA together with Daniel Briere and Scott Gomez, the salary rankings and was thus at the time of signature of the bestverdienende hockey player in the world. In October 2007, he was elected as the first hockey player to the Austrian Sportsman of the Year.
On 12 February 2008 in the game with the Ottawa Senators and he managed his first hat trick in the NHL. In the same season he scored two hat-tricks against Tampa Bay Lightning and one in the last game against the Boston Bruins. Nevertheless, the Sabres missed the play-offs. Due to the early exit, it was Vanek for the first time since 2005, when he took part in the qualifiers for the Olympic tournament in 2006, possible aground for the Austrian national team. He participated in the World Ice Hockey Championships ( Division I) in Innsbruck, where he managed the team 's re-emergence in the A pool.
Vanek scored 13 December 2008 in the away game against the New Jersey Devils after 70 seconds, the 10,000 NHL goal in club history, the Buffalo Sabres.
On February 7, 2009 in an away game against the Ottawa Senators, Vanek got a slap shot of the Ottawa defenseman Anton Volchenkov the puck in the face and broke his jaw. For Vanek it was the first serious injury in his NHL career. Despite the injury, he managed to finish the season as the best power-play scorer (20 goals) in the NHL. Since his return to the ice Vanek played with a special visor helmet.
After the Sabres missed the play-offs, Vanek broke his promise made as every year one to play in this case for the national team and appeared at the World Cup in Switzerland. There, however, he could not prevent the team had to Austria in the relegation round and despite two victories in the league not make it there. Since one of the sporting relegated Germany was that qualified automatically as hosts of the next World Cup, Austria was relegated to Division I.
On 9 July 2010, Vanek was handed over during a visit to Zell am See from the Deputy Mayor role of honor for his services for the city services. The panel is attached to the goal of winning at the Zeller ice rink.
In the first game of the season 2012/13 he scored for the first time in his NHL career 5 points in a game, these points he repeated performance against the Boston Bruins a few days later.
For the 2013/14 season Thomas Vanek has been named Head Coach Ron Rolston was the first Austrian in NHL history to captain an NHL team, he led this office in home games in away games Steve Ott took over this role.
After just two wins in their first 13 games Vanek was issued Islanders in the NHL at the New York. The change became apparent also to its only until the summer of 2014 current contract since the last trade deadline. The Buffalo Sabres were given in return for Vanek the attacker Matt Moulson, and a first-round draft pick in 2014 and a second-round pick for 2015. The Islanders, he played mainly with John Tavares and Kyle Okposo in the first row and scored as 44 points in 47 games.
A few minutes before the Trade Deadline Vanek was transferred on March 5, 2014 the Canadiens de Montréal, the charges for Sebastian Collberg and under certain conditions, a second-round vote in the NHL Entry Draft in 2014 to the Islanders. Vanek had previously turned down a contract extension with the Islanders and would not have been bound after the season as a free agent by the Islanders.
Internationally
Vanek was appointed to the Austrian team for the Junior World Championship 2001, where he was selected to be equal to the best strikers in the year 2001. He then also at the Junior World Championships in 2003 ( which took place in December 2002 and in Austria the rise in the highest class managed ) and 2004 part. At the same time his first appearance at a World Cup A in the Austrian national team followed in 2004.
Awards and achievements
- 2002 USHL First All -Star Team
- 2002 USHL MVP
- 2003 WCHA All- Rookie Team
- 2003 WCHA Second All-Star Team
- 2003 WCHA Rookie of the Year
- 2003 NCAA Championship All- Tournament Team
- 2003 NCAA Championship Tournament MVP
- 2004 WCHA Second All-Star Team
- 2004 NCAA West Second All-American Team
- 2005 AHL All- Rookie Team
- 2007 NHL Young Stars Game
- 2007 NHL Second All-Star Team
- 2007 NHL Plus / Minus Award
- 2009 NHL All-Star Game
Internationally
- 2002 Best striker in the U20 Junior World Championship Division I, Group A
- 2003 promotion to the top division at the U20 Junior World Championship Division I
- 2003 Best scorer of the U20 Junior World Championship Division I, Group B
- 2008 promotion to the top division at the World Championships Division I
- 2008 Top scorer of the world championship of Division I, Group A
- 2008 All- Star team in the world championship of Division I, Group A
Others
In November 2009, Thomas Vanek announced on his website that he has established with the 26ers AAA youth team ITR own youth team. The team will be based in Minneapolis and junior players the opportunity to workout summer months from April to September to improve their skills.
Career Stats
Internationally
Represented Austria at:
- U20 World Junior Championships Division I 2002
- U20 World Junior Championships Division I 2003
- U20 Junior World Championship 2004
- World Cup 2004
- World Championship Division I 2008
- World Cup 2009
( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )