At long last, Vanek returns to Minnesota

It felt like an eternity — or about as long as he was rumored to be Minnesota-bound as a July 1, 2014, free agent — but every time you looked up Thursday, Thomas Vanek was being escorted from room to room in the bowels of Xcel Energy Center.

Wearing his Iron Range red, No. 26 Wild sweater for the first time, there were media guide head shots to take and newspaper portraits to pose in. There were sitdowns with the local TV stations and videos to shoot that will soon be displayed on the Wild's brand-spanking-new center-ice scoreboard.

Vanek signed autograph after autograph, snapped pictures with old Buffalo Sabres pal Jason Pominville and recorded two-dozen radio liners like, "This is Thomas Vanek, and you're listening to Wild radio."

Vanek, 30, took part in nine "media days" with the Buffalo Sabres, but this one? Let's just say it finally set in Thursday that Vanek, the Austrian-born former Gophers star, will soon be playing for his hometown Wild.

"They don't mess around here," Vanek said as he made about his 15th lap down a hallway.

After three weeks of skating informally with his new teammates, Vanek will finally take the ice in his first Wild training camp Friday.

"I think you get to the point where summer hockey's enough and you just want to get going," Vanek said. "Usually I'm moving [back to Buffalo]. This week, since we're coming here and I get to actually spend time in the locker room, it's slowly setting in. Once the kids started school, it kind of hit that we are staying."

It's hard to believe because it sure felt like the anticipation of Vanek signing with Minnesota began brewing immediately after Zach Parise and Ryan Suter signed with the Wild two years ago. Starting a three-year, $19.5 million deal, Vanek could give the Wild an element it so needs — a natural goal scorer, one who has scored 40 goals twice and at least 25 goals in all eight of his full seasons.

And for Vanek, it gives him a chance to play for a team many feel is on the rise.

"I was looking for the right fit, not just because I call this place home," said Vanek, who lives in the Lake Elmo area of Washington County. "I'm not ignorant to the thing, where I've been around for a few years now that before you know it, it's over. [Returning to Minnesota is] not something I waited for. It felt at this moment the right thing to do."

Pominville can't believe he and Vanek are on the same team again. Teammates for a decade in Rochester and Buffalo, they quickly became friends, linemates and eventually neighbors. In fact, when Pominville was traded to the Wild two seasons ago, it was Vanek who drove a shocked Pominville to the airport at 4 a.m. for his cross-country trek to meet his new team in Los Angeles.

"You look back, he's the guy that told me to give this place a shot," said Pominville, staring at Vanek across the locker room. "I was in shock and didn't really see [the trade] coming at all. I didn't know anything about this city, and he told me how much I'd like it."

Pominville did and signed a five-year, $26.5 million extension that starts this season. "To see us end up on the same team a few years later is crazy," he said.

Defenseman Keith Ballard also can't believe he's on the same team with Vanek 11½ years after winning an NCAA title together in 2003.

Vanek scored 57 goals and 113 points in 83 games over two team-leading years for the Gophers. In 2003, he was the Frozen Four MVP, beating Michigan in overtime in the semifinals and scoring the winning goal in the national championship game against New Hampshire.

"It was so much fun playing college together just because of the type of player and person he is," Ballard said. "Of course, I'm sure he'll yell at me a couple times like he did back then. On the bench, he'll tell you to give him the puck."

The Wild probably wouldn't mind that. This is a team that ranked 16th on the power play last season and finished tied for 24th in league scoring (2.43 goals per game). Since the start of 2005-06, Vanek has scored the eighth-most goals in the NHL (277 goals in 663 games), the third-most power-play goals (113), 556 points and is tied for 11th with 0.42 goals per game.

Everybody knows Vanek's a goal scorer. His net-front presence and shot are terrific and his ability to get stick-on-puck is, as Pominville calls it, "insane."

"His tipping ability and hand-eye coordination are legit. Like, I think he knows where he's tipping them," Pominville said. "Every time he gets the puck on his stick, something good can happen."

It's why coach Mike Yeo said, "I'm excited like you wouldn't believe to work with him."

The feeling is mutual.

"I like the way this team is," Vanek said. "You need good leadership, you need good older guys, and I think we have that, and to win, I think you need good young guys, and we have that, too. The mix is good. You don't win it on paper, but I felt there's plenty of good guys in here on and off the ice that we can grow as a team that come January and February become a team that will be tough to play against and have a chance to win."