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There were rumours throughout the NHL season that the Minnesota Wild would be a free agent destination for a particular top goal-scoring winger and, when free agency opened, they got their man. Numbers Game looks at the Wild signing Thomas Vanek. The Wild Get: LW Thomas Vanek. Vanek, 30, has been one of the most prolific goal-scorers in the game. Since 2006-2007, his 252 goals ranks fourth, behind Alex Ovechkin, Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk. Vanek is a four-time 30-goal scorer who has scored at least 20 goals in each of the last nine seasons. Only Ovechkin and Rick Nash have managed that same feat. So, with that goal-scoring resume, Vanek should have been incredibly appealing as a free agent, but there was the small matter of his slump in the playoffs that left a sour taste for some. Vanek had eight points in 10 games, through Game Six of the Boston series, but fell flat after that, managing two assists and a total of eight shots on goal in the next seven games. He played under 15 minutes in each of his last eight playoff games. For a season in which he played a career-high 19:21 per game, with the Sabres, Islanders and Canadiens, that role reduction made it clear that Vanek would be moving on from Montreal. This following a season during which he scored 15 points in 18 games with the Habs, giving him 68 points in 78 games while moving around the Eastern Conference. Which brings us to Minnesota, which had been linked to Vanek pretty much from the get-go of his contract year. Vanek played college hockey at the University of Minnesota. His wife is from Minnesota. The Wild would have Dany Heatleys $7.5-million cap hit coming off the books. Former Sabres teammate Jason Pominville was playing well for Minnesota. It was all lining up for Vanek with the Wild. Ultimately, nothing really changed that. Maybe a great playoff would have given Vanek more leverage on the open market, but he didnt sign a break-the-bank deal, inking for $19.5-million over three years. The $6.5-million annual cap hit is actually less than Vaneks previous contract, but when a player has a preferred destination, and particularly when he has earned a boatload of money in his career already (more than $57-million in his career, according to Cap Geek), there is an opportunity for a team to get him for less than the top price on the market. That Vanek was willing to accept a three-year term is a clear indication that Minnesota was his preferred location. When it comes to his game, Vanek doesnt use his size (6-foot-2, 205 pounds) very effectively, aside from when hes in front of the net, where he positions well for tip-ins, deflections, screens, etc. Throughout his career, Vanek hasnt been much of a puck possession player, varying up and down a little bit in relative terms from year to year, but Vanek has always been a high-percentage finisher in his own right and consistently had high on-ice shooting percentages (which includes others on the ice with him in 5-oin-5 play), so hes going to bring offence to Minnesota. Depending on how the Wild want their lines to shake out, Vanek should have either Mikael Granlund or Mikko Koivu -- two pass-first playmaking centres -- setting the table for him and if Vanek is getting opportunties -- he had a career-high 3.18 shots on goal per game last season -- take 25 goals to the bank, with 30 or 35 possible at the top end. This is a nice upgrade for the Wild, who made some noise in the playoffs and have added a premier goal-scorer to their mix and have done so without spending too much in order to get him. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Stitched Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys . Anaheim Ducks Reassign D Colby Robak to Norfolk Admirals (AHL). - Team Website D Eric Brewer (foot) removed from injured reserve. Wholesale Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys . Virtanen opened the scoring at 6:45 of the first period, then gave Canada a two-goal lead with a power-play goal 1:03 into the second. Sweden cut the lead in half when Daniel Muzito Bagenda scored a power-play goal at 10:57 of the second. http://www.cheapbengals.com/139u-cheap-germaine-pratt-jersey-bengals.html . Jeter doubled high off the left-field wall and scored on Jacoby Ellsburys first hit in pinstripes in the fifth. 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Pedroia reached the milestone with a little panache, hitting a grand slam in the sixth inning and propelling the Boston Red Sox to a 7-1 win over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.Tampa Bay’s defence gets better with Hedman’s return, a rookie burns the Oilers and the Habs’ number one defenceman plays like it; lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Victor Hedman – Accumulated three assists in Tampa Bay’s 6-3 win over the New York Rangers. He’s missed more than five weeks with a broken hand, but Hedman now has 10 points (3 G, 7 A) in seven games. Since the start of last season, Erik Karlsson and Mark Giordano are the only defencemen with a better points-per-game rate than Hedman. DEFENCE SCORING DEFENCEMAN TEAM GP G A PTS PTS/GP Erik Karlsson Ottawa 105 26 65 91 0.87 Mark Giordano Calgary 89 20 52 72 0.81 Victor Hedman Tampa Bay 82 16 49 65 0.79 Duncan Keith Chicago 103 11 65 76 0.74 Shea Weber Nashville 102 29 42 71 0.70 In his limited playing time this season, Hedman is also putting up career-best possession numbers (58.3% Corsi) though, in this very small sample, he’s had the ice tilted in his favour (63.9% of shifts starting in the offensive zone). Tobias Rieder – Drafted by the Edmonton Oilers, in the fourth round in 2011, the Coyotes rookie winger scored a pair of shorthanded goals, 58 seconds apart, to lead Arizona past Edmonton, 5-2, Monday. Rieder has nine points (6 G, 3 A) in the first 16 games of his NHL career and while his on-ice shooting percentage is high (12.8%), he’s doing a nice job generating shots on goal (2.69 per game after five against the Oilers) while skating on a line with Sam Gagner and Shane Doan. P.K. Subban – Montreal’s stalwart defenceman played 28:09 at Colorado Monday, registered a goal and an assist, along with team-best possession (28 shot attempts for, 14 against, 66.7%) while starting more of his shifts in the defensive zone. ZEROES Henrik Lundqvist – The Rangers’ star goaltender allowed five goals on 15 shots against Tampa Bay in a 6-3 Lightining win Monday. It’s the sixth time this season that Lundqvist has given up at least four goals in a game and his save percentage sits at what would be a career-low .905. Viktor Fasth – It was looking like the Oilers goaltender might be making some progress with his recent play before he surrendered five goals on 24 shots against Arizona, dropping his season save percentage to .891 which, for the Oilers, isn’t much of an alternative to Ben Scrivens (.888). Couldn’t one of them put up decent numbers? Dominic Moore – The Rangers’ checking centre was locked into the defensive zone (5 shot attempts for, 17 against, 22.7%) in Monday’s 6-3 loss to Tampa Bay, really pinned in when matched up against Tampa Bay’s line of Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov, with Kucherov and Johnson on for 11 shot attempts for and one against (91.7%) when matched up with Moore. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Sami Vatanen – The third-leading defence scorer left Monday’s win over Boston after Simon Gagne’s goal cut the Anaheim lead to 3-2. His 20:55 ice time for the game was his lowest in nearly a month. Eric Brewer – Leftt Monday’s win over Boston with a suspected lower-body injury.dddddddddddd If the Ducks, already missing Francois Beauchemin, Clayton Stoner, Mark Fistric and Ben Lovejoy on defence, are suddenly without Vatanen and Brewer, they’re going to be digging deep for reinforcements. They already have rookies Josh Manson and Mat Clark taking regular shifts. Jesse Blacker is an option and Stoner should be nearing a return from mumps. Connor Murphy – Played 37 seconds against the Oilers before leaving with an upper-body injury after a big hit by Oilers forward Tyler Pitlick. Michael Sgarbossa – An undrafted free agent acquired from San Jose in 2012, Sgarbossa played six games for the Avalanche in 2012-13 and made his season debut, playing 10:51 in Monday’s 4-3 loss to Montreal. He had 12 points (3 G, 9 A) in 18 AHL games before getting called up. SHORT SHIFTS Tampa Bay C Tyler Johnson had two goals and an assist in the Lightning’s 6-3 win at the Rangers and is now tied for eighth in the league with 26 points (8 G, 18 A) in 25 games…LW Ondrej Palat contributed a goal and an assist and has 19 points (7 G, 12 A) in 26 games. Blue Jackets G Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 of 25 shots faced in a 2-1 win over Florida…Panthers LW Sean Bergenheim had stellar possession (19 shot attempts for, 5 against, 79.2%) in the 2-1 loss at Columbus. FIRSTS David Pastrnak – Boston’s rookie winger, skating with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, registered an assist, in his third NHL game, for his first career point. In the first three games of his career, the 18-year-old has been on the ice for 47 shot attempts for and 29 against (61.8% Corsi). Colin Smith – The Avalanche centre played 6:06 his NHL debut, a 4-3 loss to Montreal Monday. Smith had 12 points (4 G, 8 A) in 18 AHL games before his promotion. Kerby Rychel – In his second NHL game, registered an assist for his first NHL point and, incidentally, had nice possession stats (13 shot attempts for, 8 against, 61.9%) despite starting one-third of his shifts in the offensive zone. FANTASY FOCUS It’s a busy night on the ice, with 10 games, so here are a handful of players that you may want to get into your lineup, or at least monitor – we’re digging deeper here: Tom Wilson – Anyone playing with Alex Ovechkin and NIcklas Backstrom has value, but the second-year winger also has points in each of the last two games (and fights in the last three). Nathan Gerbe – The mighty mite has been effective, skating with Riley Nash and a variety of wingers, putting up five points (2 G, 3 A) in the past six games and he’s ben rocking better than 56% possession for the season. Zemgus Girgensons – As the Sabres enjoy a dose of respectability, Girgensons is taking on a bigger role and has seven points (4 G, 3 A) in the past seven games. Matt Nieto – Scored his first goal in 23 games last game and has been putting up great possession stats (a team-best 60.5%). Nick Spaling – Getting a chance to play on Sidney Crosby’s wing, Spaling has three points (1 G, 2 A) in the past six games, playing more than 16 minutes in each. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca Cheap Buffalo Sabres Gear Wholesale Calgary Flames Jerseys Cheap Adidas Colorado Avalanche Jerseys Montreal Canadiens Outlet Store Wholesale New Jersey Devils Jerseys Adidas Arizona Coyotes Jerseys Cheap Adidas Boston Bruins Jerseys Cheap Adidas Carolina Hurricanes Jerseys Chicago Blackhawks Shop Free Shipping Wholesale Columbus Blue Jackets Jerseys Dallas Stars Shop Free Shipping Cheap Adidas Detroit Red Wings Jerseys Anaheim Ducks Jerseys China Wholesale Edmonton Oilers Jerseys Florida Panthers Shop Free Shipping Wholesale Los Angeles Kings Jerseys Minnesota Wild Outlet Store Cheap Adidas Nashville Predators Jerseys Cheap Adidas New York Islanders Jerseys New York Rangers Winter Classic Jerseys Cheap Adidas Ottawa Senators Jerseys Cheap Adidas Philadelphia Flyers Jerseys Wholesale Pittsburgh Penguins Jerseys Cheap Adidas San Jose Sharks Jerseys St. Louis Blues Winter Classic Jerseys Wholesale Tampa Bay Lightning Jerseys Toronto Maple Leafs Outlet Store Vancouver Canucks Outlet Store Cheap Adidas Vegas Golden Knights Jerseys Cheap Adidas Washington Capitals Jerseys Cheap Adidas Winnipeg Jets Jerseys ' ' '