Thomas Vanek is still in play for the Detroit Red Wings, even as cap issues complicate matters.

Steve Bartlett, the agent for Vanek, told the Free Press today that the Red Wings “are still in the possibility range. I don’t know that I would say probability range, as we have increased interest around the league for Thomas.”

The salary cap is the stumbling block. The Wings are crunched for space, and the priority is re-signing restricted free agent Andreas Athanasiou.

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There has been regular contact between the Wings and Vanek’s camp since Vanek became an unrestricted free agent on July 1. A year ago the Wings took a gamble on Vanek, signing him for one year at $2.6 million after he’d been bought out by the Minnesota Wild. The gamble paid off in spades as Vanek used his high-end hockey IQ to make linemates ranging from Gustav Nyquist to Darren Helm to Athanasiou better. At the time he was traded in March, Vanek was the second-leading scorer on the Wings with 15 goals and 23 assists among 38 points in 48 games. He was tied with Frans Nielsen for most power play points on the team with 11.

Vanek, 33, also went 5-for-5 in shootouts with the Red Wings.

Teams do not have to be cap compliant until the regular season, so the Wings could go into camp over budget. There is the possibility that some of the players who had major off-season surgery (Tomas Tatar, Luke Glendening, Ryan Sproul) may not be ready and could end up on long-term injured reeserve. A trade to open up space is also a possibility – the Wings have several young players (Sproul, Martin Frk) who would need to be put on waivers to be sent down, and who are long-shots to make the Wings.

The Red Wings open training camp Sept. 15.

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter@helenestjames.

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