Thomas Vanek Chirps the Current NHL for Being Soft

File this one under 'things you didn't expect to hear from certain people' as ex-NHLer Thomas Vanek recently commenting on the toughness of the current NHL. Which is slightly ironic considering Vanek was never known as a hard-nosed winger.

Vanek was recently on 'The Instigators' podcast with ex-teammates Craig Rivet and Andrew Peters and had this to say about the current NHL:

The last four-to-five years, besides (Zdeno) Chara, the league isn't that tough anymore. I think we can all agree on that. I think early on when we all played together and you got the (Chris) Prongers, the (Derian) Hatchers, that was tough. Standing in front of the net, there was no penalties back then. The ref would say, 'Hey, loosen up Pronger' and Pronger would look at the ref and was like 'Don't ever talk to me again.

I don't know if it was really dirty (in the past), that's the way it was - if you go in front of the net, you're taking a punishment. Now the game has changed. You've got a lot of smaller defensemen who are more mobile. They cross-check a little bit, but those guys are nonexistent really anymore.

Vanek, who has yet to formally retire, put up 789 career points and a -17 in his 69 career playoff games.

For the complete interview, peep the video below: