How many years out of the league is that? 2/3? Surely he's spent the time wisely recovering and rehabbing, training for a possible last shot.
Id really love it if a team gave him another chance. He certainly wasn't useless for us and did have enough speed and skill to be in the league.
He may not have that anymore though, after all of his injuries, and even then the league is going away from pure scorers unless they are really special offensively. Vanek could only muster up a 1 year deal for 2 mill after coming off of a 48 point season in 68 games (mostly on a crappy team in Detroit). This year, he'll certainly get a raise, but I doubt he's going to get anything nearly as lucrative as his 24 goals and 56 points would suggest. Lupul in his prime may have been in that same vein. Lupul off his prime likely gets passed up similar to Boyes did a few years ago.
One-dimentional players, just like purely offensive defensemen (also one dimentional players), small goalies and enforcers, are becoming a dying breed in the NHL. You have to be among the best just to stick around, and you need something extra to make any sort of big money. For someone like JvR, it's his net-front presence and PP ability. Then you just get pure scoring machines like Kessel and Kane.