UPDATE: The Detroit #RedWings today acquired a 7th round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft and center Dylan McLaughlin from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for left wing Jakub Vrana. pic.twitter.com/7mFmPX9iaK
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 3, 2023
Abel to Yzerman
Wings Trade Vrana
03/03/2023 at 9:11am EST
Filed In:Abel to Yzerman
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About Abel to Yzerman
Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that.
What was the point of including McLaughlin?
Probably just for the 50 contracts limit
Are we retaining 50% of his salary next year?
Wings retain 50% of Vrana's salary.
Through next season.
Truly a shame how the whole Vrana debacle went down. Really had high hopes.
It really is, 22 goals and 10 assists in 42 games. Don't know who's cheerio's he pissed in and probably never will, but hope he doesn't repeat it in St Louis.
Thanks for this MZ, been hoping KK members will start posting just like you did.
I need a tutorial on how to post pictures and images please 🥺
For tweets you just click the three dots in the top right to open the menu, click "Embed Tweet" and copy the link it gives you. Then in the reply here just click the start looking thing that says "embed" when you hover over it and paste in the embed code.
You can also right click on most images and select "copy Image address" and post it
it's harder to tell how big it is however and if it is over 500 pix wide will only post part of it.
Make a free account at imgur.com and then post pictures there. Then open the picture on their site and right click on the image and select "copy image address"
and then paste the image here. Keep in mind that the limit is around 500 pixels wide
Thank you both! I will try later
I right click and "copy image address" then hit embed paste it in the following tag: <img src="{paste here}" width="500" height="auto" />
This is basically a giveaway. A real shame.
Mantha for Vrana was the biggest fizzle I can remember. Both guys washed out.
At least we got 1st and a 2nd for it.
Vrana, 27, appeared in five games with the Red Wings this season, tallying a goal and an assist on Oct. 15 at New Jersey. The 6-foot, 190-pound forward also recorded 11 points (6-5-11) and four penalty minutes in 17 games with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. In all, Vrana tallied 32 points (22-10-32), 18 penalty minutes and a 21.2 shooting percentage in 42 games with the Red Wings after being acquired in a trade with the Washington Capitals on April 12, 2021. Originally selected by Washington in the first round (13th overall) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Vrana has compiled 189 points (98-91-189), a plus-30 rating and 85 penalty minutes in 326 games between the Capitals and Red Wings. In his first full NHL season in 2017-18, Vrana helped the Capitals win a Stanley Cup championship, posting 27 points (13-14-27) in 73 regular-season games before adding eight points (3-5-8) in 23 postseason contests. A native of Prague, Czech Republic, Vrana has also registered 86 points (41-45-86), a plus-19 rating and 52 penalty minutes in 105 AHL games with the Hershey Bears and Griffins since 2014-15, in addition to 20 points (10-10-20) and eight penalty minutes in 38 postseason appearances. Prior to arriving in North America, Vrana spent four seasons developing in Sweden, where he debuted professionally with Linkoping in the Swedish Hockey League in 2012-13 and logged 27 points (14-13-27) and 14 penalty minutes in 73 games until 2014-15. He also racked up 58 points (35-23-58), a plus-11 rating and 77 penalty minutes in 59 games in Sweden’s top junior league. On the international stage, Vrana has represented his country at the last three IIHF World Championships, combining for 10 points (7-3-10) in 26 games. Vrana also recorded six points (3-3-6) in 16 games at three-straight IIHF World Junior Championships from 2013-15 along with 20 points (14-6-20) in 18 games at three-consecutive IIHF World Under-18 Championships from 2012-14.
The Red Wings have now accumulated 27 draft picks in the next three NHL Entry Drafts, including five first-round selections and five second-round picks.
This feels like a double kindness. First to JV, putting him in a spot where he may find success merely by rolling the dice. Second to the Blues GM, giving Army a little something back for the past couple of SY fleecings.
Yzerman must have really wanted Vrana gone. Otherwise you'd think he'd wait to see how he did the rest of the season and perhaps into next season. Maybe he could get a better return. Yzerman knows a lot more about the situation than we'll ever know. I have to think he didn't want Vrana around the younger players.
This move may also be a subtle thank you to the Blues for some of those trades that definitely worked out in the Red Wings favor.
Now Yzerman is tasked with finding some high-end scorers to round out the roster. Vrana and Bertuzzi were supposed to added 30 goals each between them. The Wings have a lot of guys who could score 15-25 goals but really need a player or two who can score 35+
If they didn't want him around younger players then they wouldn't have sent him to GR.
Couldn't get him out that room fast enough yet they recalled him from GR a couple weeks ago?
Talk about grasping at straws.
This is where i've been. Trying to give him the benefit of the doubt with the lack of actual information. If there were still concerns about drugs or alcohol he wouldn't be in grand rapids with the younger, future red wings, he'd be back in the assistance program(also, we don't know if it was substance or mental health related, speculate at your own risk). The best i can come up with is that he did something (in addition to showing up to camp two years ago broken and in need of surgery) prior to entering the program that the wings determined was a dealbreaker for his future with the org.
Yes they ovbiously wanted him out. I don't think the speculation about his actions and/or character is a good look.
If nobody wants him, you have to put him somewhere. Better in GR than the big club. Recalling him? Maybe trying to build some value, but then he barely played. It looked like they were doing their best with a guy they wanted gone. This trade was basically a “nice” buyout.
I think you’re absolutely correct—he felt he had to get him out of that room and out of town as fast as he could.
Was it drugs? Booze? Obviously those seem the most likely. I hope Vrana lands on his feet and stays well.
Could have been some emotional distress too, but from all accounts Vrana has been OK for the last 3 months, so I am not sure why SY gave up on him
That was a big kick in the package for sure. If healthy it finally started to look like they had more than one line that could score, which would prevent teams from stacking their D against Larkin. With Vrana, Bertuzzi, Raymond, the way Berggren was chipping in, and occasional spurts from Kubalik and Perron they showed glimpses of offensive potency.
Now they’re back needing a couple of good natural goal scorers, as Vrana showed he could be. Don’t know where they’re going to come from. No one in the system is tearing it up.
I agree. Larkin-Bert-Raymond, Vrana-Copp-Perron, it was exciting. Not much really materialized. We are doing as well as we are doing because of the defensive structure and Husso, but last 3 games everything went out the window
Seems like mostly a salary dump. The 50% retention sucks, but he's gone.
Between him and Bert, we just lost about 55 goals/season (in a "normal" year...whatever that is.)
So I don't understand this move. We get some cap relief, that we don't at this point necessarily need, a pick kinda, and a player that won't even play for our AHL affiliate. I guess, I hope there is something more than falling out of favor, he has talent, there has to be something more that teams seem to know. Or maybe I missed something about him. To me, it is worth more to keep him in the Griffin's. Unless he is really that bad for Team morale. Maybe its part of a separate move with the Blues? Parayko?
This move says "we want you out of hear at any cost" unfortunately. Sad story really. I thought we finally have a great sniper for the first time after Hossa.
Unlikely. As others have said, and the return on the trade suggests, it was probably this or a buyout. Now he gets to play out his deal and if he can perform and stay out of trouble, resurrect his career. I guess the Wings decided, “just not in Detroit.”
Yeah, I was hopeful I guess. This feels like more of an emotional move rather than a business one. Not used to this from SY. You lose your last salary retention for a trade that in my opinion didn't seem to need to happen.
This is why I don't like this trade, why not just buy him out? Retaining salary is going for more than a 7th pick.
I think a buyout would stay on the books longer. They probably wanted the cap hit gone ASAP.
To have a good relationship with the Blues GM going?
Agreed
Agreed
Once the 3 o'clock hour strikes, and what is to be done is final (if, in fact, Wings make any more moves), I would say what Ricky Ricardo was wont to say (only paraphrased): "Stevie, you got some 'splainin to do"
If there’s anyone who knows what the lockerroom should be in a successful franchise it’s Yzerman, who reportedly ran a pretty tight ship as Captain and led by example. I don’t need any explanation from him for the trade, but am disappointed that Vrana didn’t turn out to be the contributing goal scorer they really need.
Agreed. But I am referring to ALL the moves he has made so far this week. Hronek, I agreed with 100% given his poor D play, his need to redo his salary next year and how well we did with the picks obtained. The Bert trade puzzles me: yeah, I expected him to be traded, but to Boston?, and for what he got in return? I would have like a B's prospect to have come back at least. Not future picks in the next few years.
Whatever happens, I wish Vrana well. Hope he gets everything sorted out and is successful.
Yes I hope he does well and stays healthy/clean whatever that sitch is.
At least we got a draft pick for a guy who passed through waivers 2 months ago.
This also saves Detroit money versus a buyout.
Can’t ignore also this looks like the team did the best they could by Vrana. Free agents, take note.
This is a bit of a crazy one. You'd think they could have got more for him in the offseason which is only likely 20 games away. With Ras and Bert out of the line up he should have at least been able to crack the roster for the last 20 games as a bit of a showcase and to build back his game for a trade near the draft.
There's obviously something going on that we don't know about with Vrana.
I mean, he cleared waivers two months ago.
This is gonna look real good when he scores 40 in St. Louis next year. Stevie's now traded the two players I was most hopeful for. Gotta say I'm less interested in watching now than I was yesterday.
So when retaining salary, is it just the cap number or the actual payroll $ to make it that cap hit? Vrana's cap hit is 5.25, but the final year actual pay is 5.75. Trying to justify to myself if there is a bigger real cash saving to the wings for moving him, of if they have to actually pay out more that the cap retention number in actual cash. It just feels emotional rather than business, which is unusual for SY. I am holding out hope that we acquire some piece that gives something exciting before the deadline, however unlikely that is. I understand that SY has only been at the helm for the last few years, and there is a lot to be happy for, but man the true rebuild should have been from from when Pav left in 2016. At that point I said that he and Z should be moved at the deadline to kick off the rebuild. 8 years waiting for a positive, exciting deadline where we may be a buyer. That's a tough test. Season ticket holder sales does a hard push on me up to the deadline the last several years, amazingly the phone calls stop after the deadline every year.
Nobody was trading for Zetteberg's back loaded deal, Pav on the other hand should have been moved, same with Kronwall, Holland/Illitch waited until the team had no talent to trade.
While the team did bottom out, when we have had ZERO lottery luck, and two expansion teams joined the league that were gifted top 3 picks, sucked up talent, and in some cases, helped teams out of cap issues.
I agree on Z, now I remember the cap recapture issues that were a big issue at the time. I also agree that the other two should have been moved, especially Pav, when it was known that he hold Mgt that he would not be around for the final year of his contract when he signed it. I just have issues with moving Vrana, again feels like an FU, get out move. Especially if it costs them more actual $ than the cap saving, as well as giving up their final retention. Maybe the 3 phone calls and 5 e-mails in the last ten days from the season ticket office put me in a mood, but my response to them 30 minutes ago was I am sure that I can find one of my employees that would be more than willing to kick me in the nuts for free, why would I pay for tickets and travel 2 hours to Detroit to feel the same way. I know there is a plan, but at some point there has to be a BIG move outside the draft. F/A or Trade. Timo Meier would have been great, but high cost. But seeing what Chychrun went for, acknowledging injuries, would have been a positive move in my eyes. It would be nice to have something at this point to look forward to other than the draft.
Not dismissing your general distaste for the lack of substance on our roster. If I may offer a counter point on Vrana specifically...
Could Yzerman rely on him? $5+mln of the 2024 cap, and a spot in a top 6 role, otherwise he's rather useless, knowing that in his only two years with Detroit, he's out Day 2 at Camp and then after month into this season, both of which were controllable on his end.
Even if he stayed here, unless he was just an allstar, I doubt we signed him long term. Through his entire career, he carried baggage of not being committed defensively, or willing to engage physically on the boards, only wanted to wing it offensively, not a Yzerman playoff roster player.
Agree thanks. Just underwhelmed. Maybe could have given more of a chance to build a little trade value the last couple weeks. Now Sund is gone and I here we are in the running for JVR, only hope to flip to another team that doesn't have what philly needs in return.
Very sad, but we knew Vrana was on his way out. Also I didn't expect Yzerman to get much for him. Good luck to him in St. Louis. At least he will be in the other conference,so the Red Wings will only face him twice a year.
Is EK65 a RHD? ;)
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.
Karlson is the epitome of regular season greatness and playoff failure.
Not like that matters for another handful of years
No Sharks on the team.
The more I think about this deal the less I like it. Why now? Only a few teams can hold salary now right at the deadline but Steve just used the last on the Wings had left to get a 7th. Most teams have been getting higher picks for assisting in this way. Vrana might have got his act together in the last 20 or so games and upped his value. Does Steve want that cap space to sign some more crap UFAs this summer? That’s a Kenny move.
All the trades seem strange especially the returns for Bert and now vrana. He should of traded Bert a week and a half ago and maybe he would of gotten the first and Fabian Lysell from Boston.
I wanted Bert traded last deadline but anyway. Yes it was a large miscalculation
Me too. Was over Bert a long time ago.
dd, I saw your attempted comment. You were close.
Once you have embed code, come to the comment, hit the star icon, paste the code, hit insert then post comment.
Shit. I'm not even sure what the rest of the season is for, then.
Losing, baby!
Getting real sick of hearing that for the last four years now.
per Hippy: “This is gonna look real good when he scores 40 in St. Louis next year.”
just a pure sniper – shoulda’ took a vial or 2 of his DNA before he packed his bags.
I would never 2nd. guess SY, but man, this one is twilight zone stuff..
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