Confirmed with Link: Vrana @50%

[Linkens Mastery]

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[BleedBlue14]

Solid low risk high reward move. Good to see Stevie Y finally paying it back

 

[542365]

Love it.

 

[Novacain]

The Red/Blue romance continues.

Gave up basically nothing. I’m more then fine with this one. It does amaze me how differently I view Army’s forward moves then his defense ones

 

[Stealth JD]

This shouldn't surprise anyone. I thought this was an option a couple weeks back. With Detroit retaining, this is a wise gamble as Vrana has excellent scoring ability when he's on his game.

 

[MissouriMook]

I know any team in the league could have had him for nothing in the last couple of weeks, but that would have required taking on the full salary and cap hit. We gave up virtually nothing to get him at 50 cents on the dollar for a 21 game audition. If he works out, we have him for another year. If not, we can trade him, waive him, or buy him out. Very low risk but potentially decent reward move. He's been a 25-25-50 guy in this league since we won the Cup, maybe he can get back there in a different environment. I think we see his offense come back, I am more worried about how he fits defensively.

It took almost eight years but we finally got the guy we wanted in the Oshie deal!

 

[Louie the Blue]

I know any team in the league could have had him for nothing in the last couple of weeks, but that would have required taking on the full salary and cap hit. We gave up virtually nothing to get him at 50 cents on the dollar for a 21 game audition. If he works out, we have him for another year. If not, we can trade him, waive him, or buy him out. Very low risk but potentially decent reward move. He's been a 25-25-50 guy in this league since we won the Cup, maybe he can get back there in a different environment. I think we see his offense come back, I am more worried about how he fits defensively.

It took almost eight years but we finally got the guy we wanted in the Oshie deal!

Why buy him out when the buyout would be spread across multiple years? If he’s not good, just let him leave after 2023-2024.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

DA regaining my trust since the DP57 situation.

He's played this TDL very well. The only one that hurt was ROR (another guy who competes everyday, even when his body is broken, and he wants to be in STL). However, DA got a lot out of TOR for essentially a rental. I don't think ROR is coming back, which still saddens me.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Also, if you are a player on the Blues who is depressed about the season and the selling off, DA has done FANTASTIC job bringing in guys like Blais (tough kid, fan favorite), Kapenen (high skill, career reboot project), and now Vrana (speedy, career reboot project). The Blues players should be happy in a selloff year that the club is bringing in GOOD players at discount rates. More money left over for summer selloffs when these loaded up playoff teams come back down to earth. DA will do his best work after the playoffs.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

That's an absolute steal at 50% retained. Let's hope he finds his game and can put all the off-ice stuff behind him.

 

[TheOrganist]

The 2023-24 roster is shaping to be 7-8 seed, playoff worthy in the shitty West which is probably what management/ownership wanted during our transition year next year while our upper echelon, youngest assets continue to develop in college, juniors & Springfield next year. I'm fine with that.

 

[bleedblue1223]

He had 22 goals in 42 games with Detroit, he's definitely a quality goal scorer. I'm really excited about this move. We'll have enough talent on the roster where we won't feel the need to rush Bolduc or Snuggerud to add scoring pop to the lineup. We still won't be great, but when healthy, we'll have some functional offensive lines.

 

[taylord22]

7mil for Kap, Blais and Vrana ... not bad ...

Feels like Yzerman is returning the Fabbri/Walman favor here to an extent. Vrana was not a hot commodity, but the outgoing value < retention for a lottery ticket with a track record. Definitely don't mind Army having a clear-cut "plus" relationship with Yzerman. I like what he's building in Detroit and when the day comes that he's got hard decisions to make, I suspect Army will get first dibs.

The overall investment up-front does lead me to wonder if it's a sign of his confidence we can move money away from the D-core this summer. Or if this is an attempt to remain competitive with current D-core. Regardless, there's a good chance we have 2-3 appreciated assets we could flip at the next deadline should things not work out.

 

[Brian39]

7mil for Kap, Blais and Vrana ... not bad ...

There is risk/downside in all 3 of these guys, but $7M absolutely doesn't buy you nearly as much upside in the UFA market unless you are giving out several years of risky term.

I was skeptical about Kap, but I'm very pleased as the picture is coming more into focus. All 3 of these guys could be part of a short and medium term solution. They could also all be flipped with 50% retention to return a solid asset at the 2024 deadline if that is where the organization is at.

I think this is a very good use of cap space.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Had a post on the main board about it, but this is why it's good to build good relationships with other GMs. Like Fabbri, Walman, and Sunny, this move was less about the return, and more about putting a player in a situation to succeed, Army and Yzerman deserve respect for that. Steve knew that Vrana would get an opportunity on an offensive line here, and that he'd have good support off the ice too. I don't think Yzerman would send him here if he didn't think it would work out either, and by work out, I'm talking more about he off ice stuff.

 

[tfriede2]

Had a post on the main board about it, but this is why it's good to build good relationships with other GMs. Like Fabbri, Walman, and Sunny, this move was less about the return, and more about putting a player in a situation to succeed, Army and Yzerman deserve respect for that. Steve knew that Vrana would get an opportunity on an offensive line here, and that he'd have good support off the ice too. I don't think Yzerman would send him here if he didn't think it would work out either, and by work out, I'm talking more about he off ice stuff.

Absolutely - I don’t think this trade happens without the relationship DA and Yzerman have built. Yzerman owed us, too.

 

[Reality Czech]

Who the hell is Dylan McLaughlin?

 

[PelagicJoe]

Wings fan in STL coming in peace. If Vrana gets it together, then you guys got a steal. If he plays a full season, he should be good for about 30 goals.

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

Let’s go

 

[bleedblue1223]

And honestly, I'm glad we finally get the guy we all hoped was coming in the Shattenkirk trade.

 

[Blueston]

Who the hell is Dylan McLaughlin?

Career minor leaguer. Just sending contract back to Detroit.

 

[BlueDream]

I f***ing love this.

It’s crazy how busy Armstrong has been, I honestly didn’t expect this many trades from him but he’s doing a fantastic job at re-tooling this roster. Taking a chance on guys like Vrana is exactly what we should be doing.

We suddenly have a plethora of young talent up front. Thomas, Kyrou, Buch, Vrana, Kapanen, Neighbours, Bolduc, Snuggerud, Dean…

That’s basically an entire top 9 we now have moving forward.

Now the forwards aren’t a concern and all Armstrong really has to do in the offseason is focus on the defense. Utilize the draft picks to offload a contract or two defensively and try to bring in an upgrade for the top pair. I’m sure that is his #1 priority this Summer and if we do that, we could be competitive again very quickly.

 

[542365]

Who the hell is Dylan McLaughlin?

Had the same thought. When I first saw the trade I thought it was Dylan Peterson, our third round pick from 2020. I was still fine with it even then, but this is obviously even better.

 

[Blueston]

Had the same thought. When I first saw the trade I thought it was Dylan Peterson, our third round pick from 2020. I was still fine with it even then, but this is obviously even better.

And they loaned him back to Springfield where he is expiring contract. So it was just to give us contract flexibility.

 

[Mike Liut]

Who the hell is Dylan McLaughlin?

The Blues announcer next year