I was wondering what his off-ice issues were, and now I know.
I’ve seen him touted as a potential 30 goal scorer a few times. Now it’s 40.
Vrana produced fine when he played last year. 13 goals in 26 games. The trade wasn't about his playing ability but off the ice issues. No one knows particulars but he was in player assistance program and then chose to send and leave him in minors til injuries forced their hand. They clearly didn't want him around team.That tells you exactly what kind of value he had: practically none, even at 50% retention.
And to everyone thinking Yzerman did us some favor here for all we did for him in past trades:If he thought Vrana could provide any value to the team, he'd still be in Detroit.
He's not, and he didn't get called up until the Red Wings were pretty much out of other options. That should speak volumes about the value Yzerman thought he could provide.
1. We're not buying him out. Armstrong has never bought anyone out, he won't do it here either.
2. If we get to the point we think we need to waive him, no one else is taking him. Period. Even if we're retaining 50% of our 50%.
I'm more worried about whether he's got things together between the ears. Yeah, sure - he could be a 25-25-50 guy again. He could also be Zach Sanford or Matt D'Agostini - not the 15, 20, 25-goal versions where they looked confident and earned a spot in the lineup, the versions that came after those seasons. I would not be shocked if he scored occasionally but made people miss Tarasenko's oft-maligned defensive play.
Ultimately, it's a practically no-cost move. I think banking on him to suddenly return to past form is expecting a hell of a lot, though, and we better hope that Snuggerud, Bolduc, Dean or MV63 are ready if (when) Vrana fails.
He did have 22 goals in 42 games with Wings. In a bigger role with more opportunity, he could hit 40. Scoring 20-25 goals with a loaded Caps team in a supplemental role is pretty good.
I’m well aware of that but if the odds were he’d come anywhere close to that, he wouldn’t have went for a 7th, minor league and his old team paying half his salary to get rid of him.
I’m sure we’ll know for sure in a few hours after the morning skate but he should certainly be able to get from DET to LA in time. I’m hoping to see him play.
That kind of thinking - "someone else did it, so can our guy / so can we" is how bad decisions are made over and over. I'll also note that Kane has spent much of his time in Edmonton on a line with McDavid and Draisaitl. Those two have produced just fine without Kane; he without them, ... not nearly as much. And the last time I checked our roster, we don't have a McDavid or a Draisaitl on it.
We have up basically nothing for him. He is signed for 1 more year. I don’t think DA is under illusion that vrana is likely to emerge as part of our core. If he does great, but that isn’t likely. We simply want guys like him who can fill spot short term so we don’t need to rush our kids. the kinda guy who can hopefully put in a few goals next year and then we retain half and flip him for 2nd or 3rd. And if he doesn’t he doesn’t.
That's fine, and then I see comments like this, et. al. :
Which is why if you want him as a short-term fill-in, awesome. Great. All for it. Have low expectations, work up accordingly. If you want him thinking he's going to return to his pre-Detroit form and have 30-40 goal potential, though, ... probably want to dampen the expectations a bit.
McDavid and draisaitl are irrelevant. Kane was a good player before them. His issue was lockerroom and pr not performance.
Yeah, better free agent class and waiting for cap to eventually open up with increases.
