Devils sign prospect Petr Vrana

Status
Not open for further replies.

Mess

Global Moderator
Feb 27, 2002
86,912
11,862
Leafs Home Board
Devils sign prospect Petr Vrana
TSN.ca Staff
5/21/2004

The New Jersey Devils announced on Friday that they have signed forward Petr Vrana. As per club policy, no further terms were disclosed. The announcement was made by Devils' CEO/President/General Manager Lou Lamoriello.

Vrana has spent his first two seasons in North America with the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMJHL. He served the Mooseheads as captain this past year, recording 13 goals and 25 assists for 38 points and 56 penalty minutes in 48 regular-season games.

During the 2002-03 season, Vrana was named to the QMJHL Rookie All-Star Team. He was also named Rookie of the Year, leading all first-year players with 37 goals and 83 points. Vrana added five goals and 15 assists for 20 points in 24 playoff games as Halifax advanced to the 2003 QMJHL Finals.

The 5'11", 180 lb. forward was born March 29, 1985 in Sternberk, Czechoslovakia. Vrana attended his first Devils' training camp last September. He was New Jersey's second choice, and the 42nd overall selection in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?ID=84740
 

fedorov_jr

Registered User
May 8, 2002
333
0
Vancouver
Visit site
would u blame his drop in production partly on the fact that he needed surgery? or was it just that he was needed in more of a defensive role, and as captain, he embraced that role... ?


i thought i remembered vrana being a possible 1st rounder last year.... just trying to figure out how he went from over a point per game average in a 70+ game schedule, to under it in a 48 game stint this year....
 

LaLaLaprise

lalalaprise -twitter
Feb 28, 2002
8,716
1
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Halifax finished last in the Q so some nights he was playing by himself.

He was always good defensivly but that really improved last year.

Plus when he was playing, he was playing hurt. Some nighst his shoulder would pop out.
 

Hossa

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
9,649
274
Abroad
Visit site
fedorov_jr said:
would u blame his drop in production partly on the fact that he needed surgery? or was it just that he was needed in more of a defensive role, and as captain, he embraced that role... ?


i thought i remembered vrana being a possible 1st rounder last year.... just trying to figure out how he went from over a point per game average in a 70+ game schedule, to under it in a 48 game stint this year....

His team was much, much worse this year. Second worst in the league in fact. FP Guenette, JF Cyr, MA Bernier and Alex Picard all were dealt over the summer from Halifax to Cape Breton. Furthermore, Stuart MacRae, Thatcher Bell and Brandon Benedict also all moved on to Canadian University Hockey. The team was more or less stripped down completely.

Now, Vrana didn't raise his game. I mean, Corey Locke for example lost some unbelievable talent around him and still had a great year, but Vrana from what I saw, and I'm sure la-la-laprise knows better than I do, but he struggled with more checking around him. Nonetheless a good prospect.
 

fedorov_jr

Registered User
May 8, 2002
333
0
Vancouver
Visit site
La-La-Laprise said:
Hossa -- He had a seperated shoulder since October and was basically the only offensive threat on our team, try fighting through 2 or 3 players with 1 arm.

i'm about to get off topic, but why in the hell does the league allow these crazy types of deals where a team can send all its good players to another team for some junk, then get the same favor back the next year... ?

atleast thats the way i understand it.....

i thought i remembered hearing that something like this happened fairly often in the Q... teams load up on another teams talent, then return the favor the next season.... can anyone gimme a better idea of how it actually works (if i am mis-informed)
 

LaLaLaprise

lalalaprise -twitter
Feb 28, 2002
8,716
1
Halifax, Nova Scotia
fedorov_jr said:
i'm about to get off topic, but why in the hell does the league allow these crazy types of deals where a team can send all its good players to another team for some junk, then get the same favor back the next year... ?

atleast thats the way i understand it.....

i thought i remembered hearing that something like this happened fairly often in the Q... teams load up on another teams talent, then return the favor the next season.... can anyone gimme a better idea of how it actually works (if i am mis-informed)

Its to allow all teams to have a godo team every now and then.

In the WHL its always the same teams that are good pretty much. Doesnt that gert boring?


Future consideration deals (which are now illegal) allows all teams to at least load up once in 3 years so that the fans arent always seeing the same teams win every year.
 

Hossa

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
9,649
274
Abroad
Visit site
La-La-Laprise said:
Hossa -- He had a seperated shoulder since October and was basically the only offensive threat on our team, try fighting through 2 or 3 players with 1 arm.

Yep. It defenitely wasn't a down year for him like the statistics may suggest. I'll admit I didn't know about the seperated shoulder, which changes my perception of him a bit. Everytime I'd watch him, and regretably I only saw the Mooseheads around 7-8 times this year, but he was never invisible. He's not soft and as you said, he was still fighting through a fair amount of checks considering. He wasn't the ONLY scoring option, as Sparre was a quality player once he was acquired, but that's hardly significant support.
 

LaLaLaprise

lalalaprise -twitter
Feb 28, 2002
8,716
1
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Hossa said:
Yep. It defenitely wasn't a down year for him like the statistics may suggest. I'll admit I didn't know about the seperated shoulder, which changes my perception of him a bit. Everytime I'd watch him, and regretably I only saw the Mooseheads around 7-8 times this year, but he was never invisible. He's not soft and as you said, he was still fighting through a fair amount of checks considering. He wasn't the ONLY scoring option, as Sparre was a quality player once he was acquired, but that's hardly significant support.

Sparre didnt show up intil Decemember 28th..but yes he did help out a bit.

But what i meant was there was only 1 line that could score regularly so it was easy for other teams tp key on Petr.

He showed guts and charachter throughout the year. Every game id notice him after big hits that he would be hunched over skating to the bench, but he never left the game, he would battle it out.

NJ got a good skilled charchter guy.
 

Hossa

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
9,649
274
Abroad
Visit site
La-La-Laprise said:
Sparre didnt show up intil Decemember 28th..but yes he did help out a bit.

But what i meant was there was only 1 line that could score regularly so it was easy for other teams tp key on Petr.

He showed guts and charachter throughout the year. Every game id notice him after big hits that he would be hunched over skating to the bench, but he never left the game, he would battle it out.

NJ got a good skilled charchter guy.

Yup. I think NJ fans will see a lot of Sergei Brylin in this guy. That's the type of player he is.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->