Jakub Vrana clears waivers, remains on Detroit Red Wings payroll
The Detroit Red Wings remain tied to forward Jakub Vrana.
The 26-year-old top-line winger found no taker for his services on the waiver wire, where he was placed Tuesday. He already is on a conditioning stint with the Wings' AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.
It speaks to how far Vrana has fallen on the Wings' rebuilding depth chart that general manager Steve Yzerman was willing to risk losing a gifted scorer for nothing. But the Wings have not seen much of Vrana since acquiring him at the 2021 trade deadline: He missed 56 games last season recovering from shoulder surgery, and missed two months this season while placed in the players assistance program.
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The Wings placed Vrana on waivers Tuesday, in order to clear a roster spot to activate Robby Fabbri. They Wcould have waived forward Adam Erne, a pending unrestricted free agent who does not appear to fit into the team's future, but instead opted to gamble with a top-line forward.
Coach Derek Lalonde said earlier Wednesday that the team didn't want to go into details on the decision, and acknowledged it was a risky move.
"He does provide goals," Lalonde said. "I think where he is in his game, too, you hope he gets back there, too. He’s getting his game back in order. He’s in a process of getting his game in order, hopefully to where he was. It’s all part of it. To his privacy, especially where he’s been over the last three or four months, I don’t think it would be fair to him to go through any of the details."
In nearly two years with the Wings, Vrana has played just 39 games. He has 22 goals and 10 assists in that span, numbers that show how skilled he is offensively. Few teams though, had space to carry his contract, which runs through next season with a $5.25 million salary cap hit.
Coach Derek Lalonde said earlier this week that Vrana's conditioning stint in the minors would span the full two weeks possible. He was assigned Dec. 27.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jakub Vrana clears waivers, remains on Detroit Red Wings payroll
