On Friday morning, the Detroit Red Wings announced that they had traded forward Jakub Vrana to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a 2025 seventh-round pick and center Dylan McLaughlin.
Red Wings will retain half of Vrana’s $5.25 million cap hit for the rest of this season and the following.
Upon returning from the program, Vrana was assigned to the Grand Rapids Griffins for a two-week conditioning stint and was later waived to keep players such as Jonatan Berggren on the NHL roster. The 27-year-old winger has only appeared in five NHL games this season after he joined the NHLPA’s Player Assistance program in October. In the short spurts he has played this season, he hasn’t performed to the level he was at last season, which saw him score 13 goals in only 26 games.
Vrana also appeared in 17 AHL games, scoring six goals and five assists.
McLaughlin, also 27, has only appeared in six games this season with the Springfield Thunderbirds, adding one goal. The Red Wings announced that McLaughliun would be loaned back to Springfield.
It was widely speculated over the past week that the Red Wings had been showcasing Vrana to give him a fresh start. With the Red Wings and Blues being common trade partners through Yzerman’s tenure, the two sides would inevitably make a move again. When healthy, Vrana is one of the best scorers at even strength in the NHL, sitting only behind Auston Matthews in goals per 60 minutes.
Vrana has struggled to stay healthy in the two full seasons he has been in Detroit and struggled this season to become acclimated into Derek Lalonde’s new system. With St. Louis struggling this season, taking a chance on a gifted scorer for cheap is a worthwhile bet.
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We should’ve traded Hronek for MacDermid & 1st Rd pick. He’s affordable, physical, and might’ve paired well with a physical guy like Sebrango.