Daily Faceoff Live: Could a team trade for Jakub Vrana now after clearing waivers?
On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff Live, President Frank Seravalli and prospect analyst Steven Ellis take a look at if an NHL club would make a deal for Detroit Red Wings forward Jakub Vrana.
Frank Seravalli: Steven, a lot of people are surprised that Jakub Vrana snuck through waivers and did not get claimed on Wednesday. He’s been one of the league leaders in goals per 60 minutes, so goals based on the ice time given. I wanted to get your take if a team does step up and make a trade for Vrana now that he’s cleared waivers.
Steven Ellis: That’s tough. There are off-ice issues and the fact he hasn’t played much this season. You brought it up yesterday on the show, you put him on waivers given everything that’s gone on and you wonder if a team would touch it but clearly, they did not as he went unclaimed so I just kind of wonder what that relationship is. Clearly when he’s healthy Vrana is a very important player for the Red Wings. He puts up all those goals, and he’s been excellent since he has come over in that Anthony Mantha trade but what’s the relationship like? Will the Red Wings put him in the lineup and then not play him much? It’s something that’s more behind the scenes rather than performance-based and that leaves a lot of questions. I don’t know how it continues in Detroit given they put him on waivers after he had just gotten out of the program with the NHL and NHLPA.
Frank Seravalli: Yeah, I think a lot of people found it distasteful to be placed on waivers 18 days after going through the player assistance program. I’ll tell you this, it’s intrigued a lot of teams and I spoke to one team yesterday who was internally meeting about possibly trading for Vrana. The suggestion I made was, it sort of feels like that relationship is indeed broken; why not offer up a deal that involves Detroit retaining $1.8 or $1.9 million or whatever the number is that equates to a buyout for Vrana? Maybe that’s something that would be palatable for Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings if they could get something back in return for him. So for that team you don’t take Vrana on at full price, you get him for a bit of a discount on the cap and a player that can contribute in a big way if you treat him the right when it comes to Stanley Cup playoff time.
You can watch the full episode here…