It was getting close to the wire, but the Detroit Red Wings and Jakub Vrana won’t need their arbitration hearing tomorrow after all. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the two sides have agreed upon a three-year contract, avoiding the rest of the arbitration process. The deal will carry an average annual value of $5.25MM and CapFriendly reports the deal breaks down as follows:
2021-22: $4.75MM
2022-23: $5.25MM
2023-24: $5.75MM
Vrana had filed for $5.7MM. while the Red Wings had countered with $3.65MM, but neither one of those would have represented a three-year contract. With this new deal, Vrana will actually be giving up one year of unrestricted free agency, something that can’t be awarded through arbitration.
For $5.25MM, he gets a healthy raise from the $3.35MM cap hit he carried over the last two seasons. He will tie Frans Nielsen as the team’s second-highest-paid forward, just below Dylan Larkin‘s $6.1MM. That represents his place in the lineup, as Vrana is arguably the team’s most exciting forward heading into this season after lighting it up following a midseason trade. Acquired from the Washington Capitals as part of a package for Anthony Mantha, Vrana scored eight goals and 11 points in 11 games down the stretch.
That kind of production hasn’t been common in Detroit recently, but it actually shouldn’t be all that surprising from the 25-year-old Czech. In the 2019-20 season, he had 25 goals and 52 points in 69 games for the Capitals. His playoff performance left something to be desired though, which likely factored into the decision to move him for a bigger Mantha. Still, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Vrana outproduce Mantha during the regular season at least, and he now comes in at a cheaper price tag. The big forward in Washington is on a four-year deal that carries a $5.7MM cap hit.
With the Red Wings in the early stages of a rebuild still, it will be interesting to see if Vrana even plays out this deal in Detroit. Though he’s not old by any means, he is quite a few years older than the rest of the talent that GM Steve Yzerman is collecting. There’s certainly no guarantee that the Red Wings will be competitive by the time Vrana’s entering the final year of this deal, meaning he could become a rental down the road. For now, he’ll be getting a huge opportunity in the team’s top-six to play big minutes and show what his offensive ceiling really is.
Now that Vrana has settled, Neal Pionk is next on the arbitration list. His hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
I think JV will have a career year playing on Detroit’s top line. A healthy Larkin will probably have a resurgence as well. I think Detroit will surprise some teams this year.
By surprise do you mean 15 wins?
@wreckage – Maybe the opposition’s “surprise” might be changed to “mortified.” A couple of years ago, the Caps were in L.A. to play the Kings. During a particularly bad stretch in the game, Kenny Sabourin flat lined in mid-sentence watching the Kings’ play. He then said, “…if they don’t start playing better, they won’t win 20 a year for the next five years!” Yes, I plan on listening to CapsRadio 24/7 for those Caps-Wings matchups this year. If the Caps sleep on them and get embarrassed, I’d bet Peter Laviolette would have a “paint peeler” or two.
I’ll hold you to that. Better prepare to eat crow!
@Rogueraceseries – Would you mind being more specific as to who you are addressing, please?
Sorry MacJ. That was for wreckage.
Sorry MacJ. I’m new to this. That was in response to the 15 wins comment.
Looking forward to the cap/wings games as well!! Should be fun to see Ovi sniping.
@Rogueraceseries – Thanks for the clarification! All good.
@Rogueraceseries – If The Great8 hits posts and crossbars, that might change from sniping to snapping! As in, sticks, temperament, etc… ;)
“forwhomjoshbelltolled
6 hours ago
Vrana is a complimentary player. Doesn’t drive play. Can’t check. Yzerman knows you can’t overpay this type of player, unless you don’t plan on having any core players…I guess.”
Well…
@forwhomjoshbelltolled – Yep, just when you thought there *might* be some sanity in the NHL realm, this happens. When you stated “Yzerman knows you can’t overpay this type of player…”, it’s true, as his track record pretty much shows it. It is a bit of a head-shaker, and I’m sure he’s looking at us jokers saying “I know what I’m doing here.” He is in the Big Chair, after all, and we’re on the other side of the velvet ropes.
Yeah vrana only scored like 5 of his 8 goals without help from any of his teammates, skating around 3 players at a time. So basically you have no clue what your talking about
Yep, because there is no way that small sample size is misleading. Those 11 games are all that matter, not the 284 before them. Clearly, Vrana immediately took his game up three levels after the trade…and not that a bunch of teams stayed out drinking late the night before playing the lowly 2021 Wings down the stretch.
+1 for forwhomjoshbelltolled. For crying out loud, how many guys have gone lights out for a dozen or so games after a trade or a callup, never to be heard from again?
Vrana’s a good player, sure, but let’s get a grip. Solid top-six forward, a guy the Wings need, but he didn’t just turn into Connor McDavid.
Detroit’s first line is basically the equivalent of a playoff team’s second line.
i dunno. it’s a three year deal for a player puts up numbers. this is well less egregious then most of the recent moves made.
why are we conveniently forgetting rhe numbers Vrana put up his last two years in WSH?
This is true and the 1st line is a cup team 2nd but the best they have for now. That is why when the Larkin, Zadina, Vrana line (if they are still around) is their 2nd line you will know the team is ready to take the next step and give cup runs a shot. They already have Raymond who is potentially 1st line. I think the big get has to be the big star1C and not sure how they get one other than drafting Shane. Time will tell and they need a little luck as Stevie says.
I agree this isn’t a bad deal at all for a show me deal.
Not sure why these responses don’t go under the post but this is to DarkSide830 post