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Jakub Vrana

Jakub Vrána Garnering Overseas Interest

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A once-efficient top-six scorer for the Washington Capitals and Detroit Red Wings could be headed overseas for his next job. In a report out of Sweden, the SHL’s Linköping HC is attempting to sign Jakub Vrána this offseason.

It would’ve been difficult for Vrána to find an NHL contract this summer. Marketed as a goal-scoring forward, Vrána hasn’t scored more than 20 points in a season in five years. The last time came during the 2020-21 season, when Vrána scored 19 goals and 36 points in 50 games split between the Capitals and Red Wings.

Due to injuries, a trip through the NHL and NHLPA Player Assistance Program, and a general lack of opportunity, Vrána’s scoring has completely dissipated since. There have been brief stretches where he’s scored in bunches, but those have been few and far between.

This past season, Vrána earned a second stint in Washington on the heels of a professional tryout agreement in preseason action. He got off to a decent start with the Capitals, scoring six goals and 10 points in 20 games with a +5 rating.

Unfortunately, his role with the Capitals quickly dissipated, and he was exposed on the waiver wire near the trade deadline, being claimed by the Nashville Predators.

A return to Linköping HC would be a homecoming for Vrána. He played for them from 2012-2014 before the beginning of his NHL career, scoring 14 goals and 27 points in 73 contests.

Predators Claim Jakub Vrána, Jordan Oesterle

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The Predators have claimed winger Jakub Vrána off waivers from the Capitals and defenseman Jordan Oesterle off waivers from the Bruins, per Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic.

Nashville needed some depth after trading winger Gustav Nyquist to the Minnesota Wild a few days ago and moving Thomas Novak and Luke Schenn to the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday evening. Newly acquired Michael Bunting will become a regular feature in the lineup upon his recovery from appendix-removal surgery, but Vrana and Oesterle will fill in in the meantime.

After a few subpar years with the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues, Vrána successfully converted a PTO into a one-year, league minimum deal with the Washington Capitals. It was a feel-good story at the time, given that the best years of Vrána’s career had come in the Capitals organization. Before being acquired by Detroit at the 2020-21 trade deadline, Vrána had scored 76 goals and 157 points in 284 games, including a Stanley Cup ring from the 2018 postseason.

Thanks to a relatively healthy forward core this season, the Capitals haven’t utilized Vrána much. The nine-year veteran has been limited to 26 games this season in Washington, scoring four goals and 11 points while averaging 9:50 of ice time per night. There’s no guarantee he’ll have more access to playing time in Nashville, but he could make a decent fit on the team’s fourth line.

Meanwhile, Oesterle joins the seventh organization of his career from the waiver claim. The product of Western Michigan University had recently signed a two-year, $1.55MM agreement with Boston last summer. Similarly to Vrána, Oesterle had been a lightly called upon depth option on the Bruins’ blue line.

He’s likely to find a similar role in Nashville. Oesterle doesn’t appear better on paper than any of the Predators’ other options unless the team has not finished dealing from their defensive core. The 11-year veteran has registered one goal and six points in 22 games for the Bruins this season, averaging 17:36 of ice time. The pair of Nashville’s waiver claims were briefly teammates throughout their time with the Red Wings from 2021 to 2023.

Waivers: 3/5/25

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Four players hit the waiver wire on Wednesday ahead of Friday’s trade deadline, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

F Christian Fischer (Red Wings) – Fischer, 27, has slipped down Detroit’s depth chart as the season’s progressed. He’s been a healthy scratch in four of their last eight games. His 11:09 ATOI is his lowest in five years, as are his 0.16 points per game (1-6–7 in 45 GP). On an expiring deal worth $1.125MM, he’ll cost $100K against the cap for Detroit if he clears and is sent to the minors. It’s unclear if it’s purely a performance-based demotion or if they’re waiving him to open up roster flexibility ahead of the deadline – likely a bit of both.

D Jordan Oesterle (Bruins) – Oesterle’s waiver placement comes after the 32-year-old scored his first goal since December 2022 in yesterday’s loss to the Predators. He’d been a healthy scratch in 10 straight games before re-entering the lineup for Ian Mitchell. The veteran depth piece has served as a bottom-pairing/depth option for a good chunk of the season with Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy missing significant time on the Boston blue line. He’s been rostered since late November, so today’s waiver placement is likely an effort to get him assigned to AHL Providence on deadline day to make him eligible for the Calder Cup Playoffs.

F Jesse Puljujärvi (Panthers) – Puljujärvi signed a tryout with Florida’s AHL affiliate in Charlotte last month after having his deal with the Penguins mutually terminated. Today’s waiver placement indicates he’s landed an NHL deal with the Panthers for the rest of the season. If he clears waivers and returns to Charlotte, he’ll now be a recall option down the stretch. It’s a two-way, league-minimum deal for the 2016 No. 4 overall pick, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports. He has three assists in seven games with Charlotte after posting 3-6–9 in 26 showings with Pittsburgh earlier this season.

F Jakub Vrána (Capitals) – Vrána won’t necessarily be reassigned to AHL Hershey if he clears, at least not immediately. They’ll have a 30-day window to send him to the minors waiver-free to aid in salary cap flexibility around deadline moves, AP’s Stephen Whyno reports. Regardless, it’s been a tough year for the 29-year-old. He landed a PTO with Washington in camp and converted that into an NHL contract for his second stint with the Caps, who drafted him 13th overall in 2014. He’s been reasonably productive when dressed, posting 7-4–11 in 26 games despite seeing just 9:50 of ice time per game, but hasn’t found a regular role in Washington’s league-best offense. He’s suited up just three times since New Year’s, sitting almost exclusively as a healthy scratch. He’s on a one-way deal for 2024-25 worth the minimum $775K.

Capitals Sign Jakub Vrana

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Oct. 8: The Capitals have made Vrana’s signing official. It’s a league-minimum deal, as reported.

Oct. 7: The Washington Capitals are bringing back a familiar face on a guaranteed contract. PuckPedia reported earlier today that the organization will sign forward Jakub Vrana to a one-year, $775K contract after playing on a professional tryout agreement for the preseason.

Vrana’s contract won’t be registered until tomorrow when the Capitals are expected to make the signing official. He will start the season on Washington’s opening night roster and play his first game with the organization in over three years.

He was originally drafted by the Capitals with the 13th overall pick of the 2014 NHL Draft and debuted with the club in 2016-17. It wasn’t an encouraging start to his NHL career, with three goals and six points in his first 21 games.

His play picked up over the next three years, with 62 goals and 126 points for the Capitals in 224 games from 2018-2020. He played a part in Washington’s run to their first Stanley Cup championship in the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, scoring three goals and eight points in 23 games, including the first goal of the clincher.

Although Vrana was an emerging member of the Capitals’ top six, the team traded him to the Detroit Red Wings during the 2020-21 season for Anthony Mantha. He got off to an electric start on a poor Red Wings team with eight goals and 11 points in 11 games.

His time in the Motor City was shortlived thanks to injuries and a stint in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. He finished his tenure in Detroit with 22 goals and 32 points in 42 games before being traded to the St. Louis Blues in 2022-23.

Vrana finished the 2023-24 season with two goals and six points in 21 games while being demoted to their AHL affiliate for much of the year. He’s far removed from earning the three-year, $15.75MM contract the Red Wings gave him in 2021, but Vrana and the Capitals hope he can turn his career around in a familiar environment.

Jakub Vrana Joins Capitals On PTO

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The Capitals are bringing in free-agent winger Jakub Vrana on a PTO for training camp, per a team announcement.

It’s a homecoming of sorts for Vrana, who the Caps drafted 14th overall in 2014. The 6’0″, 195-lb winger once looked to be well on his way to becoming a top-six fixture in the nation’s capital, recording back-to-back seasons of 24 and 25 goals just before the COVID-19 pandemic. But Washington decided to part ways with him the following season, trading him to the Red Wings at the 2021 deadline as part of a package that fetched them Anthony Mantha.

Things started well for Vrana in Detroit. He finished 2020-21 on a tear, recording eight goals and three assists for 11 points in 11 games. An RFA that summer, he inked a three-year, $15.75MM deal that looked to be good value for a player who had established himself as a consistent 20-goal threat.

However, a shoulder injury sustained during training camp in the fall cost him most of 2021-22, a setback he’s never truly recovered from. Vrana played just 31 games for Detroit after the surgery amid a months-long stint in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program and multiple minor-league assignments, culminating in a trade to the Blues at the 2023 deadline.

Once again, early returns were strong for Vrana after a change of scenery. He averaged 15:10 per game across 20 appearances for St. Louis to close the season, his highest usage since his post-deadline stint with Detroit two years earlier. He responded with 10 goals and 14 points in 20 games, finishing second on the team in goals during that span.

Unfortunately, the momentum didn’t carry over into last season. Vrana started the season back in a bottom-six role and had just two goals and six points in 19 games before the Blues placed him on waivers in mid-December. He cleared without incident and, aside from a brief call-up in January, spent the rest of the season on assignment to the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.

Vrana had good numbers on the farm, posting 16 goals and 20 assists for 36 points in 42 games. His 0.86 points per game ranked second behind Adam Gaudette’s 1.06. But after failing to land an everyday role in St. Louis, it wasn’t surprising to see them let him walk to unrestricted free agency this summer.

Now 28, Vrana faces an uphill climb to earn a spot on the NHL roster out of camp with the Capitals. He’ll be in competition with a pair of recent first-round picks in Hendrix Lapierre and Ivan Miroshnichenko, and he also may need to supersede UFA pickup Taylor Raddysh, who had 14 points in 73 games with the Blackhawks last season. There will be a spot for him if he can show enough flashes of his pre-surgery form, though, and he could end up being a bargain-bin pickup on a two-way deal.

In 284 games with Washington from 2016 to 2021, Vrana had 76 goals, 81 assists, 157 points, and a +36 rating in 284 regular-season games. He shot 13.1% and averaged 13:41 per game. He contributed three goals and five assists in 23 playoff games during the Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup win but had no points in 15 combined playoff games in 2019 and 2020.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Blues Activate Justin Faulk, Assign Jakub Vrána To AHL

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The Blues activated Justin Faulk from injured reserve on Friday afternoon, per a team announcement. To remain compliant with the 23-player limit on the active roster, the team returned winger Jakub Vrána to AHL Springfield in a corresponding transaction.

Faulk, 31, will likely play tomorrow against the Bruins. He missed the last five games and 13 days with a lower-body injury, during which span the Blues went 3-2-0 and stayed in the hunt for a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

With today being the halfway point of the 2023-24 NHL schedule, Faulk is coincidentally at the exact halfway mark of the seven-year, $45.5MM extension he signed with the Blues that began in the 2020-21 season. He’s in his fifth season as a Blue since coming over from the Hurricanes in a late-2019 offseason trade, accumulating 41 goals, 114 assists, 155 points, and a 48.3% expected goals share at even strength, per Hockey Reference, in 318 games.

This season has been average for Faulk’s standards. Playing in 35 straight games to start the season before sustaining the injury late last month, Faulk had scored twice and added 15 assists for 17 points, or 0.49 points per game. That’s just north of his 0.47 career points per game mark. He’s again shouldered heavy minutes with average shot quality control metrics, averaging 22:25 per game while controlling 49% of expected goals at even strength, according to Hockey Reference data.

He’s most commonly factored in on a pairing with Torey Krug this season, which has been a mainstay since the latter joined the Blues in free agency in 2020. Their 537 minutes together is the 12th most of any defensive pairing this season, per MoneyPuck. That means 23-year-old call-up Matthew Kessel, who’s played in five straight games alongside Krug in Faulk’s absence, will likely be a healthy scratch against Krug’s former team this weekend.

Notably, though, the Blues chose to keep Kessel on the active roster instead of returning him to Springfield with Faulk back in the lineup. The 2020 fifth-round pick is still waiver-exempt, so there’s no risk of losing him on the wire by keeping him around as a healthy scratch. The 6-foot-3, 203-pound right-shot blueliner is still looking for his first NHL point but posted decent possession metrics in a small sample alongside Krug, averaging 17:34 per game. Nearly all those minutes game at even strength, as Kessel saw less than a minute combined of ice time on the power play and penalty kill during his stint in the lineup.

Heading down to the minors instead is Vrána, who does not yet need waivers again after he cleared them nearly one month ago. The 27-year-old posted over a point per game in Springfield after being sent down, including scoring four times in his last five games before the Blues summoned him back to the roster eight days ago.

Unfortunately, the 2014 first-round pick was unable to convert that momentum into regaining a full-time NHL role. He played two games during his callup, the latter of which was a poor performance in a 5-1 loss to the Panthers on Tuesday that saw him post a -3 rating in just over ten minutes of ice time. Interim head coach Drew Bannister scratched Vrána in yesterday’s 5-2 win over the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers, allowing Sammy Blais to re-enter the lineup against his former team.

Vrána is in the final season of a three-year, $15.75MM contract carrying a $5.25MM signed with the Red Wings following an arbitration filing in 2021. The Blues only have him at a $2.625MM cap hit after trading for him with 50% salary retention by Detroit, but that still exceeds this season’s buried threshold of $1.15MM. Thus, the Blues are still on the hook for $1.475MM against the cap when Vrána is stashed in the minors.

Blues Place Justin Faulk On Injured Reserve, Recall Jakub Vrana

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The St. Louis Blues have placed top defenseman Justin Faulk on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Faulk suffered the injury late in the last minute of the team’s December 29th matchup against the Colorado Avalanche. He has already missed one game with the injury and is now slated to be out for at least a week. St. Louis has also swapped depth forwards, recalling Jakub Vrana and sending Nikita Alexandrov to the minor leagues.

Faulk has once again served as St. Louis’ top defenseman this season, averaging nearly 22-and-a-half minutes each game. He’s tallied 17 points through 35 games in the role, on pace for 40 points in 82 games. That’s a step down from the marks Faulk has been able to reach in St. Louis, with the defenseman setting a career-high 50 points in 82 games last season. It was the first time that any Blues defender has hit the half-century mark since Alex Pietrangelo did it in 2019-20 – and Faulk becomes the first defenseman not named Pietrangelo to reach the feat since the legendary Chris Pronger in 2003-04.

With Faulk moved to IR, the Blues opt to reinforce their offense rather than their defense – a move that makes sense considering the team recalled Matthew Kessel midway through last week. The reinforcements come in the way of Jakub Vrana, who the Blues acquired via trade last season, sending Dylan McLaughlin and a seventh round pick to the Detroit Red Wings. The hope was that Vrana could rebound to the 50-point form he showed off in the 2019-20 season. And while his time in St. Louis has been marred by struggles and waiver placements, the 27-year-old winger has totaled 20 points in 39 games since joining the Blues organization. He will hope to find his groove under new head coach Drew Bannister, who Vrana has yet to play for: getting sent down prior to Craig Berube’s dismissal from the team.

Blues Recall Mackenzie MacEachern

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The Blues recalled winger Mackenzie MacEachern from AHL Springfield on Wednesday, a team release states. To stay under the 23-player roster limit, the team assigned winger Jakub Vrána to Springfield after he cleared waivers earlier today.

MacEachern, 29, has 115 games of NHL experience, although none of them have come this season. All those regular-season NHL appearances have come in a Blues uniform after they selected him 67th overall in the 2012 draft. The Michigan State graduate made eight postseason appearances for the Hurricanes last season but spent the entirety of the regular season in the AHL with their former affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.

After one year away from the Blues organization, MacEachern returned on a two-year, one-way deal worth $1.55MM last summer. He did not make the team out of camp, however, and was waived in early October as one of their last cuts. He’s responded with four goals, eight assists, 12 points, and a -4 rating in 22 contests for Springfield, ranking seventh on the team in scoring. It’s a sizable step back from the pace he set with the Wolves last season, where he notched 30 points in 37 games.

MacEachern was a Black Ace during the Blues’ run to the 2019 Stanley Cup, appearing in 29 regular-season games that season (the first of his career) but not getting into any playoff action. Since joining the NHL ranks in 2018, MacEachern’s tallied 11 goals, eight assists, 19 points, and a +4 rating while averaging 8:44 per contest. Playing in an exclusively fourth-line role in the majors, MacEachern has historically been a neutral possession force, giving the Blues a bottom-of-the-lineup presence that they don’t have to worry about.

He certainly doesn’t have the scoring upside that Vrána boasts, but given the latter has struggled heavily defensively this season, it makes sense the Blues would opt for a more responsible checking option on the roster. MacEachern will battle with Nikita Alexandrov, Sammy Blais and Hugh McGing for ice time on the team’s fourth line.

Jakub Vrana Placed On Waivers

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Dec. 13: Vrana has cleared waivers, per Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN. He may now be freely assigned to the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds, which GM Doug Armstrong confirmed was the team’s plan earlier today (via Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic).

Dec. 12: Yesterday, there were conflicting reports surrounding Jakub Vrana and the St.Louis Blues, as there was some indication that the Blues were close to moving on from Vrana in a trade. However, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet is reporting that Vrana has indeed been placed on waivers by St.Louis.

It will be the second time this calendar year that Vrana has found himself on waivers, being placed on the wire during his time with the Detroit Red Wings on January 3rd of last season. He would go unclaimed, largely due to his $5.25MM price tag at the time, and was subsequently traded to the Blues two months later.

Originally a first-round selection of the Washington Capitals back in the 2014 NHL Draft, it wouldn’t be until the 2017-18 season that Vrana would make the full-time jump to the NHL. He quickly became a relatively solid depth scorer for the Capitals, scoring 13 goals and 27 points in 73 games, also chipping in eight points on Washington’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in that year’s playoffs.

Vrana would continue to increase his productivity with the Capitals, posting back-to-back 20-goal seasons, leading to a two-year, $6.7MM extension with Washington. Unfortunately, he would not see out the rest of that contract with the Capitals, as he was traded to Detroit along with Richard Panik and two higher-end draft picks for Anthony Mantha.

After the trade, believing they had found themselves a diamond in the rough, Vrana scored eight goals and 11 points in 11 games with the Red Wings, leading to a three-year, $15.75MM extension. Nevertheless, as things played out in Hockeytown, largely due to injuries and a stint with the NHLPA Player Assistance Program, his time in Detroit quickly faltered, leaving him on the outside looking in with the organization.

Almost identically to when he arrived in Detroit, Vrana got off to a quick start in St.Louis, scoring 10 goals in 20 games down the stretch after last year’s trade. This season, Vrana is back to mild production, scoring two goals and six points in 19 games, leading to his placement on waivers this afternoon. Although he is only making $2.625MM due to the Red Wings retaining half of his salary, it is more than likely Vrana will pass through waivers unclaimed.

Blues Do Not Place Jakub Vrana On Waivers, Make Him Available For Trade

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1:05 p.m.: Vrana is not on today’s waiver list, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Instead, Friedman relays the Blues have made the depth winger available for trade and that a transaction may be imminent, given he’s not on the wire as expected.

12:14 p.m.: The St. Louis Blues have placed forward Jakub Vrana on waivers, per Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic. This is the second time that the 27-year-old winger has found himself on waivers, with the Detroit Red Wings waiving him in January of last season. He was traded to the Blues ahead of the trade deadline, with St. Louis sending depth forward Dylan McLaughlin and a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft to Detroit.

Vrana has appeared in 19 games with St. Louis this season, netting two goals and six points. It’s a step down from the performance he managed with the club last season, as he scored 10 goals and 14 points in 20 games following his trade to Missouri. Vrana was originally drafted 13th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft by the Washington Capitals, being selected just two picks before Dylan Larkin and 12 picks before David Pastrnak. He played in one season in the SHL after his draft year before joining the AHL’s Hershey Bears at the end of the 2014-15 season. He stayed with the minor league club until the 2016-17 campaign when Washington recalled him for his NHL debut.

Vrana officially played his rookie season in 2017-18, scoring 13 goals and 27 points. But it was his sophomore and junior-year seasons that saw the winger start to break out – with Vrana managing 24 goals and 47 points in 2018-19 and 25 goals and 52 points in 2019-20. The Capitals dealt Vrana to Detroit in the following 2020-21 season, packaging him with Richard Pánik, a 2021 first-round pick, and a 2022 second-round pick for Anthony Mantha. Vrana saw his games played and scoring decline while in Detroit, both things he wasn’t able to build back up while in St. Louis. The Red Wings assigned Vrana to the minor leagues for 17 games last season – his first appearance in the AHL since 2016-17. If he clears waivers, he is expected to join the Blues’ AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.

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