The St. Louis Blues officially placed winger Jakub Vrana on waivers, Tuesday. The Blues reportedly had plans of doing so the day before, but seemingly tried to trade him at the last minute.
Now that a deal has not materialized, Vrana is on waivers and can be claimed freely by any NHL team.
The waiver wire news was tweeted out by hockey insider Elliotte Friedman.
Vrana is on waivers today. Both players yesterday cleared
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 12, 2023
Vrana has played 19 games for the Blues this season and tallied just six points (2g, 4a). The Czech forward does not have a point in his last seven games and is minus-8 in plus/minus during his last four games.
The 27-year-old forward saw a season-low 8:59 of ice time in his last game for the Blues, a 3-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks where he was on the ice for two goals against in the first period. His 12:17 average ice time is the lowest he’s had since his rookie year in Washington. Blues head coach Craig Berube has also healthy scratched Vrana several times this season based on the forward’s perceived lack of effort defensively.
Jakub Vrana will be placed on waivers. He's still a speedy scoring winger who creates off the rush, but when that's the one thing you do and the shots aren't going in that's a much tougher sell. #STLBlues pic.twitter.com/q8rr1o5ZtJ
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) December 11, 2023
Vrana carries a $2.625 million cap hit for the rest of this season after the Detroit Red Wings kept 50 percent of his salary in last year’s trade that saw Vrana arrive in St. Louis. Vrana’s last, full successful NHL season came with the Washington Capitals during the 2019-20 campaign. That season, a 23-year-old Vrana recorded 52 points (25g, 27a) in 69 games for a Todd Reirden-led Caps squad.
“Overall, we had a great group here,” Vrana said last February. “We obviously won the Cup. The most important thing is that we stick together as a team. We were like one family here. That brings the memories into the future.”
Vrana has 20 points (12g, 8a) in 39 games for the Blues since being acquired from Detroit. Overall, he has 209 career NHL points (110g, 99a) in 365 games.
