Red Wings Re-Sign Jakub Vrana to a Three-year Extension

The Detroit Red Wings and Jakub Vrana will avoid tomorrow’s arbitration meeting:

The $5.25M AAV is significant in that he is now the second highest paid Red Wing forward on the team (tied with Frans Nieslen) behind only the captain, Dylan Larkin. When I predicted the figures for the final five RFA deals remaining, I figured that Vrana would clock in below Tyler Bertuzzi’s $4.75M AAV, but he ended up getting 750k more. A three-year term at the higher dollar amount means that not only was Yzerman in agreement that he was closer to the figure Vrana’s camp proposed ($5.7M), but that Vrana appears to now be a member of the Red Wings’ core for a while.

Red Wings Have Another  Significant Goal Scorer

If Bertuzzi is able to have a full season or close to it, the Red Wings have a significant upgrade up front with a full season of Vrana as well. The 25-year-old was a point-per-game addition to Detroit following the trade and he was a goal short of tallying a third consecutive 20-goal season. Scoring eight in 11 games with Detroit certainly made a strong case for the raise, and it also gives the Red Wings more of a scoring punch–something they’ve lacked since Andreas Athanasiou and Dylan Larkin put up 30 goals in 2018-19.

He seemed to also click with linemate Filip Zadina, which could be a boon not only for Zadina’s goal scoring, but also provide a nice pay raise as he heads into restricted free agency. I know it’s less likely to happen, but imagine if Lucas Raymond has a great camp and makes the team, giving Detroit another legitimate scoring option up front. File that one under the wishlist, but let’s not forget:

One more fun look at things:

Red Wings have three more players to sign

With Vrana locked up, now attention turns to restricted free agents Adam Erne, Givani Smith, and Filip Hronek. Erne’s arbitration meeting is set up for next Saturday but that seems like just a minor detail after Vrana avoided a meeting. Hronek and Smith should get completed in short order, if not sooner than Erne’s.

In other news, this tweet dropped just a bit after the Vrana signing:

Presumably, this will be in Grand Rapids. But still great news to see another prospect take the next step. The blue line depth in the pipeline is certainly something right now.