Before putting forward Jakub Vrana on waivers on Tuesday, the St. Louis Blues had reportedly attempted to trade him. According to David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period, Vrana was expected to be placed on the waiver wire on Monday, but the Blues waited some more with the hopes that a trade could take place before St. Louis was forced to use waivers.
However, on Monday, there was encouraging news from Vrana’s agent, J.P. Barry, who had confirmed to The Fourth Period that the Blues were “in discussions with teams before the waiver process,” and the belief is a deal could be imminent.
Unfortunately for Vrana, the trigger was not pulled.
The 27-year-old forward is currenly in the the final year of a three-year, $15.75 million contract, and the Blues are only responsible for $2.625 million of that and the Detroit Red Wings are taking care of the balance after retaining half of his contract in a trade during the offseason.
Teams that were reportedly in the mix for Vrana were not identified though it will be interesting to see if one of them claims the forward before the deadline on Wednesday. Before he was shipped off to St. Louis this summer, it had been reported that the New York Islanders, Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens and Anaheim Ducks had expressed interest for Vrana. Could they be back in the mix?
So far this season, Vrana has registered two goals and four assists in 19 games and needs his streak of bad luck to come to an end. He is a talented forward that could get back on track with (yet) another change of scenery. Will it be by getting picked up on waivers, going down to the AHL to come back more confident or getting dealt once again in a trade?
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