The Detroit Red Wings have been extremely unlucky with forward Jakub Vrána to this point in his tenure with the team. The Red Wings got busy at the trade deadline in 2021 when they flipped forward Anthony Mantha to the Washington Capitals for the Czech forward.
As the Detroit Red Wings moved forward with him, he was incredible in his performances on the ice. The issue with Vrána has been his health. He was slated to be a top performer in the Red Wings’ offense in 2021-22, but he never found his way into the team’s lineup.
A shoulder injury that required surgery would keep him off the ice for most of the season. He found his way back on the ice, going through his rehab and getting cleared to return in time to finish the year with the team, playing in 26 total games for the Red Wings.
Vrána has had both of his stints with the Red Wings amass to just 37 total games, but he still earned a three-year, $15.75 million contract extension from Steve Yzerman. The 2022-23 season will be the second season of his contract with the Red Wings, and there is still a lot of promise from him, even if he only played in 37 games.
Detroit Red Wings forward Jakub Vrána has a breakout season ahead of him.
The 2022-23 season is still far down the line, but it’s easy to say that Vrána is going to break out this season. In his first stint with the Red Wings at the end of the 2020-21 season, he logged 11 games where he managed eight goals and three assists for 11 total points.
He had quite the gap between his two stints in 2020-21 and 2021-22, but Vrána managed 13 goals and six assists for 19 total points over 26 games played. It was an exceptional performance once again; the winger found ways to score and get the job done.
Vrána was a true goal-scorer when he could play and stay healthy. The Red Wings have to be looking forward to what he can do for the team when he is healthy for an entire season. It should be very beneficial for the Red Wings to be able to plug him into the team’s lineup and add to the offense in 2022-23.
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The Red Wings’ offense is coming around, and the rebuild is beginning to cruise along to what will hopefully be an endpoint. For Vrána, if he can start producing at a level similar to his 37-game stint, it will make for an exciting season.
When the Red Wings acquired Vrána, the expectation was that he would be a top-six scoring threat. If this holds true, the team is starting to build out an offense that should be able to churn out the scoring. In the past few seasons, the team has started moving up the ranks for goals for, after being near the bottom during the depths of this rebuild.
But there’s still room to climb, and Vrána getting a healthy season will be a massive boost for the Red Wings.
