Jakub Vrana opens up about departure from Red Wings

For reasons that we may never be fully privy to, things just did not work out between the Detroit Red Wings and forward Jakub Vrana. As you remember, Vrana entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program for an undisclosed issue and was absent for two months after just the first two games of the 2022-23 schedule.

Upon being reinstated, he was sent on a conditioning stint with the American Hockey League affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins before being waived. No team picked him up, and he remained within the Red Wings organization. He would eventually be called back up to the big club, but was sparingly used and was mostly a healthy scratch. They officially cut ties with at the NHL Trade Deadline, trading him to the St. Louis Blues for a future 7th round draft pick. 

He instantly hit it off with the Blues, immediately racking up the numbers in the way that he did upon his arrival with the Red Wings. In the 20 games he played in after being acquired by St. Louis, he scored 10 goals - a 40 goal pace over a full 82 game season.

In his first truly reaching interview since the trade with the Czech website Denik Sport, Vrana explained that he believed someone within the Red Wings organization simply did not want him around any longer after he completed his rehabilitation assignment. 

“I don’t know if it came from the coach (Derek Lalonde) or the general manager (Steve Yzerman),” Vrana explained. “But I felt that something was wrong.”

As is his right, he is choosing to keep the nature of his personal issue private, saying that it was "something" that happened but that he sought help. 

“Something happened to me in my life,” he said. “I did the right thing by seeking help.”

“Mental problems and substances are more closely related,” Vrana said. “When someone doesn’t know what to do, those people are there for him.”

“It’s about a person finding another meaning in life and getting rid of everything they have to face."

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