Blues acquire Vrana from Red Wings

The St. Louis Blues acquired forward Jakub Vrana from the Detroit Red Wings for forward Dylan McLaughlin and a 2025 seventh-round pick, the teams announced Friday.

Detroit will retain 50% of Vrana's salary. He's signed through 2023-24 at a $5.25-million cap hit, so St. Louis takes on Vrana at $2.625 million.

The 27-year-old entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program in October. He returned to the Red Wings in December and was subsequently placed on waivers.

Vrana tallied six goals and 11 points in 17 AHL contests. Detroit called him up in February, but he failed to find the scoresheet in three games. He scored a goal and two points in two games before entering the player assistance program.

Prior to 2022-23, Vrana struggled to remain in the lineup due to various injuries. He played a combined 76 games across 2020-21 and 2021-22. However, when he's been in the lineup, he's been an efficient scorer.

Since 2020-21, Vrana's 1.60 goals per 60 at five-on-five ranks behind only Auston Matthews among players with more than 80 games, according to Natural Stat Trick.

McLaughlin was signed by St. Louis in July 2022. The 27-year-old, who returned to action Feb. 25 after a lengthy injury, has one goal in six AHL contests this season. The pending unrestricted free agent has yet to play in the NHL.

After the trade, the Red Wings have a little over $8 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly.

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