Why is Vrana even on waivers?

yZeRPlaN, man

Because we need to clear a roster spot for Robby Fabbri, And it sounds like Detroit wants to go with 3 goalies. And not send any of the kids down yet.

But seriously. It’s a good question. Got to be more to the story.

No doubt. No GM in the league would just let Vrana go. I have a feeling that Vrana is headed back home. I have seen speculation that it was substance abuse related for his leave, but I seem to recall him losing his father recently. Perhaps he intends to go home?

Wouldnt it be unconditional waivers with intention to terminate his contract if that was the case?

He's unavailable too often to be relied upon above other options which may be more likely to get claimed. His contract could be a deterrent to many teams without the space to claim him as well.
If he were on waivers for purposes of contract termination, that would be indicated, so there aren't likely any teams that were willing to give up assets due to the risk of him not being able to contribute over the course of his contract.
Seems a prime candidate for a Chicago or the like. If he can perform well, he can be flipped at the next deadline. In the meantime he provides cap to maintain the floor while moving out other expensive assets of their own.

Not necessarily. That would still affect Detroit's cap situation and leave open possibilities of real dollars being owed. If another team picks up Vrana, then he becomes that team's problem. If he goes unclaimed, he gets assigned to Grand Rapids, where if he fails to report he is suspended, and doesn't get paid. I'm not a lawyer, but it might be possible at that point for Detroit ownership to reclaim money or be compensated for the failure to report/breach of contract.

Maybe this is just being contrarian, but Yzerman's reputation seems to have really run ahead of his performance.

Guy just got credit for what other people in the Lightning organization did. Stamkos and Hedman were there before him, Kucherov, Point, and Cirelli were all great draft picks but I am sure that has much more to do with their scouts than him. Its not like Yzerman is flying around to watch those guys significantly. Hes great but hes not some genius.

I was gonna comment on it but didnt wanna get attacked.

He passed on Kucherov once (Namestnikov), Point three times (DeAngelo, Masin, McLeod), and Cirelli three times (Stephens, Spencer, Yan).

He might be the luckiest GM in the league with that drafting record. He also picked Koekkoek before Vasilevsky in 2012, though Vasi being the first G off the board is a fantastic pick.

Yeah lol the Lightning have been pretty garbage drafting with early picks, their mid round picks have been whats built them to where they are and I highly doubt Yzerman is the one scouting those guys consistently. Out of Koekkoek, Vasilevsky, Drouin, DeAngelo, Howden, Stephens, Cal and Nolan Foote only Vasilevsky turned out good. I think he gets credit for getting guys like Stamkos and Hedman to below value deals tho, he held firm on Stamkos when he tried to sign for more. But even that, if he had the leverage of being in Tampa. If he was in Detroit he probably wouldn't have the leverage to get those guys to sign for cheap. It wasn't until Botteril came in and made trades for guys like Goodrow and Coleman that helped them break through, and even guys like Paul and Hagel look like they may help them be a dynasty. Yzerman could never identify guys like that.

Yup.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d take him over like 25 or so other GMs, I just don’t think he’s this infallible wizard