Wasn't happy when he got traded from Washington, though I understood the business behind it. I really hope he eventually can become what he should be able to be, a 30+ goal-scorer.

Suppose it depends on what it is - but they could tell us enough that we aren't sitting here wondering if his career is over or not

Fair deal, Detroit moves someone who is essentially a cap dump without giving up much while the Blues get a player they can try to remake into a usable player

2 major surgeries and the pressure to get back on to the ice asap. Would he have had the unfortunate habit without hockey?

I would like to assume no, but i'm not sure what you are trying to get at? It's unfortunate all the same.

Pain killers have become a major addiction issue in sports

Retaining almost 6m over two seasons for a bag of pucks is wild

Kapanen and Vrana has bad season. They can bounce back next season. If not, they can be traded at next deadline. Win for Army.

That's up to him but he made it back to the NHL this season is big step in the right direction.

I agree and no matter what it was addiction or mental health he had learned to live with it to the extent that most of the people around him didn't realize he had a problem. No he has to learn to live with out it not just in hockey but away from the rink as well.

Can we vote for Vrana to win the trade? Hope he can regain his mental and physical form and become a good top six guy again!

I don't know if that is his problem. But that isn't just a sports issue the NIH says about 3M of 16M people in the US have had or have issues with opioid abuse and the likelihood of an dying from an opioid overdose surpassed the likelihood of dying in a car accident in the US. Now I have strayed way too far from hockey but I just want to say the people on this site who think all players who enter the NHL Players Assistance Program are just drug addicts are ignorant and obviously can't comprehend the scope of the problem.

I completely agree with that and it's why I think STL won that trade. I think Vrana will get past this and become a very productive player again and leaving Detroit might be the best way to do that with a fresh start.

Yeah - I'm sure it would sting in a way, but I'm sure most Detroit fans would be happy to see him back on track wherever it winds up being. Have to remember these guys are more than just cap hits on a spreadsheet sometimes, and celebrate a guy getting back to a better place.

This is a fantastic move by the Blues getting the chance to play in STL will do wonders I think for Vrana. Salary retention a good bonus. Sure Armstrong screwed the defense but he's doing the re-tool beautifully so far.

I'd love to see it work out for the guy. Thought he looked OK in the few minutes he got after the call up from GR. And - even as a huge Detroit fan - maybe Vrana turning it around would finally let some of these people see Yzerman isn't some 13-dimension chess playing god who can do absolutely no wrong.

The Mantha-Vrana trade really turning out to be pretty oof for both teams.

For sure it could be any number of things, I'm just connecting the surgeries since that is s simple explanation.

Whatever it ends ups being you hope that they're able to get past it - and frankly screw hockey that comes 2nd. It would just be nice to know enough too understand how serious it is

I agree and even though he is no longer on Detroit I still hope he gets back to the level he was at when he was at when Detroit traded for him. I'll be rooting for him.

Maybe for some but you are correct it's a problem that is much bigger than hockey and the players who get treatment aren't the only ones suffering from these type of problems. I don't like saying it because you don't want to add to the pressure these players are already under but the more players who go through this and continue to have success the more likely other players are to get help.

Or they saved $2.6 million next season and got back assets in return. There's a chance Vrána doesn't play in the NHL again.

Dumping Vrana with a couple of picks is fair IMO.

Retaining 50% of his salary until the end of next season for a middling prospect and a 7th round pick is not.



Furthermore, Detroit has used up all three of their salary retention spots for this season.

Potentially preventing trades on other key rentals.



St. Louis wins the trade.

I've heard that Painkillers was not the issue. Issue was CoCoa Powder. He allegedly started with it in WSH with Kuznetsov and others..

I think STL wins, he could bounce back