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TheWolfe

NoCupsForCanada
Member Since
Dec. 12, 2018
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Forum: Detroit Red WingsJan. 4 at 12:20 p.m.
Thread: Hot take Vrana goes unclaimed
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>GiggywithGibby</b></div><div>Anaheim is not at the beginning of its rebuild, we are a few years along, we have several high drafted individuals that are now young roster players, we should be bottoming out this year and start climbing up next year.

That said, we are in need of a top 6 LW, and we have the cap space, and Vrana is known by Verbeek (was the AGM under Yzerman when Vrana was traded to the Wings). There is a chance we could put the claim in and see if he works out.

I heard a rumor somewhere that Verbeek and Yzerman were in talks over the last couple of weeks, giving the full situation about Vrana so Verbeek goes in eyes open may have been what they were discussing.</div></div>

I could see that as an option. Anaheim certainly has the cap flexibility as even though there's a lot of RFAs that will need extensions, they have a lot of money coming off the books as well. Again, the elephant in the room here is where Vrana's head is really at. Something clearly happened between his last game for GR and the decision to extend his conditioning stint and because Stevie runs a tight ship, nobody outside the walls of his board room really knows the full scope.
Forum: Detroit Red WingsJan. 3 at 3:24 p.m.
Thread: Hot take Vrana goes unclaimed
This will probably age like milk, but...

Vrana's deal doesn't expire until after next season. Cap flexibility is a huge deal right now. The only teams that currently have the space to claim him without using LTIR are:

Ottawa
Minnesota
Chicago
Anaheim
Buffalo
Arizona

Ottawa has to extend DeBrincat and some other RFAs next year plus Stutzle's extension kicks in then, so they really can't afford his cap hit. Minnesota is stuck in cap hell until 2025 because of the Parise and Suter buyouts, so they're probably out. Chicago is clearly at the beginning of a rebuild, so picking up a guy like him with the idea of winning games makes no sense. Anaheim is in a similar boat, albeit with much more cap space. Buffalo could easily afford him even with extending their RFAs, but they're very deep at forward right now and probably want to let the kids continue to play. And Arizona is playing with an artificially low internal cap, so they aren't going to take on a deal like that.

Whatever happens, I think Yzerman will view this as a win. If he gets claimed, he just cleared a roster spot and 5.2 million off the books for the next 1.5 years without giving up a single asset. If he goes unclaimed, they still have a guy who could potentially be a major contributor as a top six forward if he can get himself back together.

Watch him end up in Toronto