Red Wings recall Jakub Vrana, place Lucas Raymond on injured list
Ted KulfanDetroit — The Red Wings are bringing back Jakub Vrana.
The team announced Tuesday it is recalling the goal-scoring forward, who was waived Jan. 3 and sent to minor-league affiliate Grand Rapids the next day when Vrana was unclaimed by any other team.
In a corresponding move, the Wings put Lucas Raymond on the injured list retroactive to Feb. 10.
Raymond was injured while colliding with defenseman Ben Chiarot during Friday's practice. Raymond has missed the last two games and wasn't on the ice Tuesday during practice in Edmonton.
Vrana played the first two games of the season (one goal, one assist), then entered an NHL/NHLPA players assistance program, where he remained for two months.
After a slow start in Grand Rapids, Vrana caught fire. He scored goals in four of his last five games and had six goals and five assists (11 points) in 17 games with the Griffins.
Vrana was acquired from Washington (along with Richard Panik and two draft picks) in a trade that sent Anthony Mantha to the Capitals, and scored eight goals in 11 games with the Wings after being acquired.
Vrana signed a three-year, $15.75 million ($5.25 million cap hit per year) the summer of 2021, but aggravated a shoulder injury 10 minutes into his first training camp practice and required surgery. He played only the final 26 games last season scoring 13 goals. Vrana has only played 39 games with the Wings, but has 22 goals.
Vrana went into the assistance program Oct. 19 and was cleared to play Dec. 16 after receiving treatment and had entered the follow-up-care phase of the program.
"There's bigger things than hockey in life. You're gonna get it in order. You're gonna deal with some things that is sad, that is bigger than hockey, or whatever it could be," Vrana said, upon returning to the Wings in December. "It's important to make that decision and — (before) it's too late, or whatever — you have to make some decisions that are more important in your life."
MSU on Wings' minds
The Wings found out the extent and severity of Monday's mass shooting on the Michigan State campus after their 6-1 victory in Vancouver.
The grim details put everything into proper perspective.
"Really just puts into perspective so many more things are vitally more important than sport," coach Derek Lalonde told DetroitRedWings.com. "It's gut-wrenching. It's sad. My thoughts and prayers out to the community, especially to the families. I have kids that are approaching college age, and it's just heartbreaking. Our thoughts and prayers out to the entire community."
Captain Dylan Larkin, a life-long Michigan resident, told the site: "We dealt with this last year with Oxford (school shooting). It just hurts the heart. We feel for everyone involved. I know we had a win, but it's kind of hard to talk about anything else. We're all thinking about our home state right now."
Streaking Wings
With Monday's victory, the Wings head into their game against Edmonton having won three consecutive games and six of their last nine.
Larkin had two goals and was dominant for large parts of the game against the Canucks. Larkin became the first Wings' player to score multiple goals in two consecutive games since Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou did so during the 2018-19 season.
Robby Fabbri, Gustav Lindstrom, Pius Suter and Jonatan Berggren added Wings goals.
"It's always nice when you get the wins," goaltender Ville Husso, who stopped 29 shots for the win, told DetroitRedWings.com. "We just need to keep rolling. We can't get too comfortable."
Red Wings at Oilers
▶ Faceoff: 9:30 p.m., Wednesday, Rogers Place, Edmonton.
▶ TV/radio: BSDEXTRA/97.1 FM
▶ Outlook: The Oilers (30-19-5) are coming off a 2-1-1 four-game road trip, including defeating the Red Wings 5-2 at Little Caesars Arena ... Edmonton currently holds the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference. ... C Connor McDavid leads the NHL in goals (42) and points (97).
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan
Twitter: @tkulfan