Detroit Red Wings Assign Jakub Vrana to Grand Rapids for Conditioning
- Griffins Travel to Rockford to Square Off Against IceHogs Tonight at 8 p.m.
The Detroit Red Wings today assigned left wing Jakub Vrana to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins for conditioning.
Vrana, 26, has been practicing with the Red Wings since he was reinstated by the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program on Dec. 16. The 6-foot, 190-pound forward has appeared in two games with Detroit this season, tallying a goal and an assist on Oct. 15 at New Jersey. Vrana was limited to 26 games during the 2021-22 campaign but still ranked among the team leaders with 13 goals (T8th), five power play goals (T4th), six power play points (8th) and a 20.0 shooting percentage (2nd). He has recorded 32 points (22-10-32), 18 penalty minutes and a 21.6 shooting percentage in 39 games since being acquired by the Red Wings in a trade with the Washington Capitals on April 12, 2021. In total, Vrana has skated in 323 career games between Detroit and Washington, totaling 189 points (98-91-189), a plus-30 rating and 85 penalty minutes. In his first full NHL season in 2017-18, Vrana helped the Capitals win a Stanley Cup championship, posting 27 points (13-14-27) in 73 regular-season games along with eight points (3-5-8) in 23 postseason contests. Vrana was originally drafted by Washington in the first round (13th overall) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft – two picks prior to Detroit’s selection of Dylan Larkin at 15th overall.
A native of Prague, Czech Republic, Vrana registered 75 points (35-40-75), a plus-21 rating and 48 penalty minutes in 88 games with the AHL’s Hershey Bears from 2014-17, in addition to 20 points (10-10-20), a plus-eight rating and eight penalty minutes in 38 postseason appearances. Vrana spent the previous four seasons developing in Sweden, where he debuted professionally with Linkoping in the Swedish Hockey League in 2012-13 and logged 27 points (14-13-27) and 14 penalty minutes in 73 games until 2014-15. He also racked up 58 points (35-23-58), a plus-11 rating and 77 penalty minutes in 59 games in Sweden’s top junior league. Vrana has represented his country at the last three IIHF World Championships, where he was teammates with fellow Red Wings Filip Hronek (2019, 2021 and 2022), Dominik Kubalik (2019 and 2021) and Filip Zadina (2021), combining for 10 points (7-3-10) in 26 games between the three tournaments. Additionally, Vrana recorded six points (3-3-6) in 16 games at three-straight IIHF World Junior Championships (2013-15) and 20 points (14-6-20) in 18 games at three-consecutive IIHF World Under-18 Championships (2012-14).