Explaining The Vrana Trade In 60 Seconds

I HATE THIS TRADE! OK now we're done. I should've called this explaining the Vrana trade in two seconds. But I didn't so here we go.

The Capitals decided to trade Jakub Vrana, Richard Panik, a 2021 first AND a 2022 second for Anthony Mantha. You may be thinking, "WHAT THE HECK BRIAN MACLELLAN. WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU TRADE VRANA!?"

One reason cost control. Mantha has three years left on his contract. Vrana is a restricted free agent (RFA) next year, and will get some sort of a raise, and depending on the deal he signs could be an unrestricted free agent (UFA) soon. Maclellan probably didn't like the uncertainty because of the Washington salary cap situation.

Another reason is the division the Caps are in. With their past moves, the Caps have been getting bigger. Signing Zdeno Chara this offseason and Garnet Hathaway last offseason, trading for and then re-signing Brenden Dilln last year, and extending Tom Wilson are other examples. Vrana is a small, fast forward who isn't that physical. Mantha is a taller, fast forward who is physical. This is dangerous because it is the faster teams that the Caps have had problems with, but in the East those teams aren't making the playoffs and the Caps have to win two rounds against the East teams before seeing any of these smaller faster teams.

Both players need a change of scenery. In his last 15 playoff games Vrana has zero (0) points. Vrana also only had four points in his last ten games with the Caps. While Mantha has six points in his last ten games he has struggled to be consistent in his time with Detroit -- but hey, so has Vrana in Washington. A change of scenery could do both players well because Vrana can play with Dylan Larkin and Flip Zadina while Mantha can play with Nick Backstrom and T.J Oshie.

This is a over-payment but its not as simple as it sounds because Panik is in the deal too. Washington probably had to give up a pick for the Red Wings to take on the horrible contract that Panik was signed to in 2019 when there was no coronovirus and we all thought the salary cap would explode. Detroit and GM Steve Yzerman are eating salary and getting futures in exchange.

I actually decided to hop on to NHL 21 and do a simulation of the rest of the season. The results will stun you...hopefully. In my simulation, Mantha and the Caps go on to make it the conference finals losing, to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Mantha in the second half of the season had 10 goals and 15 assists. If this happens I will feel better about the trade.

However, in the simulation Vrana in the second half of the season had 20 goals and no assists. But the offseason saw chaos. The Red Wings didn't resign Vrana and he went to the Islanders signing a 5 year $30 million contract. As a result the Red Wings proceeded to get a first and third round draft pick as compensation. I think the funniest part is that the Islanders proceed to miss the playoffs and win the draft lottery. So Detroit gets the number one overall pick in the 2022 NHL draft. This makes me think the NHL 21 simulation has some bugs in the system or was made by a Detroit fan, but it was fun to do.

There is my two cents on the Vrana trade. See you next time.