Since Jakub Vrana has returned to the lineup after being out for much of the season to get surgery on his shoulder, he has been one of the best players on the ice for the Red Wings. Yes, the Red Wings have struggled but that’s even more the reason you have to think about Vrana’s importance.
His return to the ice for the Red Wings has got me thinking, based on his current stats, where would the team have been if he had been healthy for the entire season? Would we be on the edge of making the playoffs this year?
It’s hard to say that he would really make an impact for a team that has been performing this bad throughout the year, but Vrana has done nothing but great things since returning and when he plays, you can feel that the energy and morale is higher. So how different would things be this season should he have played all year? Well, let’s take a look.
Where would the Red Wings be if Jakub Vrana was healthy all year?
Jakub Vrana has been killing it so far in the games he has played since his return, so I took a look at his current statistics this year at and the team’s at NHL.com. As of the game on 4/9/22 against Columbus he has 10 goals and 4 assists in 16 games this season. If you take that and scoring average over an entire 82 game season that puts him on pace to score 51 goals.
There are 10 games remaining this season so you can figure around 6 goals of those 51 being scored in the remainder of the season. That leaves 29 goals that would have been scored in the games that he missed due to shoulder surgery earlier this season. Now I know that players can go in streaks and I feel like Jakub Vrana scoring 40 goals this season is a more realistic number. Even with going the conservative estimation, he could have added 19 goals throughout the games that he missed.
Vrana’s Impact Could’ve Made All the Difference for the Red Wings
Looking back on the season, there were quite a few games that the Redwings lost that were a one goal game before empty net goals being scored by the opponents. If you add in those 19 goals, how many of those games could have been victories? How many overtime losses would have never gone to overtime with one more goal?
We are currently sitting 24 points out of a playoff spot and if the missing contributions of Jakub Vrana could have led to 10 more games won, we would be right in the hunt for that last playoff spot. I’m aware that one player isn’t going to make or break the season, and there are many other reasons that the team is not in the playoff picture at the moment. I’m just pointing out the difference Vrana could have made and what I hope he can bring to the table next year!