Red Wings forward Jakub Vrána clears waivers

Detroit Red Wings forward Jakub Vrána cleared waivers on Wednesday. 

Vrana hasn't played an NHL game since October and entered the NHL player assistance program on Oct. 19. He has played three games in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins on a conditioning stint, and Detroit announced earlier this week his conditioning stint was going to continue. 

The decision to waive Vrana was a shocker as Detroit worked to clear roster space with Robby Fabbri returning from injury. 

Detroit is carrying three goalies on the active roster, but instead of waiving Alex Nedeljkovic or Magnus Hellberg, elected to waive Vrana, who carries a $5.25 million cap this season and next. 

“Weighing everything, ultimately that’s what we came up with," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said on Wednesday. "Really don’t want to go into the details of it, especially with the situation of where Jakub is in his coming back.”