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Mark Easson has churned out a rumor that Vrana is done as a Wing. Either by trade or buyout, the winger won’t be donning the Winged Wheel again.

Most of you, or many of you, know that I embarrassed myself when Vrana was first brought to town as we watched Mantha head to D.C. Vrana shocked me (and many others) with somewhere near a 25% shooting average. I ate some crow (saffron helps) and had to own my own fan boy driven stupidity.

To be fair to Vrana, I don’t think this is about “hockey” in the purest sense. Yzerman is a “culture” fanatic. His belief that the space inside the room rise to to a championship level seems to be incredibly strong. Whatever happened earlier this year (and since) seems to have made the GM with plenty of cup winning experience decide to part ways.

To be fair overall, rumors of Washington wanting to move on from Mantha have been there this year as well. Ironically, both wingers had shoulder surgery last season. Mantha, as we all know, spent a lot of time on the shelf. There was a lot of hype as the draft value slipped on the big man and he ended up in Detroit. Trade offers are rumored to have been there from the beginning. But rumors are a coin flip. You’re either right or wrong and click bait can rule the day.

Depending on how this ends (whether with a trade or buyout) and Mantha’s own fate included, we can hash out if this deal was good, bad or neutral. Right now it just feels a bit neutral. A buyout would sour it a little, but the structure would allow for some extra $ on the books.

Let me know where you’re at. The hope going into this season for a healthy Vrana (and Bertuzzi) and hopes of Copp performing at a high level out of the gate just didn’t pan out. We’ve had some disappointments with a few surprises along the way (Hronek and Walman have both had some nice stretches).

Edmonton is on the docket tonight. I’m hoping it doesn’t look like a Harlem Globetrotter’s game. I went to one or two growing up, and if Edmonton’s superstars are on fire, we’re the “other team”. Thankfully, no buckets of confetti.

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