Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff penned a column discussing Jakub Vrana’s need to round out his game, despite being an elite goal-scoring forward:
While there’s been no shortage of speculation about many times Vrana can net over the course of a full season, one of those speculators isn’t him. He’s a goal getter. Not a goal setter.
“Not really,” Vrana answered as to whether he had a number in mind for his 2022-23 goals total. “I don’t want to put extra thoughts in my head for no reason. Obviously, I’m an offensive forward, so I like scoring goals. But it’s about just doing my best and doing what I can do best out there and how can I help my team the most and go from there. Just doing what I can do out there to help my team win games.”
The Red Wings don’t want Vrana to forget what’s made him famous.
“He’s impressive with the puck certainly,” Lalonde said. “Sometimes you know guys are skilled guys but you don’t have an appreciation for their skills until you’re actually with them and on the ice. You don’t get a true appreciation for how skilled they are. Man, he’s got a special shot. He’s got some offensive tools that are very special and I’ve probably got more of an appreciation being on the ice with him.”
They just want Vrana to appreciate that winning hockey is all about playing a 200-foot game.
“He’s a goal-scoring winger,” Yzerman said. “We expect him to do that, but like all of our guys, we’re gonna insist that they have some defensive awareness as well.”
Continued
