Jakub Vrana Clearing Waivers Highlights a Greater Problem within the NHL
Jakub Vrana cleared waivers - surprisingly - on Wednesday. A 26-year old 25-goal scorer with loads of potential could have been had for free, yet 31 NHL GM's passed on him. Some believe that the managers' guild colluded to allow Steve Yzerman to send Vrana to the minors, but nothing has substantiated that claim to now.
Which leads us to the most likely reason Vrana - who trailed only Auston Matthews in even-strength scoring efficiency between '19-20 & '21-22 - cleared the NHL's waiver wire: Gary Bettman's hard salary cap.
In what universe does a dynamic scorer like Jakub Vrana become available - again FOR FREE - and get passed on by 31 competing front offices? Only the one where 90% of the league can't afford a $5 million price tag. In no other major professional sport would something like this happen, only Gary Bettman's NHL.
On one hand, a team shouldn't even need to waive a player of Vrana's calibre due strictly to salary constraints. Talk about affecting the integrity of the game. Meanwhile, on the other hand, few - if any - NHL teams should be handcuffed to the point where they can't afford $5 million. Total bush league.
Yet, per CapFriendly, just three clubs have the cap space to foot that bill - Arizona, Buffalo, Anaheim.
*The fact that none of those teams made a claim is suspect, especially the Sabres, who are fighting for a playoff spot at the moment. This fact does speak to the possibility of some sort of arrangement between Yzerman and the 31 other GMs to let Vrana pass through waivers. BUT that doesn't fit the narrative here, so we're just going to ignore that - for now anyway.*
The bottom line is: the NHL's hard salary cap is doing more harm than good to the league's on-ice product. It's gotten to the point where front offices need a flock of lawyers and accountants just to make a simple trade. The people say enough.
The pandemic and the 'flat-cap' that followed played a massive role, to be fair, but the fact that teams have almost zero maneuverability negatively affects the product, plain and simple.
No one is lobbying to remove the cap entirely, it does promote fair play, but a softer cap via a luxury tax would liberate clubs and allow them make fun moves.
Like, I don't know, claim a potential 40-goal scorer off of waivers...
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 4 | 565 ANSWERS Jakub Vrana Clearing Waivers Highlights a Greater Problem within the NHL Should Gary Bettman be replaced as NHL Commissioner? | ||
| Yes | 491 | 86.9 % |
| No | 74 | 13.1 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Logan Cooley | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| William Nylander | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack McBain | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Dylan Guenther | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Michael Kesselring | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Fraser Minten | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mikhail Sergachev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Chris Tanev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| John Tavares | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Simon Benoit | - | - | - | |
| Nick Bjugstad | - | - | - | |
| Michael Carcone | - | - | - | |
| Ian Cole | - | - | - | |
| Lawson Crouse | - | - | - | |
| Connor Dewar | - | - | - | |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | - | - | - | |
| Barrett Hayton | - | - | - | |
| Pontus Holmberg | - | - | - | |
| Clayton Keller | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 21 | 17 | 4 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 30 | |
Devils | 23 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 30 | |
Hurricanes | 20 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 29 | |
Golden Knights | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Maple Leafs | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 20 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 27 | |
Flames | 21 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 19 | 13 | 6 | - | 26 | |
Rangers | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||