Jakub Vrana was back with the Red Wings on Wednesday, but not back in the lineup.
Vrana was recalled Tuesday by the team, replacing the injured Lucas Raymond (lower-body), who was put on the injured list.
But Vrana, who was regaining his offensive touch in Grand Rapids, was scheduled to sit and watch Wednesday in Edmonton, coach Derek Lalonde said.
“Not going to be in tonight, he’s going to be our 13th forward,” Lalonde told DetroitRedWings.com after the morning skate. “It’ll be a day-to-day type of scenario. I had a real good talk with him this morning. I’m excited to have him back.
“The most important thing is we’ll treat him like any other player.”
Vrana played the first two games of this season with the Wings (one goal, one assist), then missed the next two months after entering the NHL/NHL players assistance program.
Upon completing the program, Vrana joined the Wings but was waived given a roster crunch. No team claimed Vrana, who was then sent down to the Griffins.
After a slow start, Vrana has been one of the Griffins’ better players with 11 points (six goals, five assists) in 17 games. Lalonde credited Griffins coach Ben Simon with getting Vrana back to speed.
“Ben Simon did a great job in Grand Rapids treating him like every other player, and that’s one thing Jakub asked everyone to do,” Lalonde told the site. “A perfect example was when for a couple of games Jake’s compete (level) wasn’t where it should be, he (Simon) healthy scratched him, and that’s healthy and he (Vrana) responded very well from it.”
The fact the Wings have won three consecutive games (and six of nine) was another reason Lalonde didn’t want to upset the chemistry.
“We’ve won three in a row with the exact same lineup, so we’ll go with that lineup (Wednesday),” Lalonde said. “We’ll make it a day-to-day thing.”
For his part, Vrana was simply pleased to be back in an NHL locker room although he valued his time in Grand Rapids. Vrana became comfortable with playing professional hockey again and was gaining comfort with new teammates.
“The guys down there have been great,” Vrana told the website. “I’ve been happy to play again. Just play some hockey again. It was nice.”
The Griffins had gone 5-3-2 over their last 10 games, though still remaining 11 points a playoff spot. But the addition of Vrana, goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, and forwards Elmer Soderblom and Adam Erne (all players sent down by the Wings) has strengthened the roster and given the Griffins at least some hope of swiping a playoff spot.
“The guys have been great and we were right there at the playoff spot and fighting for that,” Vrana said. “I had a great time.
“Ned has been great since he got there. He’s helped the team a lot and he’s been giving us a chancee to win games for sure.”
Replacing Raymond
The Wings put Raymond on the injured list retroactive to Feb. 10, so he’ll miss at least two more games after having the missed the previous two.
Even then, with the Wings’ tight schedule and little practice time, it’s doubtful Raymond would be ready to play the final two games of this trip in Seattle (Saturday) or Washington (Tuesday).
Raymond collided with Ben Chiarot during Friday’s practice and was unable to play the next day, ending a streak of having played 132 consecutive games to begin his NHL career.
It’ll continue to be a difficult task, Lalonde said, attempting to replace Raymond.
“I don’t know if you can replace a top line winger like that,” Lalonde told the website. “Especially the way he was playing. But I’ve been on record throughout this year many times when we’ve sustained a number of injuries up front and there wasn’t a single game through those injuries, even early on when we had four, five, six guys out with injuries up front, that we didn’t feel we had a winnable roster.
“(Wednesday) is no different.”
With Vrana not being in the lineup, Lalonde is keeping Dominik Kubalik in the lineup to essentially replace Raymond. Kubalik has replaced Raymond the past two games when Raymond was unavailable.
Red Wings at Flames
▶ Faceoff: 9 p.m., Thursday, Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary
▶ TV/radio: BSD/97.1 FM
▶ Outlook: The Flames (25-18-11) are coming off a disappointing 1-1-2 four-game road trip, capped Monday by losing 4-3 in overtime in Ottawa as Ottawa scored twice late in regulation time forcing overtime. … Also during that trip, the Flames lost 2-1 to the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena. … RW Tyler Toffoli (22 goals) and C Nazem Kadri (20 goals) pace the offense.
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan