The Ducks were my first thought, they are probably the only team that could claim him cleanly. They have the cap space and the roster space.

Cant imagine this would be wise given A) the amount of Cap/paychecks up coming and B) current chances for Bedard.

Hmmm. Verbeek was in Detroit as AGM when Yzerman traded for Vrana, he would have had a couple years watching him up close, analyzing film, etc. I seem to recall there being rumors the last couple weeks that Verbeek and Yzerman were in talks, it was speculated that they were trade related. Maybe Yzerman was trying to get something for Vrana, maybe he was telling Verbeek why he should let Vrana clear waivers, maybe he was giving Verbeek a heads up on Vrana to let him know what had transpired recently.

If Vrana can be properly rehabbed, he could be a killer pickup for the Ducks. Even if he can't be, it helps solve the cap floor problem for next season, and we need scoring depth, and we need a top 6 LW.

Great size, goal scoring touch, good skater, knows where to go to score. Seems like the perfect rehab project for the Ducks.

Ducks would likely be fine when it comes to extensions this summer. Kulikov, Klingberg, Shattenkirk, Beaulieu, Megna, Stolarz, Grant and Moore are all UFAs and I expect each one to either traded or simply not extended. That would add up to $19.95M + $8,610,833 already there in this scenario (= $28,560,833). Let's assume Zegras gets $8-8.5M which seems realistic atm. Terry could get something like $7.5M. That leaves us with approximately $12.5M. The only three that I think are going to get $1M+ AAV are Drysdale, Comtois and Dostal. Doubt Drysdale gets his big pay day now considering his injury and him not having broken out like Zegras yet. Comtois won't be getting too much either and I could see Dostal getting like $1.25M. The remaining space would be enough to sign a few ELCs and minor extensions and there would likely still be some space.

Why would the ducks go for Vrana when they clearly are in the bedard sweepstakes? I mean it works for me to get out one of our two rivals for Bedard

Adding Vrana isn’t going to make this team a contender. This team is clearly bad enough to remain in the Bedard sweepstakes

Didn’t say it would make them a contender but it makes them mediocre

No playoffs still means in the run for Bedard… Ducks won’t be any higher than 27 this year

Adding Vrana means games will now be 4-3instead of 4-2. They still have zero depth up front and the Dcore is still not up to NHL par. They’d still lose plenty to be in the bottom 3.

Adding Vrana doesn't mean anything. He's obviously a project, otherwise Yzerman wouldn't have put him on waivers. His play in the AHL has been horrid. He COULD be good again at some point, but he is a gamble even as a waiver claim. A low stakes gamble, outside of his cap hit, but a gamble none the less.