Notebook: Red Wings re-locate; Vrána bonding with team on west coast trip

DETROIT -- The Red Wings headed west this week fully expecting to kick off their road swing with a date against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. To be clear, Detroit wanted to play. But circumstances surrounding the pandemic continue to force plans to change on the fly.
Thursday's game at the Honda Center was postponed by the NHL at 4:50 p.m. ET/1:50 PT. Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill initially received the news from Executive Vice President/General Manager Steve Yzerman on the bus ride back to the hotel from the morning skate.

"I was on the second bus. So the players had already gone back for the most part, and I was on the second bus coming back," Blashill said. "And as we got near the hotel, Steve Yzerman texted me and said, 'The game has been postponed.'"
At that point, focus shifted to Saturday's contest across town against the Los Angeles Kings, including settling into a new hotel.
"We didn't have tons of information at that point, but we knew it was postponed, and it was likely to be played on Sunday. It was likely to be 5:00, which has turned out to be true. So at that point, we're moving hotels after the game. We were able to get our hotel rooms just a little bit earlier."
The more the postponed games take place, the more challenging and condensed the schedule becomes. Detroit will now play two games as many days, three in the span of four days, and four contests in six days. After the three-game road trip, the Red Wings will return home to host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, Jan. 13.
"We would have rather played the game. If we play the game, the spacing's better. We were certainly ready to play," Blashill said.
"Obviously there's been a lot of decisions made by the league that are very difficult decisions, and these are unprecedented times. They made the decision they thought was best."

Jakub Vrána with teammates on west coast trip

Unfortunately for Red Wings fans, they haven't been able to witness anywhere near the amount of games they'd like with Jakub Vrána in the lineup.
Vrána was on a point-per-game pace with 11 points (8 goals, 3 assists) in 11 games for the Red Wings last season after being acquired in a late-season trade with the Washington Capitals for Anthony Mantha.
After injuring his shoulder at Training Camp in Traverse City, followed by undergoing surgery, Vrána is yet to make his debut for Detroit in the 2021-22 season. But he's on the road with the Red Wings for the week-long scheduled road trip, another sign that Vrána is inching closer to a return.
"I don't have any more concrete window than I had when he first had the surgery, which was after the now defunct Olympia break. So that would have been the latter part of February, at some point, or mid-February," Blashill said about the projected return for Vrána. "I would say I think there's still a window in that period. Is it sooner than that? The only person that can tell us that is the surgeon, and we haven't had those conversations yet.
"So it's not anything that's imminent, it's not anything that's gonna happen in the next couple weeks. He's been skating for a while, he'll keep skating. It's nice to have him on the trip and keep him as part of the team a little bit more."