When Jakub Vrana was last seen on the ice with the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 9, a 3-1 loss against the Chicago Blackhawks, it certainly appeared at the time it would be his last appearance in a St. Louis uniform.
Vrana was not at practice two days later, and the thought was the Blues would either waive the 27-year-old or trade him.
Each option was on the table, and when Vrana went through waivers because there was no trade partner, the only option available for the forward was to go and get some work in with Springfield of the American Hockey League.
Vrana was back on the ice Friday after being recalled from the Thunderbirds Thursday afternoon when the Blues sent Nikita Alexandrov to Springfield on a two-week conditioning assignment.
And Vrana, who had been a frequent healthy scratch during a tumultuous start to the season under former coach Craig Berube, was on the fourth line with Oskar Sundqvist and Nathan Walker and will be in the lineup when the Blues (19-17-1) travel to take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, replacing Sammy Blais.
Vrana played in seven games with the Thunderbirds and had eight points (four goals, four assists)and seemingly found his way back into playing effectively.
"I got down there and we were winning some games," Vrana said Friday. "I had an opportunity to play. It was nice. Fun playing hockey, it was great.
"... When I got to Springfield, I got opportunities to play and gained some confidence there. It was fun to score goals and winning games and all that. I just go day by day, work as hard as I can and see where it goes."
Needless to say, his last days before being assigned were not going well.
It was not without notice that he and Berube didn't see eye to eye on things, Vrana was not playing well (two goals, four assists in 19 games) and things seemed at the time like they were going to come to a head, and they did.
"Sometimes there's things as a player, I can't control a lot of things," Vrana said. "I just basically do what I'm told and just accept the reality of what it is. I went down to Springfield and played the best I can play and that's it."
He had a conversation with general manager Doug Armstrong at the time to lay out the possibilities.
"We kind of faced the situation as it was, and we came up with this decision," Vrana said. "I'm a player."
It didn't appear going to the AHL was Vrana's first choice, so he was open to a trade to get a fresh start.
"I think it was in conversations at some point," Vrana said.
"I got traded here last year, I wanted to play here. I like it here, I wanted to stay here, but at the same time, I can't control other things. I can just go out there and try to do my best and the results and the rest will come later."
Well, Vrana got a fresh start in Springfield, and now, at least for the time being, he has a fresh start with the Blues after meeting with interim coach Drew Bannister for the first time.
"I just met him today," Vrana said. "We had a good chat. Just come, don't think too much and just work hard and see how it goes.
"I really don't know what kind of coach (he is). We had a chat and that's it. I'm here right now to go out there and play my best."
Bannister said the Blues needed a forward on the team, and with Alexandrov being a healthy scratch the past 11 games, the forward needs to be in a lineup ... somewhere.
"Getting 'Niki' down to get in games, that was important for us," Bannister said. "I think Springfield, I think they play three in three. He has the opportunity to probably play in seven games down there over the two-week period of time.
"Obviously we want to have the extra body up here. It gets 'V' up here. I haven't had the opportunity to see him play that much. We'll get him in the lineup here tomorrow with us."
And the message is simple.
"The message to him is the message to all the players when I was coming in, to earn your ice time," Bannister said. "There's going to be accountability and work ethic. It starts in practice and today, I paid special attention to him on the ice and I thought he was out there and working hard and doing the the things we asked of him.
"I don't know him. I don't have any preconceived thoughts about him as a player previous to this. It's for him to come in, be a part of the team, be a part of whatever line he's going to play for, make sure he's doing the proper things to work and help them out and earn his ice time like it is for everybody right now. He's not going to be treated any different than anybody else on the team right now, so he's got to earn his ice time and there's guys that certainly want to get themselves in the lineup. It's going to be up to him to stay in the lineup."
Although ideally, Vrana on a fourth-line role isn't the best situation since he is an offensive-type player, but with a new coach in tow, Vrana has to earn the trust of those that were here before and the new coach giving him a chance.
"At the same time, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter where you play," Vrana said. "You just like to play hockey, right? I just want to have fun playing hockey and it was great. It doesn't matter if it's in Springfield or here in St. Louis. You go out there, you work hard and you're having fun playing hockey. That's it."
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