I posted this in another thread but thought it would benefit from a standalone post. I did some research on his time in Washington and found similar issues. Healthy scratches, issues with coaches, low effort off the puck.

Looked up why Washington traded Vrana and found this quote:

Washington GM Brian MacLellan said he saw a “frustrated player” in Vrana in terms of his body language and the team wanted to move on from that.

Also found this article from his time in WSH:

Just recently, there was a giant red flag that was waving over Vrana. He was a healthy scratch for not one game, but two straight games. Both of those games being against the Devils earlier this month.

A healthy scratch is a big enough warning. When head coach Peter Laviolette comes out and says that they have had too many talks about compete level and the fact that you never saw that level rise that was the giant red flag. Even worse, after returning from his healthy scratches you still did not see the effort level go up. More times than not, he was next to invisible.

Washington's coach on Vrana: “We’ve had many conversations just about his play with regard to the competitiveness of it and the speed of it. He is a very skilled player but there are other aspects of the game that are very important. We’re looking for a higher level of play.”

https://thehockeywriters.com/capitals-trade-vrana-missed-opportunities/

Vrana was even scratched in the IIHF quarterfinals for lack of effort.

https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2019/05/23/jakub-vrana-scratched-in-quarterfinals-game-after-former-czech-head-coach-criticizes-v-in-media/

And now there are rumors that he is doing the same thing in Detroit, not giving full effort in practice etc.

I've seen some comments complaining that the team is "treating him badly". Funnily enough, I checked old Vrana posts in the Capitals subreddit and they felt the same way at the time. But the constant thing is, Vrana may just a bad teammate.

Sure he's a good scorer. But there's a reason WSH got rid of him. And I'm trusting there's a reason for the decisions being made by the wings.

He's been criticized for his compete/effort level by 2 Washington coaches, Washington's GM, his coach in AHL, and a coach in international play. On top of the rumors that Lalonde felt the same way.

EDIT: The main reason I made this post is because of the "he's exactly the type of player this team needs" and all the speculation on whether him playing is a showcase for a trade, etc.