On August 15th, the Washington Capitals signed former team forward Jakub Vrana to a professional tryout agreement (PTO). After being traded for now-defunct forward Anthony Mantha in 2021, Vrana jumped around between the Red Wings, Blues, and the AHL, seeming to struggle on the ice. With the Capitals, Vrana was a young superstar and had a notable impact on their 2018 Stanley Cup win.
The road back to Washington is not an easy one for Jakub Vrana, though. Capitals senior writer Mike Vogel commented, saying, “There are no commitments, no promises, and no guarantees from the team, and there’s only a brief window – and likely preciously few preseason opportunities – in which a player can clearly demonstrate that he is more deserving of a roster spot than any number of rivals. The Caps have had an extremely active offseason in which they’ve added a quartet of proven NHL forwards in Pierre-Luc Dubois, Andrew Mangiapane, Taylor Raddysh, and Brandon Duhaime, and they’ve also got some young and talented young players knocking at the door of opportunity. The odds are against Vrana.”
Without Jakub Vrana, the Capitals’ left wing is extremely deep, with Alex Ovechkin, Connor McMichael, Sonny Milano, Brandon Duhaime, Ivan Miroshnichenko, and Alex Limoges making the lineup. Vrana’s most likely path to success would involve TJ Oshie stepping out of the lineup and being placed on long-term injured reserve. An aging Oshie has missed 154 of the Capitals’ last 246 regular-season games with lingering back issues. The forward has said that he will only return to play if he finds a solution to his health issues. Should Oshie be placed on LTIR, the Capitals would only be operating with 12 active forwards, when they usually carry 13. This opens up a spot for Jakub Vrana, and his winger status gives him an advantage over centers like Mike Sgarbossa. Five centermen are fighting for four spots on the roster at the moment.
Unfortunately, Jakub Vrana is fighting with other highly talented wingers who are coming off of successful seasons with the AHL’s Hershey Bears. Ethen Frank, Alex Limoges, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Pierrick Dubé, and Bogdan Trineyev are all contenders for the opening-night Capitals roster. Frank and Limoges would require waivers to go up and down between Washington and Hershey, so the team is likely more willing to give them a chance rather than lose them altogether.
If Vrana truly proves himself and has a stellar preseason, the Capitals could revisit previous trade talks involving Connor McMichael to the Winnipeg Jets, opening up a spot for Jakub to join the lineup. The Jets have an opening for a skilled center with the loss of Sean Monahan. Washington could also work out a deal with Hendrix Lapierre. Lapierre can move between the Capitals and the Hershey Bears, as he is still on his entry-level contract. The team could give Vrana a look in the NHL and swap him and Hendrix Lapierre later in the season if need be.
If Jakub Vrana can replicate his success with the Capitals in the ’18-’19 and ’19-’20 seasons (47 and 52 points, respectively), he could easily earn himself a long-term contract and be back at home with the team that drafted him and earned him a Stanley Cup early in his career.
