In April, Capitals head coach Barry Trotz floated the idea that Tom Wilson was captain material. Now we can see why.
During the Capitals’ week of partying with the Stanley Cup in DC, Wilson’s teammmate, Jakub Vrana began over-documenting his partying conquests. Wilson stepped in to save the day.
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“I did have to tell Vrana to shut his Instagram Live Story down because he was cross-eyed,” Wilson said on the hockey podcast Spittin’ Chiclets. “I was like ‘Come on, buddy. Just to keep it to yourself here for the late hours of the night.’”
Some of the antics documented by Vrana include him drunkenly giggling and asking Devante Smith-Pelly how his pasta was, close-ups of his face as he draped over Lars “The Tiger” Eller to praise his game-winning goal, imitating Joe B’s play-by-play calls, and singing God’s Plan by Drake to the camera to wind down the night.
Vrana also commemorated the win by getting a tattoo, while drunk, along with Andre Burakovsky, Holtby, TJ Oshie, Brett Connolly, and Devante Smith-Pelly. Though he didn’t quite anticipate how painful getting said tattoo would be.
Vrana’s partying got so intense that teammate Devante Smith-Pelly posted that the Czech forward was still alive.
DSP is happy to report Jakub Vrana is still alive pic.twitter.com/PhtaMCsVvf
— RMNB (@russianmachine) June 11, 2018
“V is, for anyone who doesn’t know V, he’s an unbelievable kid to have around the room everyday,” Wilson said. “The way he plays – that’s just who he is. I’m sure you can imagine what it’s like going to the rink everyday with him. That’s part of being a championship team, you have all different types of pieces.”
Jakub Vrana is out here living his best life (COMPLETE WITH A BACKPACK KID DANCE) #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/G4wjn5KqvT
— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) June 12, 2018
Most years after the Stanley Cup is won, a team’s players pack up and leave the city, celebrating their victory in quiet. The Capitals stayed and shared the moment with their fans.
“I think that’s part of our team’s style is that we want to share with the city,” Wilson said. “We want to share it with the fans. They’ve been waiting a long time. They’ve never had it. We weren’t trying to hide here. We wanted to celebrate with our city.”
Wilson, who has had some epic partying moments of his own, also knows that there will come a day when the team has to shut it down and begin focusing on next season.
“There’s a guy, that’s the best pro that’s one of the best teammates ever played with, Brooks Orpik,” Wilson said. “When he says wave the white flag, that’s when I’ll shut it down.”
Until then, Capitals players’ social media is going to be lit.
S/T to Capitals Outsider for first posting.
