The Washington Capitals are bringing back a popular former player this fall — though how long he stays is up to him.
Jakub Vrana, a member of the Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup champion team, has inked a professional try out agreement with his former team. The deal means that if Vrana impresses during training camp, he could potentially earn a contract for the 2024-25 season and make the club’s Opening Night roster.
Forward Jakub Vrana will join the Washington Capitals' 2024 Training Camp on a professional tryout agreement.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) August 15, 2024
Vrana’s PTO comes as his NHL career has seemingly stalled out. He was not signed to an NHL contract over the offseason after his three-year, $15.75 million deal ($5.25M cap hit) expired. Vrana notched 36 points (16g, 20a) in 42 games with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds last season while adding 6 points (2g, 4a) in 21 appearances with the St. Louis Blues.
Vrana’s return to DC is a feel good story, but Capitals’ senior writer Mike Vogel describes the transaction on NHL.com as a “no risk/high reward proposition” for the team and noted that “most players are cut loose at the end of camp.”
[T]here 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…
Vrana’s career in Washington previously ended in April 2021 after he butted heads with then-head coach Peter Laviolette. MacLellan, feeling his hands were tied, dealt Vrana and Richard Panik to the Detroit Red Wings in April 2021 for Anthony Mantha.
“There was a tug of war between coaching staff and staffs that have had him and the way he was playing,” Capitals GM Brian MacLellan said at the time. “I think we had a frustrated player and we tried to move on from that.”
“That was really tough,” Vrana added later. “I didn’t expect it at all. I thought my position on the team with the Capitals, how I’ve been there since Day 1 since the draft, I thought I would get more opportunity and spend more time there, but unfortunately, that’s not what the management wanted.”
Vrana scored 22 goals in 42 games during parts of three seasons in Detroit, but his time there was marred by a severe shoulder injury that he suffered at the start of 2021 training camp and a stint in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program (2022-23).
The Red Wings sent Vrana down to the minors after he received help and eventually dealt him to the Blues. Vrana started strong with the Blues, scoring 10 goals in 20 games down the stretch of the 2022-23 season, but could not recapture the magic last season, landing on waivers and being sent down to the AHL.
Vrana’s return to Washington comes as all the characters involved with his trade have exited. Peter Laviolette and the Capitals mutually parted ways during the 2023 offseason, while Mantha was dealt by MacLellan to the Vegas Golden Knights at the 2024 trade deadline (Mantha has since signed with the Calgary Flames and has been participating in informal skates with the Caps at MedStar Capitals Iceplex). Chris Patrick also took over for MacLellan as the team’s new GM in July.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery was with the organization during most of Vrana’s time in Washington, serving as the bench boss of the South Carolina Stingrays from 2011 through 2016 and head coach of the Hershey Bears from 2018 and 2021. He is earning a reputation of getting the most out of his players.
Vrana will turn 29 in February.
