Jakub Vrana is on the board with his new team, the Nashville Predators.
Four minutes and 25 seconds into the third period, Vrana sent a one timer past Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal on a Predators power play, tying the game 1-1.
Vrana’s slap shot from the point was so heavy, it fell out of Dostal’s glove and went through the Czech goaltender’s five hole, barely squeaking over the goal line. The Preds would go on to lose to the Ducks 2-1.
The tally marked Vrana’s first since December 23 when he was a member of the Washington Capitals.
Vrana, wearing no. 19 in Nashville, has six shots in his first three games for the Predators, averaging nearly 12 minutes of ice time per night. He’s been skating on the team’s third line with Fedor Svechkov and Cole Smith.
The 29-year-old winger landed in Music City after GM Barry Trotz claimed him from the Capitals on March 6, a day before the trade deadline.
Vrana admitted when he first arrived that he felt encouraged being acquired by Trotz, the head coach he won a Stanley Cup with in Washington.
“He knows what kind of player I am, knows me really well,” Vrana said. “I was obviously pumped to hear him, he called me, and I was excited to come here and play for this team. I was really excited.
“It’s been awesome so far,” he continued. “Everyone is so friendly, helping me to kind of settle in. Obviously, it’s going to take a couple of days to remember everyone’s name as usual, but everyone’s been so friendly. It’s a great opportunity for me to come here and play hard and show what I can do out there.”
After floating around in the AHL for parts of the last two seasons, Vrana signed a professional try out with the Capitals and made the team out of training camp. Vrana scored 7 goals and tallied 11 points in 26 games for Washington, but was eventually replaced in the lineup by Ethen Frank.
When the Capitals waived Vrana, they hoped he’d join the Hershey Bears in their quest to three-peat this spring. Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery called the claim “bittersweet.”
“I was disappointed that we no longer have him in the organization,” Carbery said. “But I was also, at the same time, very, very happy for V to be able to get an opportunity and go play for the rest of the season in Nashville, for an organization that there’s some attachments there with Barry (Trotz). So it stinks for us because having a player like him, even though he wasn’t playing, to have him around and if there’s an injury or if we need someone to go in the lineup, we always had him. And he was just — the guys loved him. He was great all year.”
Now, Vrana will finish the year in Nashville, where he’ll continue to try and solidify his NHL resume as he goes back into unrestricted free agency this summer.
“Yeah, it’s obviously hard when you switch teams a lot because obviously you trying to settle in, but, at the end of the day, I take whatever opportunities in front of me and I try to take the best out of it,” Vrana said.
“Just go out there and work hard, play hard,” he added. “Good things will happen eventually if you do that, so I’m looking forward to it.”
