Jakub Vrana jumped onto the ice inside Capital One Arena wearing a Washington Capitals jersey on Sunday for the first time in nearly three and a half years (1,263 days). The last time Vrana dressed in Capitals red in front of a Washington home crowd came on April 8, 2021, when the Capitals fell 4-2 to the Boston Bruins.
That game came during Peter Laviolette’s first season in charge of the club, and the Capitals’ lineup featured names like Zdeno Chara, Justin Schultz, and Daniel Carr. Vrana was dealt to the Detroit Red Wings just four days later, and since then, he and the Capitals have both gone through a world of change. But Vrana’s heart has remained in DC.
“I want to be part of this team. I love this team, and it’s great to be back here for the camp and try my best to earn a spot on the team,” he said Thursday. “It means a lot, man. This team means a lot to me.”
Capitals fans gave Vrana loud applause when he was announced as part of the team’s starting lineup on Sunday. He skated with Hendrix Lapierre and Ethen Frank on Washington’s top line against the Philadelphia Flyers. Vrana was a minus-3 in the game but recorded a team-high 5 shots and six individual scoring chances in 14:18 of ice time.
Vrana’s love for the franchise that drafted him 13th overall in 2014 was evident almost immediately after he departed in the 2021 trade. “I have great memories with this team, built great relationships within this city, met great people, had great teammates, played in front of amazing fans, and that will always stay in my heart,” he penned on Instagram then.
Shoulder surgery and a well-known stint in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program led to Vrana playing just 37 games for Detroit in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons combined, so he had to wait a while to make his first return to Washington. The night finally came on February 21, 2023, nearly two years after his move.
The Capitals greeted the 2018 Stanley Cup champion with a tribute video featuring his time with the AHL’s Hershey Bears and his first NHL goal. The video ended with an image of him hosting the Cup over his head in Vegas, and fans gave the Czech winger a standing ovation.
Heading into that game, Vrana said of his time in Washington, “We were like one family here.”
Vrana was traded for the second time in his career just over a week later to the St. Louis Blues, scoring 10 goals in 20 games.
After the season, he came back to Washington, DC, attending a Washington Nationals game alongside Alex Ovechkin. The two reunited on the same field where they had a legendary celebration of their Cup win in June 2018.
Vrana then started the 2023-24 campaign back with the Blues but couldn’t find the same offensive success with them he did at the end of the prior season. St. Louis ultimately decided to waive Vrana in December, and he spent most of the year with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.
With Springfield, Vrana made his first return to Hershey’s Giant Center to play the Bears six years and seven months after last dressing in Hershey’s chocolate and white. During the game’s first television timeout, the Bears honored Vrana with their own tribute video.
Vrana looked up at the jumbotron as the video played. He waved to the crowd multiple times and tapped his stick on the ice, clearly touched by the tribute.
Vrana, at the Capitals’ 2024 Training Camp on a professional tryout agreement, hopes to put his time in the AHL behind him. He has a tough journey ahead of him to win one of the few open spots on Washington’s roster, but he took the first major leap of that journey on Sunday.
Vrana has already successfully drawn the attention of Washington’s general manager, Chris Patrick. Patrick has been with the Capitals since the team drafted Vrana and was closely involved with the forward’s development as Washington’s former Director of Minor League Operations.
“You can tell he’s taking this seriously,” Patrick said. “He doesn’t think anything is being handed to him, and that was kind of the point. We want to have a competitive camp. We don’t want to just give away spots to guys, we want them to earn it. He’s in a group of several players that are in that position, fighting for one or two spots.”
Washington will have another few weeks in camp and five more preseason games to make their final roster decisions. Vrana and the Capitals fans he so clearly appreciates will be hoping he has a spot won and a new contract by the time the regular season opens on October 12 against the New Jersey Devils.
