ARLINGTON, Va. — Life has not been easy for Jakub Vrana on or off the ice.
Since 2021, he been traded twice, entered and cleared the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, gone on waivers and spent time in the minors. Now, he is back at training camp with the Washington Capitals on a professional tryout agreement, looking to get his career back on track six years since helping them win the Stanley Cup.
“My journey? It was difficult, man,” Vrana said. “Things happened over the past few years, but I already put that behind me and I’m ready to see this as a new opportunity to bounce back.”
Vrana is only 28, was a first-round draft pick and has twice scored more than 20 goals in a season. He also scored in Washington’s 2018 Cup-clinching victory — the biggest of his 165 points with the organization he broke in with.
Boston winger and fellow Czech countryman David Pastrnak has trained with Vrana for the past 13 years. After seeing him in the gym this past summer, he was optimistic about Vrana’s chances of earning a job in the NHL.
“Obviously super cheering for him,” Pastrnak said. “We all know he’s very fit, and he’s physically prepared. He looks very good and very in shape, so I really hope that he can get his career running again.”
Vrana on his most recent deal was making more than $5 million a year, which is the going rate for wingers who can produce offensively as much as he has. To stick with the Capitals and earn a guaranteed contract for the season, he will have to do more than put the puck in the net.
“The thing that I want to see is the compete level, the work level of, ‘This is a great opportunity for you, but through practices, through scrimmages, you’re going to need to show myself, the rest of the coaches, management how bad that you want this,’” coach Spencer Carbery said, acknowledging Vrana could help his team with much-needed scoring. “I just want to see him competing on every puck, coming back and stopping on pucks, tracking — doing all the little things when he doesn’t have the puck.”
New general manager Chris Patrick, whose decision it ultimately was to offer the tryout, said he can tell Vrana is taking the opportunity seriously.
“He doesn’t think anything is being handed to him” Patrick said. “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.”
After an offseason roster overhaul, the Capitals have several new forwards, including wingers Andrew Mangiapane, Brandon Duhaime and Taylor Raddysh. They are all under contract and will make the team.
Many of Washington’s longest-tenured players hope Vrana joins them.
“Everybody battles their demons in life, and there’s some ups and downs and, from talking to him, he’s taken accountability, he’s taken ownership on that,” said winger Tom Wilson, who along with Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson are the only players left from the ’18 Cup champions. “He wants to be better and he wants to be happy and find his groove. I think it’s been great seeing him. He’s a guy that you root for a guy that I’ll play with any day of the week.”
Ovechkin said he thinks Vrana is “motivated to bounce back and play hard and do smart things.” Carlson sees a player ”champing at the bit to get another chance” and ready to make the most of it.
Being in a familiar setting, around former teammates who became friends, figures to put Vrana in a good position to succeed. With his future in hockey at stake, he is trying to balance the benefits of that familiarity with the new challenge he is facing to win a roster spot.
I feel great, and I have still a lot to prove,” Vrana said. “Don’t overthink it too much. Just go and play, do what you can do out there and just go and show that you can play in this league.”
