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Year in Review: Jakub Vrana |
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Player Name: Jakub Vrana
Position: LW
Age: 24
Current contract: $3.35million per year. RFA after 2020-2021 season
2019-2020 Regular Season Stats: 25-27-52 in 69 GP
2019-2020 Post Season Stats: 0 Points, -7 Plus/Minus
Hello!
It was a career year for Jakub Vrana! He posted career highs in goals, assists, power play points, and game winning goals. Here is where he ranked for those statistical categories across the league:
25 goals – Ranked 42nd
27 assists – Ranked 110th
52 Points – Ranked 65th
12 PPP – Ranked 111th
6 GWG – Ranked 21st
Vrana was selected 14th overall in the first round of the 2014 NHL draft. Since being drafted, Vrana ranks 13th among his draft peers with a total of 132 points. He also has produced .54 points per game which also ranks 13th relative to his draft class.
A scouts word on Vrana as reported by the hockeywriters back in 2014 were as follows:
Vrana is “a very creative and fast forward from the Czech Republic who has taken great strides since arriving in Sweden. He hasn’t had a lot of success when playing with Linköping against men in the SHL, but you can smell the potential in his game for miles. He’s got a great shot, speed, but can also distribute the puck. Is probably more of a goal-scorer than a passer. Could have a breakout season anytime soon.”
Looking at the 2019-2020 season, all these things are pretty much spot on. When I think of Vrana, I think SPEED and GOAL-SCORING. In my bias opinion, he is one of the faster players in the league. Look at the goal he scored against Vegas in the 2018 Stanley cup clinching game! It was his pure speed and a great finishing shot that got the Caps on the board. His goal scoring talent is clear as demonstrated by his career high in goals this year. He was third on the team in shots on goal this season with 187. This also ranks 19th in the league. Other notable names in a similar area for SOG were John Tavares (197), Claude Giroux (197), and Brad Marchand (185). Not a bad stat considering Vrana is playing 2nd-line minutes . Overall, his regular season production was simply fantastic. The future is bright for Vrana. I expect the Caps to make him a nice offer heading into his RFA status next year. Upcoming contracts like Vrana’s are another example of why the team can not afford to keep Braden Holtby around. If Holtby resigns with the Caps, it extremely limits what the Caps can offer Vrana in upcoming negotiations. Considering the Caps have the worst ranked prospect pool according to the Athletic, it is wise to lock in young offensive talent while we can.
It was not all sunshine and rainbows for Vrana this year. In fact, in his last 11 playoff games, he has scored 0 points and is a (-8). For whatever reason, Vrana has been cold in the playoffs the last two seasons. Most notably this season he was a minus 7. For contextual purposes, the Capitals were playing a very stingy NYI squad but that is no excuse. Vrana proved during the regular season he can score goals and generate offense. Producing zero points in the post season in back to back seasons is unacceptable. One bright spot and maybe a glimmer of hope for Vrana is that he did produce 17 shots on goal in eight playoff games. This was up from his 8 SOG in the previous years seven game series against the Canes. I like seeing that he is attempting shots and being aggressive. I am hopeful that new bench boss and offensive minded Laviolette can provide a more consistent offensive system and structure. I believe this will pay dividends for Vrana come future playoff time.
Vrana is one of the Capitals best young players and at the age of 24, the sky is the limit for what he can produce in future seasons. As long as Ovi is on the squad, expect Vrana to stay 2nd line LW for the foreseeable future. I am excited for Vrana and his future with the Capitals
Thanks for reading.
GO CAPS
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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