The Washington Capitals have re-signed talented young forward Jakub Vrana to a two-year deal worth $6.7 million, the club announced Tuesday.
It was just as the Capitals twitter said, the signing of Vrana was all fans were waiting for this summer. The promising forward is at a prime age of 23, and he amazed Caps enthusiasts with his potential over the past two seasons.
Last season was a breakout year for Vrana, as he scored 24 goals and added 23 assists with a plus-20 rating.
In 2017-18 during his first full season in the NHL, he contributed during the Capitals’ Stanley Cup title run with three goals and five assists.
“Jakub [Vrana] is a highly skilled player with a tremendous upside and is a big part of our future, Capitals general manager Brian
MacLellan said in the announcement. “We are pleased with his development the past two seasons and are looking forward for him to continue to develop and reach his full potential with our organization.”
Vrana has definitely boosted the Capitals offense in his short time on the ice, showing an ability to score at a better rate than any other young Capital since Alex Ovechkin.
While Washington added free agent forwards Richard Panik and Garnet Hathaway this summer, signing Vrana was still near the top of their priority list. Once the Capitals traded Andre Burakovsky to Colorado, getting a deal done with Vrana was a matter of when not if.
Washington squeezed Vrana’s deal into this season’s salary cap. They now have $935,706 of cap space remaining, according to CapFriendly.
They are set to go to arbitration with their two remaining prominent free agents defenseman Christian Djoos and forward Chandler Stephenson.
