Washington Capitals – Jakub Vrana
The Washington Capitals are another team with very few breakout candidates. Most of their best players have already broken out. Years of contending has meant low draft picks, which has led to them having trouble bringing in fresh, young talent. Jakub Vrana is one of their success stories.
After making regular trips from the NHL to the AHL in his first two seasons, Vrana had an excellent contract year. Before last season, his career-high in points was 27. Vrana nearly eclipsed that total in goals with 24 and almost doubled his previous career-high with 47 points. 40 of those points came at five-on-five.
Yes, he was quiet during the postseason with zero points. But it’s worth noting Vrana was battling an injury. Not to mention he was coming off a short offseason. Vrana should get regular top-six minutes and perhaps a larger, more consistent spot on the Capitals second power-play unit.
He finished 14th among forwards in five-on-five goals per hour with 1.28, just ahead of former teammate Brett Connolly. Vrana turned the second forward line into a legitimate scoring line. And he did it without getting much power-play production.
The Capitals sacrificed a bit of offense for some more consistent two-way play this summer. They’re counting on Vrana to take the next step. It shouldn’t surprise anyone if he scores more than 30 goals next season.