Jakub Vrana: How Good Can The Young Capitals Star Get?

Washington Capitals right winger Jakub Vrana has the potential to be a superstar and he’s already shown flashes.

Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Tom Wilson, John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov and Braden Holtby. The Washington Capitals have done a terrific job of drafting over the years. That list alone includes team legends and a couple of no doubt hall of famers. One name we can now add to that list is Jakub Vrana

Vrana was drafted 13th overall in the 2014 NHL draft. He was projected to go in the twenties or could have gone to the early or mid thirties some scouts were saying. He had a heck of a shot, a good playmaker and had very good speed. A top six, point producing player that could be used in all situations if needed. The Hockey Writers gave him a comparison of Jakub Voracek.

Since debuting with the Capitals in late 2016 and earning a full time spot in 2017-18 Vrana has gotten better and better. He’s turned into a key part of this Washington Capitals team and was a big reason why the franchise won its first Stanley Cup in 2018.

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Vrana answered his 13 goals and 27 points in the Cup winning season by scoring 24 goals and 47 points the next season. This season he has improved even more. Just 47 games into the 2019-20 season Vrana has 20 goals and 38 points. He needs just five goals and ten points in the teams final thirty-five games to set career highs.

Barring major injury he will end up setting career highs. The question will then be, how high will the career high get? With Vrana scoring 20 goals through 47 games that puts him on pace for 34 or 35 goals this season. If you want the actual number it’s 34.89 goals. If he were to play all eighty-two games this season he would also be on pace for around 66 points.

Vrana would beat his career bests by over ten goals and by nearly twenty points. I think at this point you might have to step back, take a deep breath, then get your thought maker going. Get that brain firing and wonder, how good could this young man get?

It’s exciting to have a player like this. A 23-year-old who is on pace to have a 30 goal season. He will still have a couple of seasons where you’d like to think he will only get better. He’s still young and you would guess he has two, maybe three years of development before he hits his prime years of twenty-six or twenty-seven and on.

So what could we be looking at in the future for Jakub Vrana? The sky is seemingly the limit for this guy. A, or multiple forty goal seasons shouldn’t be counted out at this point. With a forty goal season could he add another forty assists? Are we watching a future point per game player?

I also think a question we might need to ask ourselves is could Vrana be the focal point of the offense in the near future? As much as we all love Ovechkin he’s thirty-four. Nicklas Backstrom isn’t far behind at thirty-two. In the not so distant future they will likely be handing over the reigns to a potential Kuznetsov-Vrana duo.

Now Vrana is no Ovechkin. You have the right to say DUH! after that. But fifty goal scorers only come so often. Usually in the form of an Ovechkin or a Steven Stamkos. Other than Ovechkin there has only been three other guys to score fifty goal more than once since the 2005-06 season, the first season since the lockout. Those guys are Dany Heatley, Ilya Kovalchuk and Stamkos.

Fifty goal scorers just don’t happen often and I would bet against it if I’m talking about Vrana. A 23-year-old scoring a possible 35 goals I think you would have to expect a few forty goal seasons.

The sky is the limit. The Capitals have landed another true star in my eyes. Someone who can provide goals and offense for the next ten years or more. Another player who can take the pressure off of “the great eight” and his right hand man Backstrom.

It should be fun to watch. It’s another great and entertaining player to watch for hopefully a long time. And hopefully with the improved play, the potential for more goals and points, Jakub Vrana also bring more hardware to the nation’s capital.