Washington Capitals: A look back at Vitek Vanecek’s brief time with the Seattle Kraken

The Seattle Kraken are not even a season old but Vitek Vanecek of the Washington Capitals has a stat every netminder of the Kraken present and future would be envious of. That’s right, Vitek Vanecek is the only undefeated goaltender in Kraken history. Well, sort of.

The Kraken selected Vanecek in the NHL Expansion Draft over the summer. It was a big loss for the Caps and a loss they would suffer for almost a week. Then the Caps traded right back for their young netminder after the NHL’s newest franchise pursued former Capital Philipp Grubauer in free agency. It was a perfect storm.

Vanecek recalled his somewhat crazy week “in” Seattle on the second day of training camp:

"“I mean, it was crazy you know? You start thinking about it. You’ve been here for long time, six years. You’ve been working hard with me here and I was just drafted by Seattle. I was thinking like it was something new. New people and a new start. But it was quick comeback. [smiles] I was so happy I can be back with people that I know. The organization was great, you know?”"

Vanecek was then asked about Grubauer and if he had a feeling the Caps had something up their sleeve:

"“I know that when they signed Grubauer, I asked my agent what we need to do. He told me, ‘Maybe you will be traded.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ He said, ‘just wait, you can’t do anything.’ It was just waiting. Then [Seattle] called me 2 AM. They wake me up and I traded back to Washington. After seven days I was back! [laughing]”"

Vanecek didn’t necessarily go to Seattle after he found out he was drafted. He was back home in the Czech Republic. He did, however, think about sending his car overseas or across the country.

“I was close but I didn’t send that so that was good,” said Vanecek, relieved.

Vanecek faced his former team Sunday night but didn’t have the revenge game he was looking for as the Caps fell 5-2. The Kraken did pull out all the stops for the return of their former goalie, going as far as to post a tribute video.

While Vanecek didn’t meet his new teammates during his six days with the Kraken nor receive a jersey, he at least got the video tribute he deserved. Funny stuff.