Washington Capitals News: Jakub Vrana is heading back home on a PTO

The Washington Capitals annoucned that Jakub Vrana will be back on a PTO. This will make training camp very competitive and now Vrana gets an opportunity to prove himself to the Caps once again.

In other news, Pierre-Luc Dubois has joined the team for informal skates over at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington as training camp inches closer and closer.

On Thursday morning the Caps did some business on one of the quiestest days of the offseason. 28 year old Vrana is back in town. 10 summers ago he was the Caps first round choice at 13th overall, the first player drafted during Brian MacLellan's time as General Manager.

Vrana played through the Caps minor league system and was an integral part in the Hershey Bears run to the 2016 Calder Cup Finals. In the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, Vrana had some timely goals.

The Vrana addition is huge. Especially considering a couple years ago the Caps traded V for Anthony Mantha which didn't quite work out. And unfortunately for V, he couldn't get himself together whether it was Detroit or St. Louis.

Vrana though has the speed and the hot wheels. We know what he's capable of doing and Mike Vogel of WashCaps.com elaborated more on the terms of the PTO.

"With the salary cap squeeze in recent seasons, a number of veteran NHL players have had to settle for the PTO route in an effort to extend their careers in the League. Few of those attempts have been met with success; most players are cut loose at the end of camp. In recent autumn, the Caps have notably signed Matt Hendricks (in 2010) and Alex Chiasson (in 2017) on the basis of strong training camps but the recent success rate around the League isn't favorable."

In other news, Alex Ovechkin was ranked number 19th among the top 20 wings on NHL.com:

"Ovechkin had 31 goals last season, the 18th time in his 19 seasons he's had at least 30. With 853 goals, the 38 year old left wing needs 41 to tie Wayne Gretzky for the most all-time. He had 65 points averaging 19:13 of ice time in 79 games, and his 13 power play goals and 28 power play points led Washington. Ovechkin, who ranks 13th all-time in points (1,550) and first in power play goals (312), has a packed trophy case."

That's the latest news around the land of hockey. And Ovechkin has all the tools. He's won the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP in 2018, the Rocket Richard Trophy as the League's leading goal-scorer nine times, the Hart Trophy as MVP three times, the Ted Lindsay Award as MVP chosen by the NHLPA, the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in the 2005-06 season and was voted one of the 100 greatest players in the NHL's centenial celebration in 2017.