The Return of Vrana
I personally don't like when teams go out and reacquire players they have already let go. I tend to think it reeks of desperation.
Maybe that's just the end of the 2010's Blackhawks that gives me that bad feeling. But it seemed they tried to bring back everyone at one point and it didn't do anything good for them.
This season the Capitals have done it twice. They just brough back Lars Eller a couple of weeks ago. I'm still skeptical about that one, but we'll see. And towards the start of this season they also brought back Jakub Vrana. His return has been more fun for me.
We talked about players not being able to figure things out on a new team or new city. When talking about Vrana it's not him not being able to play well on other teams. At least not solely. He was actually pretty good in Detroit, the team Washington traded him to. In 54 total games for the Red Wings he scored 27 goals. Over a full 82 game season that is a 41 goal pace.
Even for the Blues he played in 41 games over a couple of season and he scored 12 goals. A good 24 goal pace.
Vrana's game definitely has warts. I'm not trying to come here to tell you he is among the leagues best players. But he can score. Vrana's issues I think has mostly been off ice issues. This season, while he isn't lighting up the world by any means, he does still have 4 goals and 7 points in 16 games. That is a 20 goal 35 point 82 game pace. Not bad for a depth player.
While I don't like teams bringing back players, I think I would easily make an exception here. Vrana is only 28, he has a good reputation among the fans. He scored in the Cup clinching game in '18. I think it's been fun to watch him back in Washington.
The Can't Miss Shooting
Fans don't care how their teams win. As long as they win who cares. Most casual fans tend to think offense is more entertaining though. Hardcore fans can appreciate games no matter how they're played. Fans who just watch, sometimes hardly paying attention, they like the 8-7 hockey games. The 56-49 football games. The 140-136 basketball games and so on.
Well if you like offense, you have probably enjoyed the start to the Capitals season. They have scored 85 goals, that's tied for 2nd most in the league.
But this isn't a team that overwhelms teams offensively. In terms of total shots for, the Capitals are an average team. At the time of writing this the Capitals have 605 shots for. That's 20th in the NHL. The Jets, who have the most goals with 89, have 666 shots. That is 7th best. Vegas who is tied with the Caps in goals with 85 are 5th best with 679 shots.
The difference is shooting percentage and the Capitals can't seem to miss to start the season. Winnipeg is shooting 8.96% while 5v5. Vegas is shooting a good 10.77%. Washington is currently shooting 13.42%, that's nearly two percent higher than 2nd place Tampa who shoots 11.68%.
At one point the Caps were shooting over 14%. That is an incredibly high number. At the end of the season teams will probably be in the 10.5% area.
Is their high shooting percentage sustainable? Probably not. But it has been a fun thing to watch.