In the midst of the quietest part of the offseason, the Caps took care of some personnel matters Thursday morning when they announced that they have extended a PTO (professional tryout) invitation to former Washington winger and unrestricted free agent Jakub Vrana for the team’s 2024 training camp next month. The Caps and the 28-year-old Vrana are quite familiar with each other.

Ten summers ago, Vrana was the Caps’ first-round pick (13th overall), the first player drafted during Brian MacLellan’s tenure as GM. He came up through the Caps’ system, played for AHL Hershey and was a member of the 2015-16 Calder Cup finalist team, and blossomed into a speedy, efficient scorer with Washington. When the Caps claimed their first Stanley Cup title in 2018, Vrana was a 22-year-old rookie who was a top-nine scorer at the time. Two career-best seasons followed, as did a trade to Detroit in April 2021, at the trade deadline of the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.

Sent to Motown in the deal that brought Anthony Mantha to the Capitals, Vrana had a four-goal game against Dallas just 10 days later, but a shoulder injury suffered in training camp three years ago required surgery and sidelined him for most of the 2021-22 season. He entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program early in the 2022-23 season. A stint with AHL Grand Rapids followed, before Vrana was traded to St. Louis in March 2023.

Last season with the Blues, Vrana never really got going. He had just two goals and six points in 21 games with St. Louis, and he played twice as many games with AHL Springfield, where he totaled 16 goals and 36 points.

Vrana still has the wheels, and he can still shoot and handle the puck. He’s played just 83 total NHL games since leaving Washington 40 months ago, but he’s amassed 34 goals and 52 points while averaging 14:25 of ice time per night. Among NHL forwards with at least 80 games played in that span, Vrana’s 1.46 goals-per-60 average at 5-on-5 is topped only by Toronto’s Auston Matthews (1.76). On the other side of the coin, Vrana hasn’t been a consistent performer since leaving D.C.; his possession numbers have declined despite favorable zone implementation.

When he first landed in D.C. a decade ago, Vrana came to town as the Caps’ big pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. This time around, he arrives looking to revive a flagging career while the Caps focus on completing one of the many redevelopment projects they’ve enjoyed success with over the past decade.

With the salary cap squeeze in recent seasons, a number of veteran NHL players have had to take the PTO route in an attempt to extend their league careers. Few of those attempts have been successful, with most players being cut at the end of camp. In recent falls, the Caps have notably signed Matt Hendricks (in 2010) and Alex Chiasson (in 2017) on the back of strong training camps, but the recent success rate around the league has not been favorable.

With a PTO invitation, there are no strings attached, no promises and no guarantees from the team, and there is only a brief window – and likely precious few preseason opportunities – in which a player can clearly demonstrate that he deserves a roster spot more than any number of rivals. The Caps have had an extremely active offseason in which they added a quartet of proven NHL forwards in Pierre-Luc Dubois, Andrew Mangiapane, Taylor Raddysh and Brandon Duhaime, and they also have a number of talented young players knocking on the door of opportunity. The odds are against Vrana; they are against virtually any player signing a PTO these days, though the loosening of salary cap restrictions could pave the way for a higher percentage of them to show up for training camps this fall.

Last September in Boston, the Bruins invited Danton Heinen to PTO camp. Heinen, a winger who the B’s drafted in 2014 and eventually developed into a top-nine NHL player, was traded to Anaheim less than two months before Vrana was sent to Detroit. After stints with the Ducks and Penguins, Heinen accepted a PTO from his original employer. He made the Bruins’ roster after camp last fall, and after a 17-goal, 36-point season, he signed a two-year, $4.5 million contract with Vancouver on July 1.

The Caps need goals, and while they’ve brought in some good options to spark the offense this summer, competition is a good thing. And Vrana can certainly score, and he still has some room to play for in what should be the best seasons of his career. Heinen’s successful PTO saga in Boston is the exception rather than the rule, but as in that case, the team and the player both have a certain level of familiarity and comfort with each other.

Vrana and the Caps are looking to repeat what Heinen and the Bruins accomplished last fall. For the Caps, it’s a no-risk/high-reward proposition. For Vrana, it’s a chance at a mid-career reboot under a different coaching staff. But he’ll have to earn it; the Caps’ depth chart already features eight former first-rounders vying for a top-nine spot, depending on the health of TJ Oshie.

Few players remain from Washington’s 2018 Cup team, and the number is dwindling with each passing year. Vrana is the first of those players to find his way back to the District as an active player, but whether that return is fleeting or long-lasting remains to be seen. It will depend on Vrana’s performance, his mindset and the state of his game, as well as the performances of the others vying for significant playing time on the power play and/or in the top nine when training camp begins next month.

Few careers are perfect, but Vrana is still young enough to forge a blossoming, redemptive cry for whatever lies ahead. Washington is where it all began for him, where he first experienced NHL success and where he was a valued part of a championship team. And if he doesn’t make the Caps’ opening-night roster, Vrana might still turn heads elsewhere in the league with a strong practice performance next month.