A couple of new faces are making their debut as members of the Nashville Predators with the Chicago Blackhawks in town tonight.
Forward Jakub Vrana (#19) and defenseman Jordan Oesterle (#82) will be in the lineup and it’s a fresh start for both skaters after playing for the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins respectively.
“I expect max effort out of him,” head coach Andrew Brunette said of Vrana. “Hopefully, he’s motivated to get another chance in another place. I’m familiar with the player. I watched him when he was in Washington for quite a bit. He’s got some skill, he’s got a lot of things I think we could use. I’m looking to see it with my own eyes on my team and hope he’s excited.”
This is now Vrana’s fourth NHL team playing in 393 career games. He was drafted by the Capitals 13th overall back in 2014 and four years later won the Stanley Cup with then-head head Barry Trotz.
“He knows what kind of player I am and knows me really well. Really pumped to hear him call me and I was excited to come here and play for this team,” Vrana said of being reunited with Trotz.
Vrana is focused on learning the system as quickly as he can and playing hard for Nashville. He’s expected to play on a line with Fedor Svechkov and Cole Smith against Chicago in his debut.
The 29-year-old is auditioning for Nashville as he’s in the final year of his current contract. So far he has 11 points (7G – 4A) in 26 games this season and has been scratched for a lot of this season with the Capitals.
As he gets going Vrana is looking to get back to his scoring ways with his last goal coming on Dec. 23 against the Bruins. That was the end of a three-game scoring streak and he’ll look to develop chemistry with his new teammates right out of the gates.
While his career hasn’t been smooth in the last four years he’s tried to make the most of every opportunity along the way.
“It’s hard when you switch teams a lot. You try to settle in but at the end of the day I think whatever opportunity is in front of me I try to take the best out of it and we’ll see how it goes,” Vrana said.
Vrana was back with Washington earlier this season after signing a professional tryout agreement and then a one-year deal after his efforts in training camp paid off.
He likes to utilize speed in his game and it’s been on display in big moments before.
Vrana scored a goal in the Stanley Cup final as the Capitals clinched their championship in Game 5.
He scored the first goal of the cup-clinching contest as the Capitals had him playing with Tom Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov.
Then when he was with the Detroit Red Wings Vrana scored four goals in a game in his fourth to last game with the organization.
He said his goal in the Stanley Cup Final was his favorite of the two moments in his career.
Now Vrana can flash that skill with the Predators as he has 18 more games to showcase himself.
“This team has won two in a row now, we were just talking about it in the meeting this morning, we’re trying to keep it going. It’s fun to win hockey games in the NHL. That’s the goal right now,” Vrana said.
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Photos courtesy of Nashville Predators
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