The Washington Capitals have their 2014 first-round pick officially locked up.
The team announced they’ve signed 13th overall selection Jakub Vrana to his three-year entry-level contract. Vrana played at Linkoping in the Swedish Hockey League last season and that’s where he’ll likely be playing again next season unless his performance in training camp dictates otherwise.
Vrana, a Czech Republic native, has been a star for their national team at the World Junior Championships and Under-18 World Championships. As Chuck Gormley of CSNWashington.com shared, the Caps think highly of his abilities.
“He obviously has shown really good speed,” Caps assistant general manager Ross Mahoney said last week. “In a shootout he showed his hands and his slap shot is one that not a lot of people are going to be able to stop.”
If Vrana impresses enough in camp, that’d put the Caps in curious position to possibly go with a lot of youth as they’ll have 2013 first-round pick Andre Burakovsky also pushing to make the club.
