Jakub Vrana, whose future once seemed so bright in Washington, starts over in Detroit

“I was actually getting my vaccine, and then after that, I was getting this call,” Vrana said Wednesday. “It was mixed emotions. I was drafted to that club; I had a relationship to that city, with the guys there. So at the moment, like I said, I was shocked.”

After four up-and-down years in D.C. that only scratched the surface of his potential, Vrana finds a clean slate with the rebuilding Red Wings that will allow him to play a bigger role alongside Detroit’s young core.

But he was still searching for the words to find closure Wednesday, specifically relating to MacLellan’s comments that characterized Vrana as frustrated and struggling with Washington’s coaching staff.

“I have read that. There’s been something going on, but I don’t really know what happened. . . . If that was the main reason or what was the reason, I don’t really know,” Vrana said.

In the final season of a two-year, $6.7-million deal, Vrana was due for a raise as a restricted free agent this summer — and the looming negotiations played a factor in the decision to deal him to Detroit, MacLellan said Monday.

Detroit General Manager Steve Yzerman saw in Vrana, 25, a player on a trajectory similar to that of Mantha, who once had been viewed as a cornerstone in Detroit’s rebuild.

“I think it’s fair to say both of them were underperforming their historic statistics,” Yzerman said. “We look for Jakub to play a bigger role.”

Said Vrana: “When somebody wants to give you a chance and wants you in their organization … it gives me excitement.”

Vrana left his home in the Czech Republic at 15 to move to Sweden, where he quickly turned into a promising prospect whose top-end speed drew scouts’ attention. Washington drafted him 13th overall in the 2014 draft, seeing him as a future star. Vrana’s baby-faced grin grew only wider when Alex Ovechkin called to congratulate him shortly after he was picked.

Vrana never stopped referring to himself as a “happy kid.” He became even more of a fan favorite during the Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup run, in which he sniped a decisive goal in the clinching Game 5 win over the Vegas Golden Knights and afterward celebrated with his teammates over the course of several nights in the Washington area. He got a tattoo of the trophy on his wrist while holding former goaltender Braden Holtby’s hand, and the video and photos of that escapade continued to circulate on social media.

But Vrana also struggled to become a consistent two-way player. He set career highs in goals during his second and third full seasons in the league but had produced no points in 15 combined postseason games during the 2019 and 2020 playoffs.

As he entered his fourth full season with the team in January, it was clear the Capitals no longer viewed him as an up-and-coming player. “He’s not a kid anymore. … His hand is on the rope,” Capitals first-year coach Peter Laviolette said this past winter, and after he began the year with 11 goals and 14 assists in 39 games, his ice time dipped. He was a healthy scratch for two games this month.

After the deal Monday, MacLellan said, “There was a tug-of-war between coaching staff and staffs that have had him and the way he was playing.”

Laviolette said Tuesday: “When you say between Jakub and me or Jakub and the coaching staff, I think it’s just the idea of how a team needs to play in order to be successful on a nightly basis and certainly in the playoffs, in the rounds when things become heavy. It’s just about a style every player has to play on a successful team and you can be the top player in the league and in order to be successful you still have to play with a certain identity … so some of the conversations with Jakub had revolved around that.”

Those who supported Vrana in Washington did not let him go quietly. Some Capitals fans took to social media to say their goodbyes and express their displeasure with the trade Monday. Capitals veteran T.J. Oshie bid his friend farewell on Twitter and later with a text, and Panik — who had been traded multiple times in his career — vowed to help Vrana grasp his new reality in Detroit.

“I think for him it’s a great opportunity,” Panik said. “It’s a new team. He can earn any spot he can. … He has to get the confidence of the coach, and then he can play even more minutes than he played in Washington. It’s up to him.”