Jakub Vrana jumped onto the ice inside Capital One Arena wearing a Washington Capitals jersey on Sunday for the first time in nearly three and a half years (1,263 days). The last time Vrana dressed in Capitals red in front of a Washington home crowd came on April 8, 2021, when the Capitals fell 4-2 to the Boston Bruins.

That game came during Peter Laviolette’s first season in charge of the club, and the Capitals’ lineup featured names like Zdeno Chara, Justin Schultz, and Daniel Carr. Vrana was dealt to the Detroit Red Wings just four days later, and since then, he and the Capitals have both gone through a world of change. But Vrana’s heart has remained in DC.

“I want to be part of this team. I love this team, and it’s great to be back here for the camp and try my best to earn a spot on the team,” he said Thursday. “It means a lot, man. This team means a lot to me.”

Capitals fans gave Vrana loud applause when he was announced as part of the team’s starting lineup on Sunday. He skated with Hendrix Lapierre and Ethen Frank on Washington’s top line against the Philadelphia Flyers. Vrana was a minus-3 in the game but recorded a team-high 5 shots and six individual scoring chances in 14:18 of ice time.

Hey there, V pic.twitter.com/eQ86cnNVZk

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 22, 2024

Vrana’s love for the franchise that drafted him 13th overall in 2014 was evident almost immediately after he departed in the 2021 trade. “I have great memories with this team, built great relationships within this city, met great people, had great teammates, played in front of amazing fans, and that will always stay in my heart,” he penned on Instagram then.

Shoulder surgery and a well-known stint in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program led to Vrana playing just 37 games for Detroit in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons combined, so he had to wait a while to make his first return to Washington. The night finally came on February 21, 2023, nearly two years after his move.

The Capitals greeted the 2018 Stanley Cup champion with a tribute video featuring his time with the AHL’s Hershey Bears and his first NHL goal. The video ended with an image of him hosting the Cup over his head in Vegas, and fans gave the Czech winger a standing ovation.

Heading into that game, Vrana said of his time in Washington, “We were like one family here.”

i think oshie was watching the tribute 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/nATcCu08e1

— mol 🧸 (@molfully) February 22, 2023

Vrana was traded for the second time in his career just over a week later to the St. Louis Blues, scoring 10 goals in 20 games.

After the season, he came back to Washington, DC, attending a Washington Nationals game alongside Alex Ovechkin. The two reunited on the same field where they had a legendary celebration of their Cup win in June 2018.

Vrana then started the 2023-24 campaign back with the Blues but couldn’t find the same offensive success with them he did at the end of the prior season. St. Louis ultimately decided to waive Vrana in December, and he spent most of the year with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.

With Springfield, Vrana made his first return to Hershey’s Giant Center to play the Bears six years and seven months after last dressing in Hershey’s chocolate and white. During the game’s first television timeout, the Bears honored Vrana with their own tribute video.

Vrana looked up at the jumbotron as the video played. He waved to the crowd multiple times and tapped his stick on the ice, clearly touched by the tribute.

Vrana, at the Capitals’ 2024 Training Camp on a professional tryout agreement, hopes to put his time in the AHL behind him. He has a tough journey ahead of him to win one of the few open spots on Washington’s roster, but he took the first major leap of that journey on Sunday.

Vrana has already successfully drawn the attention of Washington’s general manager, Chris Patrick. Patrick has been with the Capitals since the team drafted Vrana and was closely involved with the forward’s development as Washington’s former Director of Minor League Operations.

“You can tell he’s taking this seriously,” Patrick said. “He doesn’t think anything is being handed to him, and that was kind of the point. We want to have a competitive camp. We don’t want to just give away spots to guys, we want them to earn it. He’s in a group of several players that are in that position, fighting for one or two spots.”

Washington will have another few weeks in camp and five more preseason games to make their final roster decisions. Vrana and the Capitals fans he so clearly appreciates will be hoping he has a spot won and a new contract by the time the regular season opens on October 12 against the New Jersey Devils.

Jacksonville’s Feletta Smith and Beverly McClain are both survivors of violence who arose from the darkness to found support groups for other survivors.

Both will join more than 3,000 others, including others from Jacksonville, who have lost loved ones to violent crime, or been victims of it, at Tuesday’s Crime Survivors Speak March on Washington. The first by a national grassroots movement centering the needs of victims of crime, they seek to urge lawmakers to expand support for crime victims and their families and pass reforms to break cycles of crime.

Smith survived being shot 13 times on Feb. 29 of 2004, as Thomas Bevel killed her boyfriend Garrick Springfield and 13-year-old Phillip Sims in her home in the Brentwood area, police said. Bevel ultimately received two death sentences. And as she healed, Smith began Beyond the Bullet to cultivates a safe place for victims of gun violence, encourage them to take action, and celebrate the lives of those who were killed.

For her, meeting with other survivors of violence is a key reason to go to Washington.

“We can talk about victims’ rights and just hear how we feel about gun violence as well,” Smith said just before leaving for the march. “I was chosen to go to the White House to speak about gun violence, so that will be very exciting for me.”

McClain will be there as well, 19 years after her son Andre was murdered. Devastated by his death, she started Families of Slain Children as a way to help other families in the same situation. Outside its headquarters on North Myrtle Avenue is a memorial wall commemorating almost 3,000 crime victims, with room for no more.

Now McClain wants to add her voice to the chorus asking lawmakers for change.

“The more, the better,” McClain says. “The more ears, the better. Our voices will be heard. We need to come together so we can learn to support each other more, and better.”

Many of the local crime victims and march participants left for Washington, D.C., early Sunday on a bus from Families of Slain Children’s North Myrtle Avenue office.

The march was organized by Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, a national network of more than 200,000 crime victims advocating for a justice system that prioritizes healing, prevention, and recovery, its organizers said.

The group says it’s helped get more than 100 criminal justice and public safety reforms passed in state legislatures. And the march comes on the 40th anniversary of the Victims of Crime Act, the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act, and the 20th anniversary of the Crime Victims Rights Act.

Planned events include a march and rally with survivors at Union Square, and a Healing Festival on the National Mall. And several survivors and advocates, including Smith, will meet with congressional representatives and senators to discuss policy priorities, share personal stories and advocate for programs that address the root causes of crime.

McClain, who helps the families of those who died with grief counseling, food or just someone to talk to, she hopes someone listens to their pleas this week in Washington. Not a day goes by that she doesn’t think of her son “and other sons and daughters who I deal with.”

“It doesn’t get any better; it doesn’t get any easier,” McClain said. “There are too many.”

And Smith, who said she is worried about how many young people are dying because they have access to high-powered guns at such an early age, also hopes they listen.

“We are telling our stories; we are voicing how we feel,” Smith said. “We are coming to heal. We want to have the right to heal, so we want to have someone listen to us and listen to our thoughts and our feelings. Put us at the table with the lawmakers and just let them know how we feel as survivors of these violent crimes.”

Photo: NHL

With the Washington Capitals celebrating their 50th anniversary, NoVa Caps is summarizing each of the previous 49 seasons of the team, from earliest to most recent. The series continues with the 1993-1994 season, their 20th season.

SUMMARY

The 1993-1994 season saw the Capitals finish with a 39-35-10 record for 88 points, which ranked third in the Atlantic Division.  They ranked 15^th out of 26 for goals scored and 12^th out of 26 for goals given up. [The NHL added two more expansion teams: the Florida Panthers, based in Miami, and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.]

With team captain Dale Hunter suspended for the first 21 games, the Capitals seemed rudderless as they lost their first six games. Fortunately, they won nine of their next ten games but then lost their next four. Injuries did not help as they lost several key players during late November and December.

Photo: Heritage Art

The Capitals could not gain any consistency and found themselves 20-23-4 on January 27. Thus, they fired Head Coach, Terry Murray, and replaced him with Jim Schoenfeld.

They rebounded, winning seven of their next eight. During that time, Peter Bondra scored five goals in a single game in a 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Their record under Schoenfeld that season was 19-11-6 as they qualified for the playoffs.

The Capitals once again faced the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs. Good things sometimes happen when you least expect it. Few expected the Caps to break their string of playoff losses to the Pens in 1993-94, since Pittsburgh entered as the No. 2 seed and Washington slipped in as the No. 7. But the Capitals won the series in six games, winning the finale 6-3 at home. Sadly, the joy was temporary, as the Caps then fell to the top-seeded Rangers in five games.

Notable Draft Picks

• Brendan Witt (D) – (1^st round – pick #11)
• Jason Allison (C) – (1^st round – pick #17)
• Patrick Boileau (C) – (3^rd round – pick #69)
• Andrew Brunette (LW) — (7^th round – pick #174)

General Manager: David Poile

Head Coach:

• Terry Murray — through January 27, 1994
• Jim Schoenfeld — since January 27, 1994

Captain: Kevin Hatcher

Leaders

Goals: Dmitri Khristich (29), Mike Ridley (26)
Assists: Mike Ridley (44), Michael Pivonka (36)
Points: Mike Ridley (70), Dmitri Khristich (58)
Penalty Minutes: Craig Berube (305), Enrico Ciccone (174)

Major Trades 

• June 15, 1993
  • Capitals acquire: Kevin Kaminski
  • Quebec Nordiques acquire: Mark Matier
• June 20, 1993
  • Capitals acquire: Future Considerations (Enrico Ciccone)
  • Dallas Stars acquire: Paul Cavallini
• June 26, 1993 (2 Trades)
  • Capitals acquire: 1993 7^th round pick (Andrew Brunette), Craig Berube
  • Calgary Flames acquire: Brad Schlegel, 1993 5^th round pick
• March 21, 1994
  • Capitals acquire: Jim Johnson
  • Dallas Stars acquire: Alan May, 1995 7^th round draft pick
• March 21, 1994
  • Capitals acquire: Joe Reekie
  • Tampa Bay Lightning acquire: Enrico Ciccone, 1994 3^rd round pick, 1995 conditional 5^th round pick
• March 21, 1994
  • Capitals acquire: Joe Juneau
  • Boston Bruins acquire: Al Iafrate

Previous Summaries

1974-75 Season
1975-76 Season
1976-77 Season
1977-78 Season
1978-79 Season
1979-80 Season
1980-81 Season
1981-82 Season
1982-83 Season
1983-84 Season
1984-85 Season
1985-86 Season
1986-87 Season
1987-88 Season
1988-89 Season
1989-90 Season
1990-91 Season
1991-92 Season
1992-93 Season

By Ethan Berman