Saw the trades and wanted to check in with you! (Also FUCCCCKKK)
It’s for the best that Steve Yzerman hasn’t started a cult yet, because I’d be in it.
It’s funny that the Capitals thought Vrána was lonely so they bought him a friend but then his friend looked lonely so they bought his friend a friend, and then they tossed Vrána and Vrána’s friend’s friend, an alchemy-like process to transfigure Michal Kempný from a sad boy into a sadder boy.
Listen, I personally am not quite capable of caring enough about sports to feel bad about them right now. For everyone who’s invested and feeling bad right now, I’m really sorry. My real thoughts on the trade:
Good for him. Vrana’s on-ice opportunities have always had a ceiling, which was Ovechkin’s bottom. The log-jam at left wing is an unavoidable consequence of a good (great) thing. But he may have more opportunities to make a difference on the Wings, too.
I believe Vrána could pull off a letter for a team one day, but he was never going to wear one for the Capitals. The Capitals’ atmosphere spins around Backstrom, Carlson, Oshie, and Ovechin. They set the tone, and it’s a good tone, but it means he’s always been, in comparison, more of a social satellite. Even if they all broke their legs tomorrow, Wilson is crown prince and Kuznetsov would be his consort: they set the tone for every new or young guy who joins the team. I think it’s notable that Wilson and Kuznetsov have been proponents of Vrána and manufactured opportunities for him to practice leadership by interacting more with the new guys, but he can’t be their duckling forever.
The Wings obviously have their own leaders, but they’re looking for more personality, on and off the ice. People are saying that the Yzerplan might be to build partly around Vrána: I think Yzerman knows as well as anyone that you make fans and keep them by having a distinctive style of play and a distinctive personality.
Vrána loves Madison Bowey. Madison Bowey loves Evgeny Svechnikov. By the transitive power of BFF-dom, E Svech now loves Vrána, and I wanna see them hug.











