New Canucks forward Daniel Sprong said it himself Monday, reminding us of his linemates with the Seattle Kraken for their very successful 2022-’23 campaign.
“In Seattle, the year that we had, all of us, with (Morgan) Geekie and (Ryan) Donato and myself, we were looking to get a pay raise,” he said during a Canucks media availability. “And it really wasn’t working out with that in Seattle and we all went different routes.”
That’s right, three linemates who helped the Kraken make the playoffs with the highest 5-on-5 shooting percentage in the NHL, three linemates who provided healthy depth with 44 goals as 4th liners, and three linemates who signed the following summer as free agents for the exact same amount: $2-million per season.
“Spronger’s” route was Detroit (1-year), Geekie’s Boston (2-years), and Donato’s Chicago (2-years). All for that identical per-year amount, the most any of them had earned in a single season.
It’s no secret, we’ve brought it up here on countless occasions, NHL players almost always perform better in contract years, sometimes substantially better. In Seattle two seasons ago it appeared to be a delightful little collaboration. Last season, Kraken GM Ron Francis failed in finding replacements — I mean, who could duplicate that situation — and the team slipped back out of the playoffs.
There were other reasons of course, but the absence of those three “looking to get a pay raise” was one of the biggest.
As for any other Sprong deficiencies or issues, those belong to the Canucks now.
“In Detroit, we had a good year last year and you know, things just didn’t really feel good, or click, or whatever it was,” Sprong said, “and then you get contracts that don’t work or whatever, they’re not interested or whatever it is, and then ….”
Vancouver: one-year, $975,000.
