Canucks To Kraken
He’s the Dutch hot potato, Daniel Sprong. He used a career best season in Seattle in 2022-’23 to cash in for one year in Detroit with the Red Wings, wasn’t kept around despite 18 goals and 43 points, got picked up on the cheap by the Canucks this past July, wasn’t essential, and now he’s back with the Kraken.
Seattle acquired the winger on Friday for ‘future considerations’.
“I couldn’t get him in a top-6 role, to be honest with you,” Vancouver head coach Rick Tocchet said Saturday morning. “There’s other guys ahead of him for what I needed in that role. I don’t think it’s fair to him to play fourth line, ten minutes. It’s hard, because he’s a skilled guy, but we have a couple of younger guys we figured could do that role.”
Seattle’s tenuous salary cap situation somehow allowed for it, only because defenceman Vince Dunn is on long term injured reserve (LTIR), and their lack of scoring somehow required it.
A rehash of the “Spronger” show.
There are question marks; baggage if you will. This from our July 20th, 2024 VancouverHockeyInsider.com article after the Canucks acquired him:
Rumour has it he’s not the best guy in the room. Whether that concept regarding chemistry is true remains to be seen for a Canucks dressing room that will do its best to acclimate the 27-year-old native of the Netherlands.
For a guy who’s potted 39 goals and tallied just short of 90 points over the last two seasons, $975,000 seems like a wicked bargain. It’s a one-year deal and Vancouver is his sixth team over the last six years. He played for $2-million last year in Detroit.
<< He held a telltale media availability a day or two after that story came out. >>
Kraken GM Ron Francis volunteered a different viewpoint during his press briefing on Friday.
“With our locker room, guys are excited and happy to have him back,” he said.
Does he lack a 200-foot game? Not enough ‘sandpaper’?’ Vancouver GM Patrik Allvin obviously didn’t seem overly concerned about sending this asset to a Pacific Division foe.
Sprong’s attributes include speed and an elite shot. Those qualities lasted a grand total of 12 games with the Canucks. He played in nine of them, totalling a goal and two assists.
— A version of this story also ran on SeattleHockeyInsider.com —
