Canucks: Right place, right time for Daniel Sprong to spring into ...
The newly acquired winger can score, can't defend, can infuriate, was often benched and comes with some additional baggage
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Published Jul 21, 2024 • 4 minute read
Right place, right time, right price.
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If faith and salary-cap affordability plays out for the Vancouver Canucks, the free-agent acquisition of winger Daniel Sprong on Saturday will have been a prudent off-season play.
Nobody doubts the ability of the mercurial 27-year-old Amsterdam native to generate offence. However, his inability to defend has kept him from being productive, predictable, responsible and with a full pull on the team-first rope.
“Bringing in another solid winger will be a boost,” said Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin. “Daniel has matured a lot as a player and has shown he can contribute. His addition will give us better depth and should help with more balanced scoring.”
Free-agent additions of wingers Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood present various levels of productivity and grit. So, how does Sprong project?
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DeBrusk and Nils Hoglander should flank Elias Pettersson and because Heinen has been on the cusp of 20 goals — 17 last season with the Boston Bruins — he may get the first look with J.T. Miller. Sprong could start as a fourth-liner with Teddy Blueger and Sherwood with Vasily Podkolzin as the extra forward.
With a Canucks’ plan to produce more off the rush next NHL season — and present head coach Rick Tocchet lineup options — they didn’t have to guarantee Sprong anything, no considerable salary or a several-year term.
What they did provide in a one-year, US$975,000 curiosity contract is the chance for Sprong to bet on himself, silence the critics, and prolong his career. The Canucks also had leverage because numbers that projected Sprong tripling his salary in a three-year deal elsewhere never materialized.
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A snapshot of a roller-coaster career that now spans six teams came last season in Detroit. In a dozen minutes of average ice time, Sprong turned a one-year, show-us, free-agent deal into 18 goals on the fourth line.
However, he had just one goal in his last 17 games and was a healthy scratch six times in a 10-game span down the stretch with the Red Wings pressing for a playoff position. Rather than re-sign the 6-foot, 195 pound Sprong, the Wings opted for former Canucks grinder Tyler Motte, 29, in a one-year $800,000 free-agent contract to bring better defensive structure.
Sprong was seldom matched against top players because of his deficiencies and averaged 10:11 at even strength and 1:48 on the power play.
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The previous season in Seattle, Sprong put up numbers that would normally ensure an extension. A career-high 21 goals and 46 points in 66 games didn’t parlay into security as the Kraken deemed him expendable, especially with arbitration rights that would have pushed an annual average salary into the $2 million range.
The Canucks believe they have a read on Pittsburgh’s second-round draft pick in 2015. Tocchet was an assistant coach when Sprong logged 18 games in the 2015-16 season and managed two goals in 8:24 of average ice time.
And Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford was the general manager in December of 2018 when the Penguins dealt a struggling Sprong to the Anaheim Ducks for defenceman Marcus Pettersson. Sprong was a healthy scratch nine times that season before being shipped and his relationship with Sullivan was often tested.
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Sprong has carried a certain edge with a personality that often rubbed teammates the wrong way.
What could work for Sprong is how Tocchet works with players. He calls it a partnership and his door is always open for discussion, direction and even input. But that comes at a price.
If you’re not willing to put in the work to be as good without the puck as you can be with it — Brock Boeser and Dakota Joshua are prime examples of what can be accomplished — then Sprong is in for rude awakening.
The detail-oriented Tocchet won the Jack Adams Award this season because he only asked three things from his club that claimed the Pacific Division in a remarkable 109-point season that ended by nearly advancing to the Western Conference final.
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Fitness, focus and faith were going to turn around a franchise that was more pretender than contender. And the buy-in had to be from everybody in a room that doesn’t have any passengers.
Last July, Boeser waved goodbye to the annual freewheeling Da Beauty League tournament in Edina, Minn. Tocchet asked for more last summer and Boeser listened. He invested in a total game and elite fitness to become predictable and reliable.
A new trainer, who emphasized sprinting and agility, turned Boeser, 27, into a stronger and quicker winger. It translated into a career-high four goals on opening night this season, 13 in his first 16 games, and a career-high 40 goals.
Joshua, 28, was in jeopardy of losing a roster spot last fall if he didn’t adhere to Tocchet’s demands being a big and commotion-causing winger.
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The results were amazing with a career-high 32 points (18-14) in 63 games and eight points (4-4) in 13 playoff games. His presence with 244 hits to place ninth overall, and 74 in the post-season to finish third, were rewarded with a four-year, $13 million extension.
Sprong should take notice.
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