Jonathan Lekkerimaki likely after Canucks spring surprising Daniel ...

9 Nov 2024

The Province

With the veteran scoring winger shipped off to Seattle, the time appears to be now for Jonathan Lekkerimaki.

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Published Nov 08, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 2 minute read

Dan Vladar #80 and Jake Bean #24 of the Calgary Flames defend against Daniel Sprong #91 of the Vancouver Canucks during the first period Photo by Derek Cain /Getty Images

The Daniel Sprong era is over.

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The Vancouver Canucks shipped the high-energy, skilled but defensively flawed winger off to the Seattle Kraken on Friday for future considerations.

The move immediately prompts the idea that the Canucks’ top forward prospect, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, will now get a look at the NHL.

Lekkerimaki has been ripping it up in the AHL and appears ready to have a go in the NHL. Whether he gets called up remains to be seen, but it’s clear the Canucks see him as nearly ready.

He impressed head coach Rick Tocchet in pre-season with his play away from the puck, which was the biggest question around whether Lekkerimaki would be ready to play in the NHL.

Sprong was signed in the summer as a low-risk, high-reward bet. He’s got massive offensive talents and is an outstanding skater, but was well-known as a poor defensive player. Tocchet knew Sprong from their time together in Pittsburgh and knew very well the player’s flaws but Tocchet and his colleagues wanted to see if they could help Sprong minimize the flaws in his skill set.

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But with Lekkerimaki knocking on the door and Dakota Joshua set to return to the lineup as well, Sprong’s time in the lineup was under pressure. To get Joshua back in the lineup — presumably now on Saturday vs. Edmonton — a forward would have to come out of the lineup and after Friday’s trade, obviously it was going to be Sprong.

With Brock Boeser expected to miss some time in the short term with a concussion, there’s also currently opportunity for a young scoring talent like Lekkerimaki. Of course the Canucks could go a slightly different direction and give Arshdeep Bains another look. He doesn’t have the offensive talents of Lekkerimaki, but his play away from the puck has drawn praise from Tocchet as well.

In nine games with the Canucks, Sprong scored a goal and added a pair of assists, but was mostly used as a fourth liner after getting some looks early in the season alongside Elias Pettersson.

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A source told Postmedia that the future considerations in the trade are dependent on Sprong’s performance with Seattle; in other words a conditional draft pick.

More to come …

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