Speculation: Daniel Sprong

DesertPenguin

Registered User
Apr 22, 2015
3,326
1,822
I have a very good friend who is Dutch and I asked him about Sprong last year when the Kraken didn't sign him to a new deal. His response was much more about Dutch culture than about the guy himself. He said that Dutch people tend to be stereotyped as rude, or as assholes for reasons that are in direct conflict with the way Canadian's specifically are stereotyped as some of the nicest people on the planet. Dutch people are direct, have no filter whatsoever, are brutally honest about themselves and others. The Dutch are confident, but private at the same time and that can lead to a stereotype that they are arrogant and cold. Quite in conflict with the Canadian warmth. I don't see Canadian's being seen as particularly confident either (sorry... I don't mean I'm sorry, I mean... sorry, sorry, sorry lol), but American's can definitely come across as confident assholes lol.

The Dutch can also tend to be unaware of the filters that others use. I've seen this in my friendship with him. He often doesn't read what I'm saying when I'm applying filters to my thoughts. He's like "that's not how things are". Flat out, and it comes off as a bit rude to me, but I've learned to understand that he's just being direct and expects that of others as well. Filtering thoughts and opinions is very common amongst Americans and Canadians and as such, we tend to read into things, the Dutch typically don't read into things in the same way because there's no reason to in their culture.

I think when it comes to Sprong, he could very well be an asshole, but he's also the ONLY Dutch player in the league, and as such, a cultural anomaly in a sport filled with Canadians who are quite culturally different than him. He's more than likely misunderstood.
So basically the Jan Mas character in Ted Lasso is spot on?

Since the pens have more or less decided to mail it in the season and build for the future, I'd take a flier on him. Pens need a shooter on the PP, and short of Laine becoming truly available, he's the best option out there.
 

saska sault

Registered User
Jun 5, 2010
4,433
3,671
Sault Ste. Marie
Sprong is a nice player to have when the rest of your team has it figured out.... he's a luxury you can use or bench at hopefully a small cap hit. He had great games in Detroit when the team was stinking out the rink, but when the games mattered he wasn't trusted.
 

Irie

Registered User
Nov 14, 2010
4,685
4,636
Pacific Northwest
He priced himself out of what teams are wiling to pay. Contenders won't touch him. 2 seasons of getting easy ice time on bad teams won't translate the same on playing on good teams
One of those "bad teams" was a team that had a 100 point season, knocked off the defending stanley cup champions in round one, and was a one goal game 7 loss away from reaching the western conference finals.

Thinking we may have to just agree to disagree on what the definition of a "bad team" is on this one. ;)
 

FunkySeeFunkyDo

Registered User
Aug 3, 2014
4,781
4,333
….

His offense is amazing and he has an amazing shot. Thing is there Is 2 sides of the ice. He's a blackhole defensively.
I think a blackhole would be pretty good on defense. “Gretzky to Lemieux…oh dear lord, Mario has been shrunk to a point of infinite density…”
 

HockeyVirus

Woll stan.
Nov 15, 2020
19,617
30,060
Not a player for a playoff team. He'll sign cheap on a team like the Habs or something in August
 

13to40

Registered User
Feb 29, 2016
1,320
972
Montreal
Not popular in the locker room.

Can’t play in his own end.

He’s a liability more often than not when on the ice, unless on the power play.

Probably priced himself out of the teams looking to make a cup run who really needed depth scoring.

Has a wicked release though and if he plays a full season it is an automatic 20+ goals.
 

OgeeOgelthorpe

Riccis per 60 record holder
Feb 29, 2020
18,266
19,965
I have a very good friend who is Dutch and I asked him about Sprong last year when the Kraken didn't sign him to a new deal. His response was much more about Dutch culture than about the guy himself. He said that Dutch people tend to be stereotyped as rude, or as assholes for reasons that are in direct conflict with the way Canadian's specifically are stereotyped as some of the nicest people on the planet. Dutch people are direct, have no filter whatsoever, are brutally honest about themselves and others. The Dutch are confident, but private at the same time and that can lead to a stereotype that they are arrogant and cold. Quite in conflict with the Canadian warmth. I don't see Canadian's being seen as particularly confident either (sorry... I don't mean I'm sorry, I mean... sorry, sorry, sorry lol), but American's can definitely come across as confident assholes lol.

The Dutch can also tend to be unaware of the filters that others use. I've seen this in my friendship with him. He often doesn't read what I'm saying when I'm applying filters to my thoughts. He's like "that's not how things are". Flat out, and it comes off as a bit rude to me, but I've learned to understand that he's just being direct and expects that of others as well. Filtering thoughts and opinions is very common amongst Americans and Canadians and as such, we tend to read into things, the Dutch typically don't read into things in the same way because there's no reason to in their culture.

I think when it comes to Sprong, he could very well be an asshole, but he's also the ONLY Dutch player in the league, and as such, a cultural anomaly in a sport filled with Canadians who are quite culturally different than him. He's more than likely misunderstood.

One of my best friends in college was Dutch and that very much seems to be the stereotype.
 

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