Confirmed Signing with Link: [VAN] F Daniel Sprong signs with the Canucks (1 year, $975k)

Three On Zero

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He was? I thought he played pretty much like he did with the Wings but maybe with a slight improvement.
More my personal experience, I didn’t know much about him prior to coming over. Expectations were pretty low
 

MichaelFarrell

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Aug 29, 2016
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Jeff Marek loves Daniel Sprong but I really only remember his time with the Penguins and I stand by the fact that he was awful. He’s always put up good numbers offensively but he’s a liability out there.
 

Raistlin

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Aug 25, 2006
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No, Pius actually works hard. Sprong does not. Good 4th line scorer who will not do anything else than that.
the canucks has enough defensive forwards to cover for him, in the second half after regression to the mean, its obvious they need offense, this is a cheap solution if he can provide 40 points. Hopefully the system will cover his mistakes, as even Kuzmenko was only a -1 in the year his defense completely cratered.
 
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nucksflailtogether

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Oct 15, 2017
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Difference between him and Kuzmenko is 4.5 mil. So if he's scratched nobody gives a crap! I doubt he will be much different than in his past but you never know. He's stuck around in the league this long, we've seen the odd player flip a switch before. You would think the extra millions in earning potential for a little more effort would be all it takes, but some people are just plain stubborn.
 

NYVanfan

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I bet the allure of being on the top line wing with a likely 100 point scorer what part of the sell… If he can stick in that spot and put up 60+ pts he could get a huge payday next summer
 
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tyhee

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I was about to say, Sprong and Sherwood are both classic 4th line all offense guys so why not just roll with a bizarro world 4th line featuring two all offense wingers who have never met a shot they don’t like to take between Teddy, a guy who doesn’t shoot anyways and can act as a third defenseman.

I see already a tendency to put Sprong in the top six spot because of his scoring rate - but the thing about him is he can do his offensive damage in ten minutes with nobody linemates. Keeping him on some weird all offense lower line still gets you his offensive juice without exposing one of your core lines or additional important minutes to the poorer parts of his play, handicapping somebody like EP40 with extra babysitting duties. Guys like Heinen are much more equipped to be a low maintenance mesh higher in the line up than Sprong.
I think that is exactly what the Canucks had in mind in signing him.

Allvin has been pretty clear at times this offseason about why he's signing certain guys. When he signed DeBrusk he said he anticipated that Debrusk would get a try with Pettersson. Now when he signed Sprong he said it was for secondary scoring.

I don't think he'd refer to scoring from the Miller line nor the Pettersson line as secondary, while I don't think they intend to play a weak defensive player on the third line. The conclusion has to be that they're seeking to have a fourth line that contributes offensively-hence the reference to secondary scoring.
 

BKarchitect

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I think that is exactly what the Canucks had in mind in signing him.

Allvin has been pretty clear at times this offseason about why he's signing certain guys. When he signed DeBrusk he said he anticipated that Debrusk would get a try with Pettersson. Now when he signed Sprong he said it was for secondary scoring.

I don't think he'd refer to scoring from the Miller line nor the Pettersson line as secondary, while I don't think they intend to play a weak defensive player on the third line. The conclusion has to be that they're seeking to have a fourth line that contributes offensively-hence the reference to secondary scoring.

Yeah the Canucks really seem to be embracing a more modern construct of lines…a lot of teams are but Vancouver’s forward core is particularly suited to this since they have two star centers and a ton of depth but not necessarily the strongest traditional “top six” core.

If you keep that third line together - you know that’s gonna be a great all-weather line. JT and Boeser is the heavy artillery offensively. EP40’s line will naturally be good offensively but also be able to take important all-zone minutes, especially if Debrusk is gonna be his sidekick. The 4th line becomes some kind of secondary scoring line that is situation-specific.
 
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vcanuck

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the best defence is a great offence.

Allvin missed out on Tanev and said eff this lets go all offence.
 

Bankerguy

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best case scenario is he doesnt get scratched and plays at a 20 goal pace in a botom 6 role. he'll have to be adequate on the D side or the puck to not get scratched though.
at sub 1M, great risk reward type move
 
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Paulinbc

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I’m trying to figure out what I was trying to say, I forgot lmao
I think it was remotely decent, can't remember, but funny how it came out

the best defence is a great offence.

Allvin missed out on Tanev and said eff this lets go all offence.
"missed out on"
Why do people think this player is even remotely an option? The tanned rumours need to stop. Dude is done.
 
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Nona Di Giuseppe

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Jul 14, 2009
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Probably more like, "nobody has interest in Sprong - so his agent asked Dhaliwal to put it out there that he has a suitor to try to drum something up". :laugh: That's usually his schtick when it's something like this.


Like...people thought RikTok was unfair and too hard on Kuzmenko for his defensive play and effort level? How is Sprong ever gonna even see the ice under him? :laugh: There's a good reason a guy with his sort of offensive skillset is still unsigned at this point in the summer. With his agent trying to use the various mouthpieces like Dhaliwal to drum up some sort of sense of interest somewhere.

this aged like milk!
 

Nona Di Giuseppe

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Not sure about line combos but adding Sprong with no subtractions puts them at like 16 NHL caliber forwards of varying degrees

Petey
Miller
Boeser
DeBrusk
Hoglander
Garland
Joshua
Bleuger
Heinen
Sherwood
Suter
Podkolzin
PDG
Aman

Sprong
Karlsson

Obviously some of these guys will be in the AHL anyway but still

yeah. the guys that aren't NHLers
 

Nona Di Giuseppe

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Not sure about line combos but adding Sprong with no subtractions puts them at like 16 NHL caliber forwards of varying degrees

Petey
Miller
Boeser
DeBrusk
Hoglander
Garland
Joshua
Bleuger
Heinen
Sherwood
Suter
Podkolzin
PDG
Aman
Sprong
Karlsson

Obviously some of these guys will be in the AHL anyway but still

DeBrusk Pettersson Hoglander
Boeser Miller Sprong
Garland Bleuger Joshua
Heinen Suter Sherwood

PDG

The others aren't really NHLers
 

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