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

[CupofOil]

46 points vs. 43 points. While having the same coaching/defensive issues.

The topic was always comparing them from last season relative to what they got, no need to keep trying to skew that. If that conversation doesn’t tickle your fancy, perhaps don’t reply or just stick to HFOil?

Skinner has had a better career, but this isn’t comparing careers.

I'll just say it one more time and you can choose to understand or don't, up to you. Contracts are not based on one season, nobody even you I'm sure really believes that.

Nice signing by the Canucks but you can't compare the two players. It's a top 6 forward to bottom 6 forward comparison.

 

[Three On Zero]

I'll just say it one more time and you can choose to understand or don't, up to you. Contracts are not based on one season, nobody even you I'm sure really believes that.

Nice signing by the Canucks but you can't compare the two players. It's a top 6 forward to bottom 6 forward comparison.

The goal posts have officially left North America.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

He’s a black hole of zero effort defense.

The other team has a power play in the defensive zone.

He doesn’t have enough production to cover for the bad parts of his game.

He wasn’t terrible defensively in Detroit. Not great either, but not the total liability you describe.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

Right, I'm sure teams were lining up for him since July 1st if he just signed for 975k on July 20th.

Something isn't right for sure. Can't stay on teams. If he was this good, willing to sign this low, he would have been signed day 1.

People are amazed Sprong signed this cheap? Dude is ass and front offices are well aware of this

Basically this. That's all I have read/heard from other fanbases. It's just logic. If a guy is that good and consistent, he would stay on teams. Maybe Tocchet can get something out of him. Watching him, he can't play a lick of D

 

[Brookbank]

Is there anyone the Canucks aren't interested in?

Zegras

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? There's a good reason a guy with his sort of offensive skillset is still unsigned at this point in the summer.

To be fair, Jeff Skinner got a contract

 

[Brookbank]

If there's ever a best case situation for Sprong to put it together and succeed, this is it.

I'd bet he does very well in van and gets a 2/3 yr sherwood/Blueger esque extension.

But Tocchet makes no exceptions. If you cost the team a goal, you are on the bench and in the press box

At first I though why?

Then I realized low cost depth doesn't hurt.

Then i remembered almost every FA deal signed by the Canucks this off season are incredibly low AAV short term deals that can result in easy trades in the season to recoup picks/assets for the future.

The ONLY questions I have are now regarding Podkolzin and Hoglander as they both seem to be on the outside looking in after this free agency period.

One of these is not like the other. Hoglander is easily the best player on the ice in most of his AHL games. He's had 20+ even strength goals in the NHL. He is going NOWHERE!

 

[JAK]

11 pages.

If he produces, he will play. If he is a liability, he won't.
And at worse, it's a million cost to the owner's pocket and not affect the cap.

People comparing him to Kuzmenko forgets that Liz's cap was much higher, which was why it was important to have him be able to play well defensively to play more minutes.

Sprong, on the other hand, if he is a liability, then he doesn't have to be played. The team depth allows them to take this minor risk.

And I am not sheading a tear for the owner's wallet.

 

[conFABulator]

I hear ya, but if you can get a free wallet, why turn it down?

I agree with that in general and I don't know enough about Vancouver's roster composition and depth to have an informed opinion on their perspective.

In Toronto, I think the free wallet has a cost, an opportunity cost. I do want to see roster battles with Robertson, Cowan, Grebenkin, Steeves, and Holmberg and I don't want to see the opportunities to show their stuff given to those guys.

Having said this I would welcome Alex Nylander joining the mix on a PTO, but I wouldn't feel this way if he didn't have a brother in the team. I am just hoping for sibling magic there.

 

[lawrence]

the 2 most recent player cards by Jfresh hockey on Daniel Sprong.

he's not great defensively, but seems to be able to generate offence for a guy that plays 4th line minutes.

harmless signing. Him being on one year deal makes it better because it means hes hungry and wants to rack up points for hopefully a better pay out next summer as this is his last chance to get a decent contract if he can perform.

seems like Tocchet convinced him to come to Vancouver. its a one-year deal. lets see if we can get extra mileage out of him.

Canucks got 3 other guys with 0 PP minutes 4th line minutes and were able to score more than 20, (Garland, Hoglander, Joshua) strong candidate for a 25 goal season .

A Call from Rick Tocchet Sealed the Deal for Daniel Sprong to Join the Canucks | Vancouver Canucks

On Saturday, Vancouver Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin announced that the club had come to terms on a one-year, $975,000 contract with forward Daniel Sprong. On Monday, Sprong met with the media to discuss his contract and why Vancouver makes the most sense for the 27-year-old. “I just...

www.nhl.com

https://x.com/i/web/status/1814744259943407617

https://x.com/i/web/status/1749211113974038667

Dhaliwal is probably the best insider in the NHL right now, and yes he get's fed information from agents, but is also extremely accurate, especially with anything canucks related.

bar none by far the best. Add this to the list of ones Dhaliwal got correct. Nothing beats him saying Horvat will be traded, and also mentioning the fact that if the Canucks do get a 1st round pick for Horvat, that pick will also be traded. Wish more talk show hosts are more gutsy and just ask Agents wtf is going on.

 

[Bankerguy]

you dont play a player for what he did in the past.
you pay a player for what he is projected to do. The past does play into that, but also age and trending etc. cup of oil guy does not understand that, which is why the Stamkos example didnt make sense to him

 

[coolboarder]

My take: if he could produce 40 points seasons in last 2 years without any star player on his line while a defensive liability and an opportunity to play with Pettersson, Miller, or Hughes on the same line on some odd shifts, I might see a bump on his production to maybe 10 more points with improved defensive and if it does happen, it is a win-win situation for his career. Tocchet is a good coach and he will demand Sprong to play in a structured gameplay or he'll be demoted. I think Sprong can learn a lot and see what can be done to improve. Fitness is Tocchet's favorite thing and he will try and get Sprong in a great shape with just 7 weeks to the training camp. At that price, we could easily bury him to the minors without any affect to our cap.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

Your right no criminal charges or accusations wasn't on Oilers radar

Only one team signed a guy with actual eidence of something bad happening

University of New Hampshire goaltender Casey DeSmith was arrested this past weekend on domestic assault and resisting arrest charges after a woman accused him of attacking her during the school's annual move-in.

According to The New Hampshire (the school's paper) and Foster's Daily Democrat, DeSmith was arrested after a woman accused him of jumping on top of her, then punching and spitting on her. When police responded to the call, they believed the netminder to be intoxicated and he had to be wrestled to the ground when they attempted to arrest him.



Just jumping and spiting on a girl and then resisting arrest. Not like it was public record

 

[Killer Orcas]

Only one team signed a guy with actual eidence of something bad happening

University of New Hampshire goaltender Casey DeSmith was arrested this past weekend on domestic assault and resisting arrest charges after a woman accused him of attacking her during the school's annual move-in.

According to The New Hampshire (the school's paper) and Foster's Daily Democrat, DeSmith was arrested after a woman accused him of jumping on top of her, then punching and spitting on her. When police responded to the call, they believed the netminder to be intoxicated and he had to be wrestled to the ground when they attempted to arrest him.



Just jumping and spiting on a girl and then resisting arrest. Not like it was public record

Yah I've heard of this and wasn't impressed.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Your right no criminal charges or accusations wasn't on Oilers radar

He was accused of assaulting a former INDYCAR driver at a night club during last year’s Detroit Grand Prix, good zing tho

 

[Killer Orcas]

He was accused of assaulting a former INDYCAR driver at a night club during last year’s Detroit Grand Prix, good zing tho

Yes I read what an idiot indeed. Still on going but yes it happened not impressed.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

Sprong will play sheltered minutes and 2nd unit PP. He gives us another legit scoring threat at under a million.

This, good depth signing. He’ll play in the bottom 6, Canucks can roll out 4 good lines and it gives Tocchet more options.

 

[BCNate]

This, good depth signing. He’ll play in the bottom 6, Canucks can roll out 4 good lines and it gives Tocchet more options.

One of our biggest gaps last year as a team was our PP2. Sprong should help there for sure, especially if Hronek is healed up and firing slap shots from the point.

Our 4th line last year was Di Giuseppe-Blueger-Aman (playoffs). We are much improved next with Sherwood/Hoglander-Blueger/Suter-Heinen/Sprong. Should be able to put up much more offence.

 

[sting101]

I have tempered expectations.

While the pts p/60 puts him in a 1st line class of players there are reasons a player waits till July 20th to get a 1yr under a million contract for being able to do the hardest thing in hockey.
Over the last 2 seasons Sprong has shown he's a class scorer but also his last 2 coaches have ended his seasons with him barely playing.

Comparing him to his top6 teammates he's consistently been amongst the worst at turning pucks over and winning pucks back. And that's in less minutes vs a player taxed with tough match ups in big minutes. He gets sheltered due to his lack of awareness yet continues to find ways to get benched as the stakes get higher

He's had better results against non playoff teams and earlier to mid season where games are more loose and track meets. To close his last 2 yrs out these are his numbers vs playoff teams

22/23 = 25-5-3-8--------10-1-1-2
23/24 = 25-3-8-11-------10-0-2-2

What some stat watchers are neglecting is that he's been scoring mostly in offensive situations vs poor teams depth players and essentially what would be considered AAAA NHL/AHLers.

On the positive you simply cannot deny he's a top end scorer and in 1 of 3 zones he's a fantastic talent with speed and only 27. It's a tremendous gamble for a team that can shelter him and that has the skills/development coaches that might be able to break him out of some poor habits. At 27 it's gonna be incredibly difficult to change his stripes but it's zero risk as he can just be benched or sent down without losing return on cap if he cant manage the puck within reason.

 

[Cogburn]

Terrible deal.

Too expensive, too long, and he has no history of performing with low TOI.

.../s

 

[Peter Griffin]

Great deal for Vancouver. Either he performs or they send him to the minors.

 

[izlez]

One of the best players in the NHL

or Andy and Rono have no idea what they're doing

 

[ShakenNotStirred]

He's in ibiza, isn't he?

Giving a Formula 1 driver the business end of a knuckle sandwich

 

[Regal]

I have tempered expectations.

While the pts p/60 puts him in a 1st line class of players there are reasons a player waits till July 20th to get a 1yr under a million contract for being able to do the hardest thing in hockey.
Over the last 2 seasons Sprong has shown he's a class scorer but also his last 2 coaches have ended his seasons with him barely playing.

Comparing him to his top6 teammates he's consistently been amongst the worst at turning pucks over and winning pucks back. And that's in less minutes vs a player taxed with tough match ups in big minutes. He gets sheltered due to his lack of awareness yet continues to find ways to get benched as the stakes get higher

He's had better results against non playoff teams and earlier to mid season where games are more loose and track meets. To close his last 2 yrs out these are his numbers vs playoff teams

22/23 = 25-5-3-8--------10-1-1-2
23/24 = 25-3-8-11-------10-0-2-2

What some stat watchers are neglecting is that he's been scoring mostly in offensive situations vs poor teams depth players and essentially what would be considered AAAA NHL/AHLers.

On the positive you simply cannot deny he's a top end scorer and in 1 of 3 zones he's a fantastic talent with speed and only 27. It's a tremendous gamble for a team that can shelter him and that has the skills/development coaches that might be able to break him out of some poor habits. At 27 it's gonna be incredibly difficult to change his stripes but it's zero risk as he can just be benched or sent down without losing return on cap if he cant manage the puck within reason.

I feel like he’s a guy who can help the team get points early in the year but might not be a regular on the playoff roster under Tocchet. But there’s nothing wrong with that for the money imo. Still need to make the playoffs first before worrying about the roster there.

 

[sting101]

I feel like he’s a guy who can help the team get points early in the year but might not be a regular on the playoff roster under Tocchet. But there’s nothing wrong with that for the money imo. Still need to make the playoffs first before worrying about the roster there.

Same but my concern would be do you spend all year trying to find minutes for him to play at the expense of others.

Then instead of Sherwood Podkolzin Hoglander Raty Bains gaining confidence you have to ask more when the game is harder and maybe even you lose a player to a trade demand or waivers and end up with 2 black holes.

I just hope whatever happens they keep him in perspective as a depth scorer (waive him to keep Amen and Podkolzin maybe even PDG) and if he can find a way to finish the year off in a much better way than the last 2 then you think about adding him as a more permanent fixture.