*Note: This story was updated following Ron Francis’s press conference Friday evening.*
DING DONG! IT’S DANIEL SPRONG (again)! The Kraken announced that they acquired the Dutch winger in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Friday, sending only “future considerations” back the other way.
“Obviously, we’ve been struggling to score some goals lately, so we were looking at that,” general manager Ron Francis said. “I had a conversation with [Canucks general manager] Patrik [Allvin] the other day, and Daniel’s name came up. Obviously, with us, he had a good season, scored 20 goals with us, 18 last year. He knows our team, our locker room, and we thought it was a low-risk gamble to give him a shot.”
DING! DONG!
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) November 9, 2024
IT’S DANNNNNNNIEL SPRONG! 🛎️ https://t.co/PBAQHWYTGU
With the trade, Sprong, 27, returns to Seattle for his second stint. The winger spent a season and change with the Kraken after being acquired almost by accident at the 2021-22 trade deadline when Francis sent Marcus Johansson to the Washington Capitals for two draft picks. Sprong, who was then on an expiring contract, was effectively a throw-in from Washington, and Francis even indicated that he was a player the Capitals “wanted” Seattle to take back in the deal.
Sprong played out the year with Seattle, then returned to Kraken training camp the following season on a pro tryout. He earned a contract and made the team out of camp and helped drive the fourth line to become one of the most effective in hockey, racking up 21 goals and 25 assists in 66 games during the 2022-23 campaign.
He left as an unrestricted free agent after the season, opting to sign a one-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings, where he again produced offensively with 18 goals and 25 assists.
Despite consecutive (very) productive seasons, Sprong was again on the move this summer, ultimately signing a one-year deal worth $975K with the Vancouver Canucks on July 20.
Now, after playing nine of Vancouver’s 12 games and scoring one goal and two assists, Sprong has found himself back in Seattle for a second go-round with the team where he had his most successful NHL season. He re-joins players and staff with whom he’s already familiar.
“We’re not playing the way we think we’re capable of playing, and we’re trying to find our game,” Francis said. “And hopefully this gives us a little jolt to get things going in the right direction.
“The guys are excited and happy to have him back.”
Sprong keeps moving
It’s interesting that despite his ability to score in a league where goals are so hard to come by, Sprong continues to quickly wear out his welcome in various cities. The knock on him has always been his effort at the defensive end of the ice, and former Kraken coach Dave Hakstol called that out on several occasions.
But from my view, when Sprong was on the ice, he put opposing teams on their heels with his speed, stickhandling, and heavy shot. During his time with the Kraken, Sprong’s fourth line with Morgan Geekie and Ryan Donato usually had the puck and didn’t spend much time defending anyway.
I have been… pardon the pun… ringing the bell for Seattle to bring Sprong back ever since he left. I didn’t think it was a coincidence that the Kraken’s depth scoring went belly-up last season without him and his linemates, who had all departed the summer before. There’s been no offensive punch from the bottom of the lineup since then, and surely Francis and his staff are hoping to recapture some of that magic.
Although I always had positive interactions with Sprong, something about this player causes him to wear out his welcome (almost) everywhere he goes. Whatever that may be, it didn’t deter the Kraken enough to keep them from wanting him back. Worth noting: I believe Sprong received an offer to return after that 2022-23 season, but he opted to join Detroit as a free agent instead.
Here is Francis’s take on why Sprong has moved around so much: “I know when we first got him, it took a while to get to know him, and sort of build that trust and relationship. I think even when he left, it wasn’t like he left on bad terms with us. It was basically him coming off of 20 goals and playing on our fourth line, we didn’t have the money to pay him at that point. So, we said, ‘Go and test the market,’ and good for him. He ended up getting a couple million dollars, and that’s why we couldn’t keep him.”
How he fits
With the Kraken in an early season rut, having lost seven of their last eight games and four in a row, the organization is looking to jolt the lineup. With Vince Dunn still on long-term injured reserve, they are able to exceed the cap temporarily, though not for long. According to coach Dan Bylsma, Dunn is progressing well and could return as early as next week. When he does, the Kraken will need to make room by either sending someone to Coachella Valley or executing another trade.
I would expect Sprong to slot back into the fourth line, perhaps initially replacing Tye Kartye, who appears to be in Bylsma’s doghouse, given his healthy scratch Tuesday in Colorado. We shall see.
Francis expects that due to Veterans Day on Monday, Sprong’s work visa will not come through in time for him to join the Kraken on Tuesday. Instead, expect that the earliest we will see Sprong in the lineup would be next Thursday when the Chicago Blackhawks come to Seattle.
Very Very excited about this. I know he and Burky are buds hopefully this can help Burky out too.
Once Dunn comes back, is there room under the salary cap even for Sprong’s relatively paltry $975k?
In terms of sending someone down, the only players who are waiver-exempt are Wright and Evans. Kartye would have to clear waivers. And are all under $900k, and wasn’t there only about $4500 available when the season started?
Either more than one of the would have to go down, someone would need to be traded, or someone else would have to go onto LTIR…
In a pregame interview with the KHN crew Francis said Dunn might be three more weeks… so I think they have some time to sort out the cap.
He also said, “I hope the guys can do math because now we have 13 forwards”.
Sounds like he won’t be here for a week, which compresses the time he’s here before Dunn comes back even more. This has to be the first of other moves.
Let’s speculate. This puts them more than $1.5 million over the cap when Dunn is back. So who is traded?
It seems too early to get maximum value out of a Gourde or Borgen trade. Turbo just scored two goals. So perhaps it is one of the other forwards. It would not be, for reasons of future potential and/or youth and/or new arrival any of Beniers, Wright, McCann, Eberle, Kartye, Tolvanen, Stephenson, or Sprong. That leaves the $5m wingers: Schwartz, Bjorkstrand, or Burakovsky. Is there a market for any of those three with no cap retained?
Puckpedia shows the Kraken are 1.5 million over the cap, because Stezka is currently on the roster.
Your question is still valid, the Kraken will be over the cap because Sprong’s salary is 975k and the Kraken only have room for a league minimum player.
They can’t just send down Mahura as they would still be over by ~200k when Dunn comes back, which is reported to be ~3 weeks out. So it is either a trade, another injury, or Sprong or another Kraken making more than 975k, will have to pass through waivers.
Francis has not been rushed into a trade yet, so I think Francis is patient and uses the full ~3 weeks. If it comes down to it, Sprong could be put on waivers. They might lose him, but they also did not give anything up for him. With Sprong’s history of bouncing around teams, it is possible he goes unclaimed.
Good response. Had not considered that they might give Sprong a two-week tryout and then potentially waive him.
I am wondering what you believe the trade market is for any of the $5+ million wingers?
They also might be looking at the benefit of letting Dunn fully recover – whilst giving Sprong the time he needs to prove himself (or be gone.)
What about Grubauer? Lots of teams in need of goaltending.
Like the Kraken if they didn’t have Grubauer. One thing about this year’s team that really should not be messed with is goaltending. Seattle is fortunate to have an extraordinary situation in net–a true starter who is capable of stealing games and a high-quality backup who has a history of playoff success. It don’t get better than that without a friendly wizard magically rejuvenating Dominik Hasek. One thing I will say about the position is that I really hope that Bylsma does not burn Joey out by over-playing him the way that the previous administration did the past season and how it burned out Martin Jones the season prior.
Bylsma gave Joey every start during the 2023 Calder Cup playoffs. That was 26 games in two months and two days… and after a 111 minute triple-overtime game where he stopped 60 of 62 for a .968 save percentage and a 3-2 win, Bylsma started him the next game with one day off. He stopped 31 of 32 for a .969 save percentage, but the team couldn’t score and the Firebirds fell 1-0.
I guess the skaters were still a little worn out… but apparently Joey wasn’t.
Over the course of this season I think he’ll probably spread out the workload a decent amount, but Bylsma has show in the past he’s not afraid to lean pretty heavily on Joey.
With Gru performing relatively well right now, it’s too bad that we can’t get a decent back up and let Gru go to a team who could really use him. Sell high… before he gets hurt.
I don’t think the “high” is that high. Also, he’s actually making $6.8 this season, all in salary, so the actual money a team would have to pay him is even higher than his AAV. I just cannot imagine the scenario where he gets moved. I do think a buyout of his final two seasons is a real possibility. In rough numbers, the Kraken have $13m available next season and need to replace Gourde, Tanev, and Borgen. If you buyout Gru that frees up another $4m which should cover his replacement, two extra forwards and a seventh defenseman. I would assume at least one of the two new starting forwards is an ELC, so that leaves $12m+ to resign Borgen and upgrade a forward… or not resign Borgen and add Marner. Anyway, point being, as tight as things are right now, they should have a lot more flexibility next season and a buyout might actually work next June.