Ding dong, Daniel Sprong is back in Seattle, or he will be as soon as his visa paperwork is processed. Sprong, a fan favorite in Seattle two seasons ago, scored 27 goals in 82 games for the Kraken, making his mark on the team’s offense.
But despite a career shooting percentage of 11.6 percent, Sprong has bounced around the NHL throughout his career, suiting up for six different teams. When it’s time for the Dutch winger to re-sign, teams—including the Kraken—have opted to let the sniper move on. The critique of Sprong’s game has always been his defensive play, or lack thereof. But he can score, and the Kraken know that finding consistent goal scorers in the NHL is no easy feat.
Sound Of Hockey’s own John Barr has already covered the salary cap implications in Monday Musings, so I won’t dive into that aspect here. Darren Brown also had a write-up following Sprong’s trade to Seattle. But I am curious to understand where he might fit into the lineup.
Ding Dong! Who’s there? The fourth line
Sprong was a key part of Seattle’s fourth line during the Kraken’s 2022-23 campaign. Rounding out the line were Ryan Donato and Morgan Geekie most nights, though others did rotate through. Despite bringing critical depth scoring, none of the three were re-signed after the 2022-23 season: Donato is now with the Chicago Blackhawks, and Geekie joined the Boston Bruins. While it might seem reasonable to assume Sprong will return to the fourth line, I have my doubts about whether that’s where he’ll ultimately play.
The 2024-25 edition of the fourth line consists of Brandon Tanev, Yanni Gourde, and Tye Kartye—all of whom excel on the defensive side of the ice. Tanev and Gourde are mainstays on the penalty-killing units, with Kartye often stepping in when one of the regular penalty killers is in the box. This defensive emphasis is what first raised my eyebrows about the idea of slotting Sprong into the fourth line, where the focus has shifted firmly to playing defense first.
Shift starts
With Sprong’s offense-first reputation, I took a closer look at how this season’s fourth-line trio—Kartye, Gourde, and Tanev—compares to the 2022-23 group of Donato, Geekie, and Sprong in terms of shift starts. All data in this article was gathered from MoneyPuck and is current as of Nov 13.
During the 2022-23 season, Sprong had a team-low 4.8 percent of his shifts start in the defensive zone. Overall, Donato, Geekie, and Sprong started only 7.3 percent of their 5v5 shifts in the defensive end. By contrast, this season’s fourth line of Tanev, Gourde, and Kartye has defensive-zone starts at 12.8 percent, jumping to 18.1 percent when factoring in all situations.
Neutral-zone starts can be murky to analyze since these face-offs can occur at center ice or near the blue lines, with four of the five dots being close to either the offensive or defensive zones, but still being considered neutral zone. This season’s fourth line starts 21.3 percent of shifts in the neutral zone, compared to 15.4 percent for Sprong’s line.
These percentages may seem small, but that’s due to hockey’s game flow. Roughly 50 to 60 percent of shifts start on the fly (meaning during play), while the rest begin with face-offs in the offensive, neutral, or defensive zones. When a player’s on-the-fly percentage is over 60 percent, it suggests the coaching staff is managing their minutes to control the situations they play in.
In this regard, Kartye, Gourde, and Tanev fall within the typical 50-to-60-percent range, with 56.6 percent of shifts starting on the fly. In contrast, Donato, Geekie, and Sprong had 64.1 percent of shifts starting on the fly; that’s the highest of any Kraken forward line, indicating that former coach Dave Hakstol was shielding their play to specific scenarios.
Third line
We’re still early in the season, and head coach Dan Bylsma continues to tweak the lines. However, one line stands out with a similar zone start profile to Sprong’s fourth line: the third line, currently featuring Andre Burakovsky, Shane Wright, and Eeli Tolvanen.
Burakovsky has moved around lines this season, currently starting 13.2 percent of his shifts in the defensive zone, which pulls up the line’s overall defensive-zone start average. In comparison, Wright and Tolvanen each start 9.6 percent of their shifts in the defensive zone. Both these lines have over 60 percent of shifts starting on the fly, feature the lowest defensive-zone deployment rates for their respective seasons, and show similar usage in offensive and neutral zones. This sheltered usage and shift-deployment model aligns with where the Kraken have seen Sprong succeed and could offer him the easiest path to playing time.
Adding a new player to the lineup always creates competition, meaning someone will have to sit or even be offloaded from the roster if everyone remains healthy when Vince Dunn returns from his stint on long-term injured reserve. The coaching staff has shown it won’t hesitate to scratch big-name players to make a point, as was recently done with Oliver Bjorkstrand.
Where will Sprong go?
We’ll see how this unfolds in the coming days and weeks. For now, Sprong is set to join the Kraken, and if he can replicate his scoring touch from his last stint in Seattle, there will be some tough decisions ahead for general manager Ron Francis as he works to keep the team under the salary cap. If Sprong doesn’t work out, he could be waived and potentially sent down to the AHL.
Where do you see Sprong slotting into the Kraken lineup? Who do you think will sit to make room for Sprong? Let me know in the comments below.
Blaiz Grubic
Blaiz Grubic is a contributor at Sound Of Hockey. A passionate hockey fan and player for over 30 years, Blaiz grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is an alumni of Washington State University (Go Cougs!). When he’s not playing, watching, or writing about hockey, he enjoys quality time with his wife and daughter or getting out on a golf course for a quick round. Follow @blaizg on BlueSky or X.
Trade Andre burakovsky
We must be missing something… he got the “belt” after last game! I don’t know if they’re trying to build his confidence or what.
Also, when Piper Shaw interviewed Kartye as the “first star” at the end of the game, she asked how the Burakovsky/Wright/Tolvanen line contributed to the 4th line’s success. Burakovsky did have the assist in Kartye’s goal, but it was because he was on the far side and hadn’t completed the shift change.
The question was just odd and seemed pre-scripted and like the team was trying to force a narrative that didn’t exist.
Or… you’re not as smart as you think you are.
I’d turn the table on that one… wow. Brainpower use a little.
It does seem odd that they are totally pumping Burky’s tires when he’s not doing anything. This team is so into trying to build up players that the fans are turning on, the focus that they seem to be doing to burky is reminiscent of the Grubauer tire pumping of years past.
I don’t subscribe to the “1st” to “4th” line narrative other people seem to love. It seems like a very rigid and limited way to view hockey, and suggests one line might be better than others, which might be true for the Oilers, but that thinking doesn’t work for many teams.
Obviously, the Gourde line is playing great hockey. Likewise, the Beniers line seems to be pretty well set with Canner and Ebs on the wings. It looks highly likely the Stephenson line might be able to build some chemistry with Bjorkstrand joining as a regular, but it seems like Sprong might work there if Schwartz or Bjorkstrand were injured. That leaves Shane’s line, which means either scratching Tolvi or Burakovsky. Despite Burky playing slightly better last game, I would like to see how Sprong looks on that line. He definitely has a nose for the net, and that could work well together with a player like Shane. Sprong can probably take the puck on a tour around the perimeter of the O-zone just as well as Burky, but he will probably at least try to shoot it.
” I would like to see how Sprong looks on that line. He definitely has a nose for the net, and that could work well together with a player like Shane.”
Mark it, that is twice in one day I agree with Seattle G (what does the “G” stand for anyway?).
Think the forum here is starting to build a consensus on most things, which is no mean feat for a team under .500. Hopefully tonight adds to it.
Something about Sprong and Shane Wright together really appeals to me. I don’t know what that means for Burakovsky, but at this point I don’t care.
This feels to me like an unnecessary, panicky move that doesn’t really help anything long term, while at the same time causing problems because of the salary cap. I’ve been a defender of Francis, for the most part, but I think this creates more problems that it solves.
I look at it as much more calculated than panicky. They made the move early in the season in the midst of a losing streak where some guys on the roster have been underperforming. They didn’t need to give up any big assets to do it, Sprong gels with a lot of the current roster already, and by making the move early you have a better runway to see if it pays off as opposed to waiting for the deadline where you’re likely giving up more while its less clear if you should be buying or selling.
To me the problem was starting the season without cap space that would allow for actual roster competition. Bringing in Sprong may be the solution, if he out performs someone (Burky seems like the example at the moment), then it becomes clearer to the team who they should look at moving to open up cap space. If Sprong doesn’t prove to make a difference, then you cut your losses (you didn’t have to pay much anyways), and you’ve sent a message to the team that no-one’s spot is guaranteed if they aren’t bringing it every game.
There’s literally zero downside. I can’t imagine being as bent out of shape as you over a shrewd play by a GM. It also sends a message to the locker room that any forward is benchable
Bent out of shape? Project much?
I view the move for Sprong as a low risk/high reward situation. Sprong has 2ish weeks to prove he should be on the roster and it’s a minimal loss if they waive/release him (I know, some cap space…). But I also think it’s to emulate roster competition. Burakovsky should be worried if Sprong starts scoring as I think that’s really the only way he stays on this team.
You know I have advocated across several threads for Sprong to play next to Shane. That is to give Shane someone to pass to who can score, which may in turn unlock his own scoring. So kill two birds with that single stone.
But this issue may solve itself, as Francis has to do something besides demoting Mahura. I am sure he already had that solution in mind when he took on Sprong’s higher AAV but what that is is anyone’s guess. We will all know by Thanksgiving.
My guess is that Sprong starts off as a healthy scratch, until another winger gets traded or hurt. Although if no one gets hurt, that kinda begs the question of which winger they will trade (or waive/demote) when Dunn gets back. A lot of calls to trade Burakovsky on here, and I totally get where that is coming from, but his value is pretty low right now due to lack of production. Yet, he has started to look faster and better in recent games. If they are smart and aggressive, they would take advantage of Tanev’s early season renaissance and sell high, but that is the kind of bold move that Francis seems to never make.
Would that be bold or stupid? Tanev seems to be the heart of this team right now and Seattle is not by any stretch “out of it”, with the remainder of the schedule currently being ranked as “10th easiest”, after a stretch ranked “6th hardest”. If you watched the Vegas game on Friday and knew nothing about The Kraken or the players, you would be asking “who the hell is this Tanev guy?” He was amazing in all three zones, followed up with another good performance on Tuesday. You’re not getting anything for Tanev that’s worth giving him up at this point.
They can’t trade Tanev! He’s (one) of the only good things we’ve got going for us! Plus it would piss off the fans sooo much and after last weekend’s SNAFU at the skills challenge (people in the player’s signing lines that were left high and dry) the Kraken organization would never recover if they traded away the only guy gettin’ it done. 🙂
If anyone is ‘addressable’ in terms of salary cap, I reluctantly join the Burakovsky nomination committee. Granted he’s worked through injury and less-than-optimal chemistry with Hakstol to contribute a chunk of his professional career here – so thanks for that… he is playing with a worried look in his eye. It’s getting worse the longer is drought continues. We can critique his game and fit for the Kraken – it’s moot – I think Gourde and Tanev have proven their worth and should not be moved; nor should we sacrifice valuable ice team needed by Karts and Shane… I suspect Burakovsky will be the top/repeated healthy scratch candidate once Sprong is sprung from customs and can join a group that will recognized and welcome his shoot-first mentality… I know I will!
Yes Tanev has been hot for 2 games but he has always been a streaky pl;ayer as far as scoring goes. Is it possible that the power of the Swartz worn off and he could replace a scoring 2nd line forward to get more scoring there. I like others thinking about puttin on the same line with Wright to get him scoring more rather than making hime a 2 way player and not scoring at all.
Not sure what you’re saying here. Part of me thinks you’re saying put Tanev on a different line, because he hasn’t been scoring…when he has had 4 goals in 3 games.