The Seattle Kraken acquired forward Daniel Sprong from the Vancouver Canucks for future considerations on Friday — and Kraken general manager Ron Francis didn't take long to explain why.
“Obviously, we’ve been struggling to score some goals lately, so we were looking at that,” Francis told NHL.com. “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.”
Sprong spent time with the Kraken over two campaigns between 2021-23, amassing 27 goals and 52 points over 82 total games. He's chipped in a goal and three points with the Canucks this season, and has 162 points in 353 career games split between the Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, Kraken and Canucks.
Sprong signed a one-year contract with the Canucks as a free agent on July 20. He's making just $975,000 against the cap this year before becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer.
“I know when we first got him, it took a while to get to know him, and sort of build that trust and relationship,” Francis continued. “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.”
Sprong has been a reliable source of bottom-six, 5-on-5 offense throughout his career, although he got out to a slow start with Vancouver this year. He was eventually relegated to the fourth line before Canucks GM Patrik Allvin decided to cut the cord.
Daniel Sprong will add depth scoring to Kraken roster
The Kraken are having a hard time scoring goals in 2024-25; they've managed just 2.87 per game, good enough for 20th in the NHL. Francis hopes that the acquisition will help light a fire under the roster as it continues to battle in the Pacific Division.
“We're not playing the way we think we're capable of playing, and we're trying to find our game,” he said before Friday night's 4-3 overtime win over the Vegas Golden Knights. “And hopefully this gives us a little jolt to get things going in the right direction.”
Friday's triumph was encouraging; Seattle came from behind to begin a six-game homestand with a victory, with Jared McCann scoring the winning goal against the division rivals in OT.
Now 6-8-1, the Kraken are two points out of a wildcard berth in the Western Conference. And with five consecutive home games ahead, the hope in the State of Washington is that the club can string a couple of wins together to get back above .500.
It'll be interesting to see how much Sprong contributes to that quest going forward.
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