Jeremy Laura: Leafs defense and power play rule the day, Sprong traded for nothing….

What a dreadfully dull game.

When you take the physicality out of the game like the NHL has, these games are a chore to sit through.

In other news for you Spronngers:
The Kraken reacquired Daniel Sprong from the Vancouver Canucks on Friday for future considerations. The 27-year-old winger had a goal and two assists in nine games with the Canucks playing on their fourth line. He spent two seasons with the Kraken from 2021 to 2023, including his career-best 2022-23 performance of 21 goals and 46 points in 66 games.
I think Y did well not to sign Sprong for the reported 3 x $3M he was seeking.

Oh, there is an explanation to this story:
It’s unusual for a club to trade a player to a division rival, even more so when they get nothing in return. The Canucks may have done this to promote promising Jonathan Lekkerimaki into their lineup. The 20-year-old forward was the Canucks first-round pick (15th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft. He’s been tearing it up with their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford with seven points in as many games.

Vancouver is about to activate Joshua from IR who will step into a bottom 6 role. Meanwhile guys like Blueger, Sherwood, and Heinen have done more than Sprong to stay in the lineup. Easy option was to just waive Sprong and send him the the AHL. No cap impact. But the Canucks are doing a favour to a good veteran guy. We'll move you somewhere so you can stay up in the NHL.

Sprong is a guy that can be a middle 6 option on a handful of garbage rosters, like he was for us last year. But on a better team like Vancouver he's easily squeezed onto a 4th line role where you'd rather have other skill sets. Sort of like a Fabbri. He can find a scoring role on a terrible team, but has no use for deeper teams.

I'm pretty skeptical that Sprong was actually asking $3M x 3. Seems highly unlikely. I fell like a 1 or 2 year deal at around $2M would have worked. I mean, were paying Joe Veleno $2.2M...because he has upside? Could have kept Sprong for $2M. Given Veleno $1M. Keep Walman. Keep your 2nd round pick. But we did all of this because our illustrious pro scouts identified Tarasenko at $4.75M. Hmm, remember who called that signing a disaster on day 1...

Vancouver is about to activate Joshua from IR who will step into a bottom 6 role. Meanwhile guys like Blueger, Sherwood, and Heinen have done more than Sprong to stay in the lineup. Easy option was to just waive Sprong and send him the the AHL. No cap impact. But the Canucks are doing a favour to a good veteran guy. We'll move you somewhere so you can stay up in the NHL.

Sprong is a guy that can be a middle 6 option on a handful of garbage rosters, like he was for us last year. But on a better team like Vancouver he's easily squeezed onto a 4th line role where you'd rather have other skill sets. Sort of like a Fabbri. He can find a scoring role on a terrible team, but has no use for deeper teams.

I'm pretty skeptical that Sprong was actually asking $3M x 3. Seems highly unlikely. I fell like a 1 or 2 year deal at around $2M would have worked. I mean, were paying Joe Veleno $2.2M...because he has upside? Could have kept Sprong for $2M. Given Veleno $1M. Keep Walman. Keep your 2nd round pick. But we did all of this because our illustrious pro scouts identified Tarasenko at $4.75M. Hmm, remember who called that signing a disaster on day 1...
- HockeyBuzzed

I can't remember who reported 3 x $3M was Sprong's ask, so logic dictates he was worth much less.
Tank received a boost being on a recent SC cup winner, despite only having one noteworthy goal in the playoffs. Thinking Fabs has about the same value as him except for his injury prone history. Tank lost the puck repeatedly last night and whiffed on a grade A chance in Toronto.

In other news for you Spronngers:
The Kraken reacquired Daniel Sprong from the Vancouver Canucks on Friday for future considerations. The 27-year-old winger had a goal and two assists in nine games with the Canucks playing on their fourth line. He spent two seasons with the Kraken from 2021 to 2023, including his career-best 2022-23 performance of 21 goals and 46 points in 66 games.
I think Y did well not to sign Sprong for the reported 3 x $3M he was seeking.

Oh, there is an explanation to this story:
It’s unusual for a club to trade a player to a division rival, even more so when they get nothing in return. The Canucks may have done this to promote promising Jonathan Lekkerimaki into their lineup. The 20-year-old forward was the Canucks first-round pick (15th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft. He’s been tearing it up with their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford with seven points in as many games.
- HenryHockey

Yeah, I linked most of that in the article. What I’m trying to figure out is why he struck out with every team until he took to very cheap deal and Vancouver let him go for essentially nothing.

Vancouver is about to activate Joshua from IR who will step into a bottom 6 role. Meanwhile guys like Blueger, Sherwood, and Heinen have done more than Sprong to stay in the lineup. Easy option was to just waive Sprong and send him the the AHL. No cap impact. But the Canucks are doing a favour to a good veteran guy. We'll move you somewhere so you can stay up in the NHL.

Sprong is a guy that can be a middle 6 option on a handful of garbage rosters, like he was for us last year. But on a better team like Vancouver he's easily squeezed onto a 4th line role where you'd rather have other skill sets. Sort of like a Fabbri. He can find a scoring role on a terrible team, but has no use for deeper teams.

I'm pretty skeptical that Sprong was actually asking $3M x 3. Seems highly unlikely. I fell like a 1 or 2 year deal at around $2M would have worked. I mean, were paying Joe Veleno $2.2M...because he has upside? Could have kept Sprong for $2M. Given Veleno $1M. Keep Walman. Keep your 2nd round pick. But we did all of this because our illustrious pro scouts identified Tarasenko at $4.75M. Hmm, remember who called that signing a disaster on day 1...
- HockeyBuzzed

I had 1 decent and 1 good source that had that as his ask. He felt he’d established that he was a solid 20 goal scorer and that Detroit’s “situation” should offer a premium. He hit the market and go no term and sub 1 mil after his spot had been filled (poorly) with JB still in negotiations. Walman is hitting some interesting news too. He was a healthy scratch, now is on IR. I wish we still had him. I don’t care as much about his defensive game as what he can create offensively. As for Tarasenko, though I miss Perron, he’s been on IR for a bit and was getting worse defensively. Tarasenko is better as a 2 way forward but no where near as good on the power play. I don’t have confirmed but I believe a sub 2mil offer was made to Sprong because Seider and Raymond were so much in play. Seider’s agent came down some from the original ask. It’s still the team’s fault for not getting it done sooner

What a dreadfully dull game.

When you take the physicality out of the game like the NHL has, these games are a chore to sit through.
- Gertner

I don’t think it’s out, I think our team is too slow to hit too many of the players. The Tkachuk’s manage to muck it up pretty good, Florida as a whole, we just watched Marner skate figure 8s for too long. Just an awful watch

I'm gonna say something controversial, but I guess that's why they called me "The Shooter" in college.


Bring back my CTE causing body checks.

Can we finally start talking about the fact that Stevie Y is a sub-par GM? Or is he still completely bulletproof, because he was really good at hockey in the 90s?

Hey all, back in the hospital. May miss the game