The Vancouver Canucks have signed 27-year-old right-winger Daniel Sprong to a one-year contract worth $0.975 million each season per Elliotte Friedman. Considering how productive he has been recently, this is a great value pickup for Vancouver.
Sprong is one of the more interesting signings of this offseason, given his elite offensive production playing consistent bottom-six ice time. What can he provide to the Canucks?
Sprong Has a High Offensive Upside
Of perhaps any free agent in the 2024 class, Sprong seems to have the best ceiling-to-floor ratio—he basically signed for the league minimum but could be an amazing get for the Canucks. In his last two seasons, spent with the Seattle Kraken and the Detroit Red Wings, he has only averaged 11:43 of ice time. Despite also averaging 71 games played in those two campaigns, he scored 40 points in both of them.
Sprong has played against low-end competition, sure, but he also hasn’t been given a consistent opportunity to produce with higher-end ice time. Instead, he has been stapled to the bottom six. To put his scoring into context, he ranks 26th in points per 60 (P/60) since the 2022-23 season among the 403 forwards with at least 1,000 minutes of ice time (93rd percentile). The highest player in P/60 with a lower ice-time average than Sprong who is on that list is Klim Kostin, who sits 188 spots lower. The 27-year-old has been in a very unique situation.
If Sprong gets the chance to spread his wings, he might have one of the better contracts in the NHL. There is always the possibility of regression, so this isn’t exactly a slam-dunk signing.
Fit with Vancouver
Sprong has primarily played on the right wing, but the Canucks seem set there with Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, Conor Garland, and Kiefer Sherwood as of now. But their left-wing depth isn’t the greatest, sitting with Danton Heinen, Nils Hoglander, Dakota Joshua, and Vasily Podkolzin. Depending on how the lines are constructed and whether or not someone switches over to the left side, Sprong might get the top-six looks that could take his game to the next level.
Sprong can give the Canucks some scoring upside depending on how much he plays, but it should be noted that his defensive numbers aren’t the greatest. He only has only appeared in 13 playoff games in his career, but that number could go up by a lot if the Canucks live up to the hype and he impresses them enough to always be in the lineup.
