The Vancouver Canucks were still considering options on the late summer free agent market, and have landed a potential value signing in midsummer.
The club has agreed to terms with scoring winger Daniel Sprong, team sources confirmed to The Athletic. The deal is confirmed to be a one-year agreement worth $975,000, as first reported by PuckPedia.
General Manager Patrik Allvin announces that the #Canucks have agreed to terms with forward Daniel Sprong on a one-year contract. pic.twitter.com/zCNxfYOuNw
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) July 20, 2024
Sprong, 27, is one of the most efficient shooters in hockey over the past few years. The 6-foot, 200-pound right-handed shooting winger is an ace finisher, who has scored 39 goals over the past two seasons — with 9 of those goals coming on the power play.
Defensive deficiencies in Sprong’s game have prevented him from playing a consistent top-six role, but as a raw offensive force in the bottom six, Sprong is a difference-maker. And one capable of contributing significantly to the power play.
There’s an open question about how much Rick Tocchet will deploy Sprong, given the demands on Canucks wingers and how one-way offensive wingers like Andrei Kuzmenko have struggled to maintain a consistent role in Vancouver during Tocchet’s tenure. In a bottom-six role, however, Sprong adds another dynamic one-shot scorer to a lineup that leans heavily on efficiency as it is and is loaded with finishing skill up and down the lineup.
Required reading
(Photo: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
