A day after it was reported that the Canucks had an interest in free agent winger Daniel Sprong, they have indeed agreed to terms with him. PuckPedia reports that the two sides have agreed to a one-year, $975K contract.
The 27-year-old has bounced around throughout his eight-year NHL career, having played for five teams already, with Vancouver set to be his sixth.
After putting up limited numbers in his first three stops spanning six seasons, Sprong had a breakout year in his second year with Seattle in 2022-23, one that saw him record 21 goals and 25 assists in 66 games despite averaging just 11:25 of playing time per game. However, their concern about his arbitration eligibility led to him being non-tendered. He quickly signed a one-year, $2M deal with Detroit on the opening day of free agency.
While Sprong didn’t quite produce at the same rate last season, he came relatively close, coming up three goals short of his 2022-23 performance while matching his assist totals. And again, he didn’t play in the top six while surpassing 30 even-strength points for the second year in a row. But that wasn’t enough to earn an extension with the Red Wings, who opted to shake up their roster, nor did it help him get a deal early in free agency.
With two good offensive years under his belt, Sprong landed 35th on our Top 50 UFA list last month. That came with a projection of him earning a raise and a multi-year agreement, but clearly, that didn’t come to fruition.
Instead, Sprong is taking a very team-friendly deal to land in a favorable Vancouver environment. The Canucks finished seventh in the NHL in scoring last season. While they lost Elias Lindholm in free agency and moved out Ilya Mikheyev in a cap-clearing move, they brought in Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen from Boston while retaining Dakota Joshua after his breakout showing. With Vancouver, Sprong should have the same type of role that he has become accustomed to, one that should see him playing in the bottom six at five-on-five with some secondary power play time.
With the move, the Canucks are effectively capped out. Per PuckPedia, they now have less than $16K in cap room with a full-sized roster. Notably, that does not include Tucker Poolman being on LTIR, so they will have more flexibility to work with him if they want to put him back there. However, it would put them in a position of being unable to bank in-season cap space. Alternatively, they could opt not to carry a full-sized roster to start the season, allowing them to have closer to $800K in room (with Poolman only on regular IR), giving them a shot to bank some space heading into the trade deadline.
If Sprong can have the same type of success with the Canucks in that role that he had with Seattle and Detroit, this contract has the potential to be one of the best bargains of the summer. And if that happens, perhaps next summer will be when Sprong can land a bit of job security that he has been seeking for several years.
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