The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton discussed the divisive nature of the Alex DeBrincat trade in the eyes of Hockey News writers this morning, and this afternoon, and Sam does discuss DeBrincat’s comments to the media in his afternoon training camp notebook, but I’m going to highlight Stockton’s spotlighting of one Daniel Sprong here:
Whether it was the purple hue of his visor, the thunderous power behind his shot, or the volume of scoring chances he seemed to generate, there was no shortage of reasons to notice Daniel Sprong on his second official day as a Red Wing.
Playing on a line with Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno, Sprong earned plaudits from his coach for his performance.
Berggren’s aptitude as a playmaker makes him a natural fit alongside Sprong, while for Veleno, playing with Berggren and Sprong constitutes an opportunity to play a more offensive game than he might be able to on the Red Wings’ fourth line. If that trio does find a groove once the regular season begins, it could also free up Detroit to move one of Andrew Copp or J.T. Compher to the wing. Once again, there is a sense of added depth over the offseason affording the Red Wings more options for deploying their top talent.
A year ago in Seattle, Sprong played a limited third line role but that didn’t stop him from being a volume goalscorer. Despite playing under 12 minutes a night, Sprong managed to chip in 21 goals for the Kraken, and he ranked 15th in the league in goals per 60 minutes of ice time at 1.67.
When asked whether Sprong will likely occupy a similar role in Detroit or move up the line-up, Lalonde said “I think he can complement anyone throughout our lineup. He seems comfortable in that type of role [as a 3rd line scorer]. He doesn’t need a ton to score; he’s a shooter. We want him shooting from everywhere, we want him trying to score from every situation. That’s his strength. He’s had a really good camp also…We’re gonna have a ton of different looks, but I really feel he could complement anybody in our top 12.”
Continued; great stuff from Sam as usual.
