{"id":452053,"date":"2024-09-27T09:10:01","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T13:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=452053"},"modified":"2024-09-26T23:50:28","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T03:50:28","slug":"newcomer-looking-make-impact-with-vancouver-canucks-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/09\/27\/newcomer-looking-make-impact-with-vancouver-canucks-this-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Newcomer Looking to Make an Impact With Vancouver Canucks This Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The <\/span>Vancouver Canucks<\/span><\/a> are rolling in preseason. On Tuesday, they beat the Seattle Kraken<\/a> 3-1 at Rogers Arena. The following night, they defeated the Calgary Flames<\/a> 4-3 in overtime in Abbotsford, BC. Sure, it is preseason <\/span>and<\/span> the games <\/span>don’t<\/span> mean anything, <\/span>but<\/span> it is nice to see wins. In preseason, there is the opportunity for players to impress and for fans to <\/span>get a preview of<\/span> what is hopefully to come. One of those players is Daniel Sprong<\/a>. Can Sprong make an impact with the Canucks this season?<\/span><\/p>\n

Sprong Impresses<\/h3>\n

Sprong was ready to make an impression<\/a> with his new team on Wednesday. The 27-year-old signed a one-year contract worth $975,000 in the offseason<\/a>. <\/span>He was the one that got the game-tying goal for Vancouver. It is worth mentioning because it was a thing of beauty and one for the highlight reels.<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/Canucks\/status\/1839164713227440391<\/p>\n

Sprong joked with the media after the game that he felt like the Canucks captain on his goal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI<\/span> felt like Quinn [Hughes] out there, a little bit dancing,<\/span>” <\/span>he said per Tyson Cole of Canucks Army<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> “<\/span>Time was running down<\/span>, I<\/span> had speed and then made the move. <\/span>That\u2019s<\/span> part of my game<\/span>, <\/span>really aggressive off the rush and got an opportunity to show that at the end<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a result, fellow newcomer Jake DeBrusk<\/a> won the game in overtime. We previously discussed<\/span> DeBrusk<\/span><\/a> and his expectations for 2024-25 with the club.<\/span> But how can Sprong make an impact in Vancouver?<\/span><\/p>\n

How Can Sprong Make an Impact With the Canucks?<\/h3>\n

Sprong said it best on Wednesday night. Being aggressive off the rush and using his speed is a <\/span>huge<\/span> part of his game. Not only that, he has proven he can score goals. <\/span>Last season <\/span>he<\/span> scored 18 goals with the Detroit Red Wings. The season before that was a career-high 21 goals with the Seattle Kraken. The year before was a 14-goal campaign split between the Washington Capitals and Seattle. Three straight years with double-digit goals is nice to have on the resume. <\/span>Sprong was tied for third in 5-on-<\/span>5 <\/span>goals on the Red Wings last season <\/span>as<\/span> per<\/span> NaturalStatTrick<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> The player he was tied with was Patrick Kane<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, as good as Sprong is with <\/span>scoring<\/span>,<\/span> and his offensive play, <\/span>it is his defensive play that<\/span> is concerning.<\/span> In Detroit, Sprong was third in goals-per-60-minutes (3.23) and second in goals-against-per-60-minutes (2.89) among forwards at<\/span> 5-<\/span>on-5. <\/span>Sprong’s<\/span> offensive game will be welcomed<\/span>. However, he needs to work on his defensive game. Rick Tocchet<\/a> is the coach for that <\/span>as<\/span> he is a <\/span>huge<\/span> advocate for structure and good play without the puck. But will Sprong get on <\/span>Tocchet’s<\/span> good side?<\/span><\/p>\n

The way he can do that is not only score goals but he needs to learn how to play defensively. It is a tough ask for a primarily offensive player (Andrei Kuzmenko<\/a> learned that the hard way) to be solid defensively <\/span>but<\/span> Sprong<\/span> knows he has to do it if he wants to make an impact with the Canucks. <\/span>The expectations for Sprong should be to reach the double-digit mark in goals again and flirt with the 35 to 40-point mark.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sprong Could Even Play and Impact Vancouver’s Top Six<\/h3>\n

It will be interesting to see where Sprong fits in the lineup. <\/span>He is best suited for the bottom six but can play in the top six <\/span>as well<\/span>.<\/span> With the Canucks forward depth and the offensive juice he brings, there is no reason why he <\/span>can’t<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elias Pettersson<\/a>, J.T. Miller<\/a>, Brock Boeser,<\/a> and DeBrusk are all the <\/span>real<\/span> locks for the top six. Danton Heinen<\/a>, Nils H\u00f6glander<\/a>, and Conor Garland<\/a> are also contenders. <\/span>Sprong could <\/span>be in the mix as well<\/span> if he continues to impress in the preseason.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many options for Sprong. A line with Pettersson and DeBrusk could provide a ton of scoring. It would also be interesting if he is played with Miller and Boeser. <\/span>If not the top six, the bottom six would be fine <\/span>as<\/span> depth scoring is always<\/span> a <\/span>good <\/span>thing to have<\/span>.<\/span> But <\/span>wherever <\/span>he<\/span> plays and if <\/span>he<\/span> does well,<\/span> Sprong would be one of the <\/span>league’s<\/span> best bargains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Bob Frid – USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Vancouver Canucks are rolling in preseason. On Tuesday, they beat the Seattle Kraken 3-1 at Rogers Arena. The following night, they defeated the Calgary Flames 4-3 in overtime in Abbotsford, BC. Sure, it is preseason and the games don’t mean anything, but it is nice to see wins. In preseason, there is the opportunity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4956,"featured_media":452122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,4547,4548],"tags":[2432,2323,2012,5892],"class_list":["post-452053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canucks","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-daniel-sprong","tag-jake-debrusk","tag-rick-tocchet","tag-vancouver-canucks-analysis"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4956"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}