Montreal Canadiens Potential Draft Pick: Daniel Sprong

By Nick Lariviere | Jun 13, 2015

Montreal Canadiens Potential Draft Pick: Daniel Sprong

With the NHL Entry Draft approaching, many Habs fans are predicting what the Montreal Canadiens will do with their 26th overall pick this year. One guy the Habs should be heavily considering is Charlottetown Islanders‘ winger Daniel Sprong. He is 6′ tall and is a pure goal scorer.

Sprong is originally from Amsterdam; his parents moved to Montreal in order for their son to have a better chance at having a pro hockey career. Throughout his childhood, he was the best player for whichever team he played.

Daniel Sprong is an offensive force in the QJMHL, and could possibly bring this game to the NHL within a few years. In his 2 major junior seasons, Sprong has scored 69 goals in 135 games. With just over a half a goal per game, he has shown NHL scouts that he can be a powerful goal scorer for a team in need of one down the road.

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With his offensive talent he could easily be in the top 15 in the draft, however his ranking slipped a bit partly due to below average defensive skills. This, however, can be taught. That was somewhat the case with Habs’ first-round pick from last year, Nikita Scherbak. Scherbak was strictly an offensive guy when he went drafted 26th overall in the 2014 NHL draft. Some say he fell in the draft because of his defensive skills.

Jun 27, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Nikita Scherbak poses for a photo with team officials after being selected as the number twenty-six overall pick to the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Scherbak worked on his defensive game this year in Everett, and has become more of a complete player since, bringing him a step closer to cracking the Habs roster.

Sprong can follow in Scherbak’s footsteps, by working on his defensive game next year. That’s not the biggest risk in taking Sprong.

He is also known to have somewhat of an attitude problem. As previously mentioned he’s very skilled and he knows it. Perhaps he knows it too much, as he often tries to do everything by himself without help of his teammates. The same was said about P.K. Subban when he was picked by the Habs in the second round in 2007, and we all saw how that turned out.

Despite the attitude problem, Sprong is a hard worker and would likely be willing to work on whatever will make him a better player.

Earlier this week, it was said Sprong had a very good interview with Habs management. This could boost his chances of being drafted by the city in which he played all his hockey as a kid. He is currently ranked between 18th to 33rd in the draft from experts.

Sprong would be a high risk/ high reward pick that could prove to be a home run if he turns out. He will, however, need to learn to use his teammates to become a better player.

The Habs are in need of another productive goal scorer and by drafting Sprong, they could get the player they are looking for to fill that need in a few years’ time.

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