The Montreal Canadiens head into the opening of free agency without much anticipation. A day that has become known as free agent frenzy may be more like free agent tranquility.
If anything, they will want to remove players from their roster and not add any today. Although, there are a few exceptions as we move toward the opening of free agency in mere hours this afternoon.
One player who is surprisingly hitting the open market is Daniel Sprong. The right winger with an incredible shot scored 21 goals and 46 points in 66 games last season with the Seattle Kraken. Those are fine numbers, and even better when you consider he spent the entire year on the team’s fourth line.
Getting 21 goals from an entire fourth line would be an accomplishment. Getting it from a single fourth liner is unheard of in any league. That is what makes the fact Sprong became a free agent so confusing.
Sprong was scheduled to be a restricted free agent. However, the Kraken chose not to give him a qualifying offer. They must have been scared of his arbitration rights and ability to use his low ice time and high goal and point totals to leverage a high salary in and arbitration case.
But, doesn’t he deserve it? Since landing in Seattle late in the 2021-22 season, he has scored 27 goals in 82 regular season games. He only made $750,000 last season so his qualifying offer only would have been a one year contract extension with a cap hit of $787,500. Obviously he is worth more than that so he would not have accepted it and taken the team to arbitration demanding a bigger raise.
Instead, he gets to hit the open market and the Canadiens would be wise to try and lure him back to the province of Quebec.
Spring is from Amsterdam, Netherlands but he moved to L’Ile-Bizard, Quebec, which is a borough of Montreal, at the age of 8 to find some better competition in hockey. He grew up in the area and now has the freedom to choose his next hockey destination. There is no question moving back to where he grew up to play in the NHL with the Canadiens would be enticing.
The Canadiens don’t really have a desperate need for a winger, as they kind of have too many at the moment. However, the opportunity to add a 26 year old local player that can score at a 25 goal pace from the fourth line is something they shouldn’t pass up.
Just trade Joel Armia for nothing, send Rem Pitlick to Laval now, tell Mike Hoffman to stay home for the season, whatever it takes to open up a roster spot and then give their ice time to Sprong. He has proven that even if he is on a fourth line with Jake Evans and Rafael Harvey-Pinard he will create offensive opportunities and put pucks in the net.
There is also the possibility he could perform much better than that if he were placed higher up the lineup with, say, Kirby Dach and Sean Monahan.
Whether it is a one year deal, which could allow the Canadiens to trade him to a contender at the trade deadline, or a multi-year deal he is seeking, the Canadiens need to be trying to bring Sprong back to Montreal.
Forget the overpaid veteran wingers. It is time to hand over ice time to younger skilled players that could help this team down the road and Sprong definitely fits that description.
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