We really don't know what went on behind the scenes with Sprong. A lot of assumptions have been made on these boards about him not playing defense in SD, him being selfish, and him having a bad attitude. Perhaps they are true, I don't know. What I do know is that Sprong can score goals. The guy that "beat him out" in camp has 4 goals in 47 games this season playing with our best centers and getting lots of PP time. But I'm sure he has a better attitude than Sprong.
Stop. There is no assumptions about Sprong not playing defense as people have watched Sprong not play defense and report it to us in real time. That double digit plus/minus rating of -11 supports what they reported. No one else on the team has double-digit negative plus/minus ratings.
You're quite full of yourself to tell us those who did watched Sprong have wrong information when you didn't witness it.
Also, you're not reading with comprehension either nor context. You opine for goal scoring, but we've blown leads to losses. We've blown multiple goal leads to losses. If Sprong isn't scoring goals, then he becomes a huge liability on defense. But your scope is quite minuscule that you're not willing to accept when Terry went down to the AHL with one leg, he was able to dominate as well as possess a positive double digit plus/minus rating of +10. Your fixation is on goal scoring only as opposed to a more complete player that can help the team out on a 200 foot sheet of ice.
Which brings us to the parallel of Ritchie, who was being shopped for quite some time, apparently. Ritchie does possess the highlights, but not enough of them to warrant keeping him. It sucks because I thought Ritchie turned it around last year and hoped he would push forward again this year. He hasn't on the whole. GM Murray trades him out for a more complete player in Heinen.
Our game play is one of sloppiness. It would be nice to cut those down. Terry is a more complete player than Sprong. Unless you're trying to say Sprong is the more complete player than Terry, then I'll respect your opinion, though I disagree with it as I provided the reasons why already.
AHL Stats (again b/c you didn't soak this in enough)
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Correction on Sprong: I can't maths. 11 + 16 = 27 pts, not 37 pts.
Sprong: 0.69 PPG, 0.28 goals/g, plus/minus = -11
Terry: 1.42 PPG, 0.48 goals/g, plus/minus = +10
Keep using rhetoric and willful ignorance of productions as well as scope to boost your adoration for Sprong. If Sprong can't dominate at the AHL level, then how can he dominate at the NHL level? He can't. That's a sobering fact I had to accept when people were reporting Sprong isn't playing defense or doing nothing outside of trying to score. But, hey, love makes one blind to negative things.
I hope Heinen can turn things around here, as his career seems to be moving in the wrong direction. What concerns me is that there seems to be a pattern of players leaving the Ducks and improving with other teams. Not sure that the Ducks development system is maximizing the talent of our young players.
I hate to break this to you, but teams who trade also want to be successful on their end. But man you love rhetoric a lot. Is Montour tearing up the league right now? Is Montour carrying the Sabres in a playoff spot right now? Grant isn't young, but Grant is far more productive in Anaheim than with any other team so far. We traded prospect F Blandisi for Grant, but Blandisi hasn't been a regular like Grant. (I think Blandisi is in the AHL right now at age 25.) Rowney's turned into a very good find. Deslauriers was a solid addition. What about Vatanen? He hasn't torn up the league either in all his years in New Jersey! With Sprong, he actually scored with the Ducks than with Pitt throughout his three year tenure. Unfortunately, the Ducks got healthy and the bar was raised in 2019-20 to where a one-trick pony couldn't hold an NHL spot. Pettersson is doing solid, but, as you've already stated, he's also on a better team.
Now, let's talk about our goalie development. I'm pretty sure we're still winning on that and with Dostal still on the way. I hate rhetoric.
The Ducks top-3 blue liners today are all drafted players. We actually did develop a lot of youthful defensemen with us, which is why other teams wanted them. This is why rhetoric is stupid b/c it omits that we actually developed the players well enough for other teams to inquire about them.
Teams involved in a trade all want to win and believe their system or atmosphere might be better. Sometimes, both teams win, both team lose, or one team does better. Sometimes a player needs a change of scenery. Sometimes a player just doesn't want to improve. Look at Wild Bill as a perfect example. His mentality has made two team move on from him. Maybe something in his head finally clicked that the problem could be him, not his talent. Now, he's fits his moniker for his prowess on the ice rather than describing the opposite personality of him.
It's quite a shame you don't incorporate nuance and supported substance in your thoughts. It's akin to the Angels baseball thread. You argued with him and now you side with me b/c of what Arte did recently, despite me stating that Arte's always been involved in baseball operations to my disliking. You simply just didn't want to believe it like you're admitting in your response comment here. I'll choose qualitative analysis over rhetoric everyday.
