Player Discussion Daniel Sprong

[MMC]

Well, this is exciting! Can't wait to track his development here!

Click to read more...

 

[MMC]

Is he the first Dutch Duck?

 

[Doogle]

Pens fan.

He has a nice shot. A really nice shot. That's about it. Anticipation, awareness, and puck support are completely absent from his game. It forces his teammates to play 4 on 5. He waits for the puck to come to him, and he's often caught flat footed when he does get it, leading to breakaways going the other way.

A lot of people are upset about losing him. Can't say I'm one of them.

 

[Ducks DVM]

Sounds like he’s a natural for the “Ducks play faster” system.

 

[Exit Dose]

Pens fan.

He has a nice shot. A really nice shot. That's about it. Anticipation, awareness, and puck support are completely absent from his game. It forces his teammates to play 4 on 5. He waits for the puck to come to him, and he's often caught flat footed when he does get it, leading to breakaways going the other way.

A lot of people are upset about losing him. Can't say I'm one of them.

You have no idea how happy this scouting report makes me.

 

[Getzmonster]

So he's somewhere between a precision instrument and a tool?

 

[PelleLindbergh]

any idea where he might play in the lineup?

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Sprong is crazy talented. Elite toolbox. Great puck skills, even better shot with a wicked release. Nice one timer too. His top speed is very fast and he’s a smooth skater overall. Imo he’s bigger than he’s listed too (would bet he’s 6’1”). 1.0 P/PG in the AHL last year with 0.5 G/PG.

I’m sure you all know by now he’s not much on the boards or in the corners and is a floater defensively.

The other biggest weaknesses to me is that he’s a little north-south offensively and his edgework is iffy as in it doesn’t seem to quite match how well he can skate. Those aren’t really that concerning or noticeable weaknesses though.

I think he can be a full time NHL player for a long time if given the right role. There’s extremely high end upside there.

 

[Gurglesons]

Sounds like he’s a natural for the “Ducks play faster” system.

I don’t know about that. Probably mesh best with Henrique speedwise.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I'll bring my scouting report of Sprong in here since Ducks fans were nice enough to bring their scouting reports for Pettersson:

Sprong has some pretty glaring flaws with his game. His talent is absurdly evident, he has an insanely good shot, he's an underrated playmaker and he has really nice hands. The problem is that he's a terrible player outside of those 3 things. He's not a high IQ player, he constantly doesn't have a clue what he's doing on the ice positionally. He's terrible without the puck due to that, both defensively (blown coverage all of the time) and offensively (doesn't know how to find soft spots or support players in the offensive zone). That's not something I'm saying from this year, that's something I noticed last year. His skating isn't terrible, but it's not good either. He's incredibly weak on his edges and doesn't have a good first step, his top end speed is probably above average, but his skating overall isn't very good. Combining him being a low IQ player with him being a poor skating is a terrible combination for a player with his talents.

Sprong actually brings a decent amount of physicality and he's not a lazy player. The problem is that he's not at all a smart player, and he doesn't have the speed to make up for that. He doesn't know what to do when the puck isn't on his stick, it's why his upside is basically limited to being a triggerman. This is why I could see him busting very easily. He's not talented enough to not be a smart player, and I haven't seen enough from him to think he's a smart player. I think he severely struggles without the puck, and he doesn't have the ability to change directions or stop and start well enough to compensate for that. It's why he always looked a step behind in the NHL, I don't think he has the IQ to process the games at fast speeds and he doesn't have the skating to put himself in the necessary positions to succeed.

With all of that being said, he has legit long term value as a potential top-6 forward because he can do something that is widely coveted: score goals. Put him with talented linemates, especially good playmakers, and he should be able to produce. When you put him with talent, he'll be able to do stuff like this with the puck:




But he'll be doing stuff like this without the puck


DeBrusk rips one-timer past Jarry

 

[KelVarnsen]

Did we need another thread on him? We couldn’t just keep discussing him on the already created thread?

 

[Evgeny Oliker]

I think thats a fair assessment of him.

But some of his flaws, like positioning, I think that he can learn from a good coach and from more experience. The fact that he is not a lazy player tells me that he is willing to at least learn...

The IQ part is a tough one to learn but again with more experience and coaching he can at least improve in this area a bit.

I agree that he can become a decent top 6 forward. I think in his prime, playing with a good playmaker, he can put up 20-25 goals.

 

[eternalbedhead]

I think thats a fair assessment of him.

But some of his flaws, like positioning, I think that he can learn from a good coach and from more experience.

I don't think he's going to find any good coaches here.

 

[Exit Dose]

But he'll be doing stuff like this without the puck


DeBrusk rips one-timer past Jarry

He has a smattering of experience at the NHL level. Nearly every rookie has moments like that.

 

[bsu]

I'll bring my scouting report of Sprong in here since Ducks fans were nice enough to bring their scouting reports for Pettersson:

Sprong has some pretty glaring flaws with his game. His talent is absurdly evident, he has an insanely good shot, he's an underrated playmaker and he has really nice hands. The problem is that he's a terrible player outside of those 3 things. He's not a high IQ player, he constantly doesn't have a clue what he's doing on the ice positionally. He's terrible without the puck due to that, both defensively (blown coverage all of the time) and offensively (doesn't know how to find soft spots or support players in the offensive zone). That's not something I'm saying from this year, that's something I noticed last year. His skating isn't terrible, but it's not good either. He's incredibly weak on his edges and doesn't have a good first step, his top end speed is probably above average, but his skating overall isn't very good. Combining him being a low IQ player with him being a poor skating is a terrible combination for a player with his talents.

Sprong actually brings a decent amount of physicality and he's not a lazy player. The problem is that he's not at all a smart player, and he doesn't have the speed to make up for that. He doesn't know what to do when the puck isn't on his stick, it's why his upside is basically limited to being a triggerman. This is why I could see him busting very easily. He's not talented enough to not be a smart player, and I haven't seen enough from him to think he's a smart player. I think he severely struggles without the puck, and he doesn't have the ability to change directions or stop and start well enough to compensate for that. It's why he always looked a step behind in the NHL, I don't think he has the IQ to process the games at fast speeds and he doesn't have the skating to put himself in the necessary positions to succeed.

With all of that being said, he has legit long term value as a potential top-6 forward because he can do something that is widely coveted: score goals. Put him with talented linemates, especially good playmakers, and he should be able to produce. When you put him with talent, he'll be able to do stuff like this with the puck:




But he'll be doing stuff like this without the puck


DeBrusk rips one-timer past Jarry

That debrusk play is actually competent compared to our current d zone coverage.

 

[Neptune Towers]

On what line will he play tonight? I'm gonna skip sleep, so he better plays more than 9 minutes

 

[Kalv]

On what line will he play tonight? I'm gonna skip sleep, so he better plays more than 9 minutes

Looks like he will play on one of our 3d lines with Henrique and Ritchie.

 

[Arthuros]

The next Sekac.

 

[The Old Master]

like all young players, the more he gets to play without fear of being benched. the better he will play. he never got that in pgh. so none of us really know how good he is. imo but we do know he sucks trying to be a 4th liner.

 

[Duck Off]

like all young players, the more he gets to play without fear of being benched. the better he will play. he never got that in pgh. so none of us really know how good he is. imo but we do know he sucks and trying to be a 4th liner.

I actually could see a scenario where he's moved to the 4th line. Carlyle has done a good job of not giving too few mins this year (crazy that we only have 1 player under 10 mins a night), but I can't imagine Kase will stay there long.

 

[Shady Machine]

I don't really think any Pen's fans assessments are worth much on Sprong at the NHL level because his score is an incomplete. Lots of talent there and needs more opportunity to develop. I will let Ducks fans view the player for themselves with legit ice time vs 4th line playing time on the Pens with a coach that, right or wrong, wasn't a fan.

Both "sides" of the Sprong debate have fair points, but there aren't many unbiased scouting reports worth much here. Good luck to Sprong and the Ducks. Hope he carves out a long NHL career.

 

[Ducks in a row]

 

[Arthuros]

Lad.

 

[Coach Travis]

Pens fan.

He has a nice shot. A really nice shot. That's about it. Anticipation, awareness, and puck support are completely absent from his game. It forces his teammates to play 4 on 5. He waits for the puck to come to him, and he's often caught flat footed when he does get it, leading to breakaways going the other way.

A lot of people are upset about losing him. Can't say I'm one of them.

And I'll come in opposite to "Coach Platitude" here; Any Pens fan who says Sprong as proven anything one way or the other doesn't know what the f*** they're talking about. Especially this season, Mike Sullivan had Sprong so badly second guessing his every move that he looked lost, and, even worse, hesitant. Usually when you think of an offensive-minded player, you think of someone who cheats offensively. Well, this season, you never saw Sprong leave the zone early and he always abandoned the forecheck early as soon as the puck changed hands. This is not what you want a goal scorer to do but that's how he was being coached. Sprong, when he had the odd shift with Dominik Simon who he was familiar with in the AHL, has shown he knows how to support the puck, anticipate the play and force switches on defenders. As soon as Sprong was given literally ANY kind of skilled line mates to work with, he started to show signs of promise and Mike Sullivan put a stop to it abruptly. I have no idea why. Maybe, like Austin Powers' father, he hates the Dutch. He's also a pretty underrated playmaker.

I'm pissed the Pens gave him up.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

I hope this just goes on and on forever.