The Vancouver Canucks are sending forward Daniel Sprong to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for future considerations. GM Patrik Allvin announced the move late Friday afternoon.

Sprong started the season in the Canucks’ top six forward group, and scored a goal in the opening game of the season vs. Calgary, but has seen his ice time decline steadily since. Despite his impressive goal-scoring abilities, Sprong has earned himself a reputation as a player who struggles to earn the trust of his coaches thanks to shoddy defensive play, and both sides were well aware of that when Sprong signed in Vancouver. Head coach Rick Tocchet had talked about working with Sprong to improve on his play away from the puck, and Sprong sounded motivated to hold up his end of the bargain so that he could make Vancouver his first long-term NHL home.

Ultimately, the Sprong experiment in Vancouver lasted less time than anyone would have expected, as he returns to the Kraken, who he appeared in 66 games with during the 2022-23 NHL season, when Sprong tallied 21 goals and 25 assists.

The Canucks signed Sprong, 27, to a one-year contract worth $975,000 at the end of July this past offseason. Sprong has played for seven NHL teams already, and has scored at impressive rates the past two seasons, scoring 39 goals through 142 games with the Red Wings and Kraken.

It’s unclear what the “Future Considerations” will be in this trade, as that can vary from a player, all the way down to a GM buying another GM dinner. No, we’re not kidding.

Keep it locked on CanucksArmy  as we’ll have more information on this deal in the coming days.

For now, it’s safe to say this deal signals that the Canucks are confident that Jonathan Lekkerimäki is ready for the NHL. It will be interesting to see when the club feels its appropriate to pull the trigger and give him his NHL debut with Boeser likely out with a concussion and Sprong now out of the lineup.

More to come.