Does Daniel Sprong's production merit an increase in minutes, or is he best suited to a bottom six scoring role?
Does Daniel Sprong's production merit an increase in minutes, or is he best suited to a bottom six scoring role?
Through 50 games as a Detroit Red Wing, Daniel Sprong has 13 goals and 19 assists, and he's done that while averaging 12:43 of ice time a night. It's a similar role to the one Sprong has played in previous stops with the Washington Capitals and Seattle Kraken.
When asked whether Sprong's production suggests he deserves an uptick in usage recently, coach Derek Lalonde said, "We battle that question in our room quite a bit. You give him top-six minutes [against] Tampa, he rewards you, basically gets you the game-winner. Give him top-six minutes [against Dallas] and the untrained eye can see, in the second period, a few things found him.”
On the most recent episode of The Silky Mitten State, my co-host Connor Earegood and I discussed this question a bit more, attempting to figure out the best way to maximize a player who clearly has unique offensive gifts but also limitations that have led to several organizations deciding to move on without him in recent years.
You can see an excerpt from that conversation in the featured video above, and you can find the full discussion and episode on both Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
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