
The “Great” moves from the Detroit Red Wings offseason.
Daniel Sprong was signed to a one-year, two-million-dollar deal by the Red Wings after playing with the Seattle Kraken last season. Sprong is a consistent player who can slide up and down the lineup if need be and fill any role possibly that is asked of him.
The 26-year-old Sprong averaged only eleven and a half minutes of ice time last season with Seattle and put up a respectable 21 goals, 25 assists, and 46 total points. This signing has all the makings of being the most underrated signing for the Red Wings based on Sprong’s production throughout his career and the only two million dollars he cost the team in salary for the 2023-24 season.
The weeks of rumors finally came to an end on July 10th, when Yzerman pulled the trigger on acquiring the potential elite goal scorer that has been much needed and missing in the Red Wings lineup in Alex DeBrincat, acquiring DeBrincat from Ottawa for Dominik Kubalik (pending 2024 UFA), prospect defenseman Donovan Sebrango, a conditional 2024 first-round pick, and a 2024 fourth-round pick, in itself, is a win in the sense that the Red Wings were able to avoid parting ways with any of their top tier prospects.
Granted, Kubalik had a solid season for Detroit, putting up 20 goals, 25 assists for a total of 45 points, but it does not add up to what DeBrincat can bring to the lineup, who has twice been a 40-plus goal scorer in his career.
In Sebrango, the Wings are giving up a defenseman who was a third-round pick in 2020 but was most likely going to be buried behind the defenseman depth that the Wings have prospect-wise.
On top of trading for DeBrincat, Yzerman was able to extend him as well. Rumors were circulating that DeBrincat was hoping for a deal in the range of seven to eight years, but Yzerman was able to get him signed to a four-year extension.
Yzerman has been known to be hesitant to give out extensions or contracts to the length of six or more years, so being able to negotiate down to four years is a big win for the Wings as well as DeBrincat.