It’s certainly one of the weirder statlines of 2022-23, and maybe longer.
He scored more goals than Jonathan Huberdeau, Vladimir Tarasenko and Taylor Hall. Produced more points than Filip Forsberg, Anthony Cirelli – and even Lucas Raymond. And yet, he didn’t average more ice time than… Liam O’Brien, Sheldon Dries or MacKenzie Entwistle. Actually, he barely cracked the top 750, just edging out Dylan Gambrell at #748.
We’re definitely in for a unique case as we continue to look into Detroit’s many summer pick-ups with one of 2022-23’s top breakout performers: Daniel Sprong.
If you start at the beginning, it’s not that unusual. Sprong was drafted to be something close to this, going 46th overall to Pittsburgh in 2015. That’s a pretty common zone for a player with high skill but some flaws, or possibly one elite primary skill (shooting, in this case) and an overall game still to come. It just took him a little bit longer to get there.
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