*”Sprong is top20 in goals/60 in the NHL. Shouldn’t we give him more icetime vs cutting him?”*
Yes, he seems like a good guy. Yes, he has scored some pretty goals. But hockey is a team game and his teammates bailing him out cover up for how terrible he actually plays. His plus minus do not tell the Sprong story.
He is our biggest liability when he’s on the ice. Repeatedly lazy forecheck+backcheck, no Dzone awareness, gives less effort on D than Ovi, cheats to get pt production vs 4th liners and just watches the puck. He has the talent, but it just looks like he’s too selfish to think about defense. Only reason he isn’t -ive points every game is because the mitigate his ice time and his teammates bail him out repeatedly.
His +/- of -4 in 7MIN41SECONDS of icetime in the Buffalo Game truly shows what we’re dealing with when looking at the tape. I see bush league shifts from him all the time but they finally show up in the stat sheet in our most critical playoff push lol.
[Watch #17 on the whole shift for 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th goals against.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7yzTNCYhIc)
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by Mother_State3121
6 Comments
So you’re taking a one game example and using it as a gross generalization? There are many other players on the team who deserve to be called out in my opinion…
You need some variance in the tempo or rhythm to fool these elite players. Sprong hits a cord.
Right now they’re paying under more pressure because of a stupid ad on their jersey.
Edmonton should cut draistl for these same reasons
There’s a reason why Sprong stays 4th line next game when Blashil jumbles everything else. Same with Petry getting demoted to 3rd D pair.
Was just about to make a thread about this video: https://youtu.be/eJsLL42VKjg?si=mbIQgjOM_zemNDZR
Sprong is almost entirely responsible for this goal. Chiarot gives Dahlin a shove, but Dahlin is able to chip the puck through Petry. Not great, but pucks are small and can move fast. Shit happens. Fabbri and Fischer are covering the right side, leaving almost no shooting lane. Passing is the better option, and actually a great option here because Sprong decides to also go over to the right side of the ice instead of covering Benson, the guy closest to him. Chiarot tries to get up there in time to block the shot but there’s only so much he can do.
On top of this, Lyon never really got set because before the puck went back up high, Sprong was standing IN the crease, and Lyon’s skate bumped into him and made him fall. Holy hell.
Ah yes, plus/minus. The greatest stat in hockey.