Detroit Red Wings

Red Wings Don’t Land Killorn, But Buy Some Sprong Goals

Published

10 months ago

July 1, 2023

The Detroit Red Wings want more goals and have established a willingness to pay $95,238 per goal to acquire them

GM Steve Yzerman signed 21-goal scorer Daniel Sprong, 26, to one-year deal worth $2 million. He has scored 27 goals in 82 games since joining the Seattle Kraken in 2022-23.

As 3:30, the Red Wings had signed goalies James Reimer and Alex Lyon, defenseman Justin Holl and Sprong from what was considered a below average free agent class.

The market’s most desirable forward may have been Alex Killorn. Both Yzerman and coach Derek Lalonde knew him well from their days together in Tampa Bay. However, Killorn chose to sign with the Anaheim Ducks.

Anaheim’s general manager is Pat Verbeek who worked for Yzerman in Tampa Bay. He also had a connection to Killorn.

Thus far, the Red Wings have spent $7.8 million for four players. They have 21 players signed with $19.6 remaining in cap space.

Last summer, Yzerman signed David Perron, Olli Maatta, Ben Chiarot, Dominik Kubalik, Mark Pysyk, Robert Hagg, Matt Luff and Austin Czarnik.

The Red Wings ranked 24th in scoring last season with an average of 2.89 goals per game. Yzerman said planned to find additional scoring this offseason. Detroit also ranked 29th in shots on goal.

He had some discussions with the Ottawa Senators about Alex DeBrincat and Philadelphia Flyers about Travis Konecny. But no deal was reached.

Sprong Well-Traveled

The Red Wings will be right wing Sprong’s fifth NHL team. After being drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins, Sprong played for the Anaheim Ducks, Washington Capitals and then the Kraken.

He had never reached the 20-goal before this season. His previous best was 14 goals for the Ducks in 2018-19. Sprong’s 44 points and plus-minus (+13) this season were also career bests.

Sprong was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands and his family moved to Quebec to give him better opportunities to develop as a hockey player.