Will they find homes?
Daniel Sprong signed with Vancouver over the weekend for a one-year deal worth little over the minimum salary. It’s just the latest twist to continue his strange and winding career. Sprong has scored 39 goals and 89 points in the prior two seasons, for two different clubs (Seattle and Detroit). In both instances, he did so from a low time on ice role, but made the most of it. The Canucks will be the 27 year old’s sixth team. He’s yet to play 90+ games with any one team. For one reason or another that’s clearly not related to his play (general vibes? attitude? awareness? coachability?) Sprong hasn’t quite found his niche and place just yet.
Sprong departing the free agent pool three weeks into the process made the idea pop up that it’s about that time of year to check in on former Penguin players. There was still some opportunity to be had for FA’s that don’t find immediate homes, Danton Heinen couldn’t even sign with Boston until the season started last fall and turned that into a successful season and found a home with Sprong in Vancouver for 2024-25.
Justin Schultz - It wasn’t the best of stints in Seattle for Schultz, who lasted two seasons out in the Pacific northwest. Schultz was a -23, which regardless of your opinion of the +/- metric, it’s never great to be the worst on the team while having ice time slump to 16:28 per game. Schultz still put up some decent offensive numbers (7G, 19A) and is only 34, so you would think some team out there could use him in a third pair, second power play type of role on the cheap for next season.
Alex Nylander - Speaking of strange careers ala Sprong, Nylander finally found a home in Columbus, scoring 11G and 15P in 23 games after his trade out of Pittsburgh. His reward was to not get qualified by the Blue Jackets and he now finds himself without a contract deep into July. Did all the NHL teams chalk Nylander’s surge up to playing out the stretch on a bad team? Can he find the right fit somewhere? Fascinating questions. Everything about this player has been mercurial for a long time, hopefully he gets a shot somewhere to keep it moving in a positive direction.
Alex Goligoski - The former 2004 draft pick hasn’t officially announced his retirement, but it could be coming soon. At 1,078 games, what a career. It was rumored Goligoski might be getting an off-ice job with his home state Minnesota Wild, so we’ll see how that goes. Speaking of the 2004 draft, only Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin remain in the NHL from that class for next seaon (though Blake Wheeler is in the Goligoski boat of being a free agent who played NHL games and hasn’t formally retired as of now).
Robert Bortuzzo - Good old Bobby Borts has 12 years in the NHL under his belt, and was still thought of even to be a trade deadline pickup. At 35, he’s nearer to the end than the beginning, but in a 32-team league there’s probably still a place for him somewhere if he wants to continue his career.
Colin White - White had 0 points in 28 total NHL games (11 games with Pittsburgh, 17 with Montreal who inexplicably picked him up on waivers). White had such little interest that he had to go to camp on a tryout, and that’s probably his future this season as well. By now the 27-year old former first round pick is probably more apt to work as an AHL player.
Phil Kessel - Hey, the Thrill hasn’t officially announced retirement. It would be funny and so Phil if he never actually goes through with filing the paperwork, though surely for many reasons it’ll eventually happen. Phil turns 37 in October and though there were rumors he was being considered to sign by a few places, nothing materialized last season, which has to make the odds low for the future. But even if Kessel’s playing career is over, he’s a legend and legends never die, as The Sandlot taught us.
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Here are some summer signings that have been made earlier in the process, in quick ‘in case you missed it’ style, this might not be a complete list but some highlights:
Radim Zohorna - Signed with HC Lugano of the Swiss league.
Casey DeSmith - Dallas grabbed DeSmith for a three-year commitment of a $1.0 million AAV. The benefit of being a steady, if unspectacular goalie has meant that DeSmith has always signed multi-year contracts.
Vinnie Hinostroza - After splitting time in WBS/PIT last year, Hinostroza will move onto Buffalo’s organization
Stefan Noesen - Noesen has been a low-key important piece of Carolina in the last two seasons (73 total points) and parlayed that into a two-year $2.75m AAV from New Jersey, where he played from 2016-19.
Sam Lafferty - The Sabres added a ton of speed/physicality for their bottom six (Ryan McLeod, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Beck Malenstyn) and Lafferty fits that mold for them as well. It’s a two-year, $2.0 million AAV deal.
Matt Murray - After sitting out 2023-24 recovering from hip surgery and resetting a career that has unfortunately totally left the rails, Murray signed with Toronto for league minimum and is going to give a comeback a shot.
Jason Zucker - Zucker nabs an impressive salary ($5.0m) but only on a one-season commitment from, who else, Buffalo! They’ve gone heavy with former Penguins this summer.
Ian Cole - Cole, 35, has been bouncing around the league with incredible frequency lately, having played for five clubs (COL, MIN, CAR, TB, VAN) in the last four seasons. Well add one more to the list, Cole is Utah bound on a one-year $3.1 million contract.
P.O Joseph - As many will remember, P.O. Joseph took a one-year deal from St. Louis. It’ll be a great spot for him after STL picked up brother Mathieu from Ottawa.
Chad Ruhwedel - The Rangers brought back Ruhwedel on a one-year, league minimum deal. He’s expected to be a depth defender.
