Breaking: Penguins and Ducks working on a trade with at least 1 player involved.

Big things in the works.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Breaking: Penguins and Ducks working on a trade with at least 1 player involved.
Daniel Lea/CSM/Zuma

We have a trade in progress. 

According to a breaking news report from Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman there is now talk that the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Anaheim Ducks are currently working on a trade. We do not know the full details of the deal being worked on at this time but according to Friedman there is a belief that forward Daniel Sprong is involved as part of this deal.

The rumor makes a ton of sense given what we have been hearing on the rumor mill regarding the Pittsburgh Penguins this season. Ever since the team struggled early on there has been talk of a potential trade coming from the Penguins and Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford even acknowledged earlier this season that he was looking to make a move, or multiple moves, to shake things up on his roster and inject some life back into his team.

If you had asked those who follow the Penguins closely which player was the most likely to be traded you would have heard Sprong's name come up over and over again. It has become abundantly clear that the talented young forward has not panned out to be what the Penguins once saw in him, at least not at the National Hockey League level, and that has seemingly made him expendable to the Penguins.

That being said he also has the benefit of carrying significant value as a trading chip just one season removed from a rather outstanding performance in the American Hockey League. Over the course of the 2017 - 2018 AHL campaign Sprong appeared in a total of 65 games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the AHL affiliate team of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and recorded a very impressive 32 goals and 33 assists for a total of 65 points per game. Needless to say when you show that kind of scoring prowess, even if it is only at the AHL level, there are going to be some teams desperate for scoring who would be very willing to give you a chance to score for their organization instead.

That being said Sprong has produced just 4 points this season at the NHL level, all of the assists, and this is in spite of already appearing in 17 games for the Penguins. He also boasts a plus minus rating of -7 so it will be interesting to see what the Penguins can get back for him if this deal does come to fruition.

[pub]


Source: