Former New Jersey Devils right winger Daniel Sprong has officially signed with the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) after a decade in the NHL. He will continue his career abroad with CSKA Moscow.

Sprong was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the 2015 NHL Draft. He made his NHL debut that same season, playing 18 games with the Penguins in 2015-16 before being assigned to the AHL.

From 2018-19 through 2024-25, Sprong played for six different NHL teams. He spent two seasons with the Anaheim Ducks (2018-20), followed by a year with the Washington Capitals (2020-22). He then joined the Seattle Kraken from 2021 to 2023.

The final stretch of his NHL career saw him with the Detroit Red Wings, Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Kraken, and finally the New Jersey Devils. During the 2024-25 season, Sprong was traded three times, splitting the year between the Canucks, Kraken, and Devils.

He joined the Devils on March 7, 2025, appearing in 11 games for the team.

Sprong recorded two assists with New Jersey, while on a one-year, $975,000 contract.

Reflecting on his time with the Devils, Sprong told Kristy Flannery of The Hockey News:

"I loved it here. A great group of guys (and) great fans. I would say everything before New Jersey (this season) was pretty difficult. Mentally, I had a lot of ups and downs, mostly downs, but when I got to New Jersey, I think I fit in well."

After the 2024-25 season, Sprong became an unrestricted free agent when the Devils chose not to re-sign him, and no other NHL teams picked him up.

Speaking about his time in New Jersey, Sprong praised Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe, saying in his exit interview:

"He is my favorite coach I have played for in the NHL so far. He is honest. He says it how it is. That works really well for me."

Over his NHL career, Sprong played 374 games and tallied 166 points. 

Now 28 years old, Sprong has opted to continue his career in the KHL, though a future NHL return remains possible.

Photo Credit: © Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Fans of the Florida Panthers are in an enviable situation.

Not only is the team back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions, which is amazing in and of itself, but the club’s roster is full of high-end players in the prime years of their career and they are all signed to long-term deals.

That means that Cats fans can feel confident in shelling out large amounts of cash to get a jersey with their favorite player’s name and number on the back, as odds are that player is going to be with the team for quite a while.

When looking at Florida’s core, an interesting thought occurred recently.

How many players on the Panthers current roster will end up with their jersey number hanging in the rafters?

Currently, Florida’s only retired numbers are 1, 37 and 93.

The 93 is for Bill Torrey, the team’s first president, and 37 is for team founder and original owner Wayne Huizenga.

No. 1 is for Roberto Luongo, the only actual player to have his jersey number retired by the team.

That is surely going to change sometime in the future, and we’re currently watching the player or players who will be immortalized in Panthers lore once they hang up their skates.

But who could it be?

Over the coming days, THN Florida will make a potential case for several players currently on Florida’s roster who could end up being the last to wear their respective numbers for the franchise.

The first player is probably the most obvious choice on the roster, and that’s Florida captain Sasha Barkov.

In all likelihood, Barkov will play the entirety of his NHL career with the Panthers.

Drafted second overall by Florida at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, Barkov was in the lineup for the following Opening Night.

He scored his first NHL goal that night in Dallas and has been a mainstay atop the forward ranks ever since.

Barkov was named the tenth captain in Panthers history prior to the 2018-19 season and has developed into the league’s best two-way forward, earning Selke Trophies in 2021, 2024 and 2025.

At it stands, Barkov leads the team in almost every significant statistical category.

He’s the Panthers franchise leader in games played, goals, assists, points, shots on goal, power play goals, even strength goals and game-winning goals.

Barkov is also the only Florida captain to lead the team to a Stanley Cup championship, becoming the first ever Finnish-born captain to hoist the Cup in the process.

Barkov is Florida’s highest paid forward but still carries a reasonable (for a superstar) $10 million AAV (average annual value). That contract expires following the 2029-30 season, when Barkov will be 34 years old.

It’s hard to imagine Barkov, who is as good of a person off the ice as he is a player on the ice, not becoming a Panthers lifer whose jersey hangs in the rafters forever.

As we get further down the potential retired number list, there will be more to debate than there is with Barkov.

Stay tuned to see who we discuss next.

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Photo caption: Jun 12, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov (16) skates between play during the third period against the Edmonton Oilers in game four of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena. (Jim Rassol-Imagn Images)

Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Daniel Sprong is heading overseas, as he has signed a one-year contract with CSKA Moscow of the KHL.

Sprong was selected by the Penguins with the 46th overall pick of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. Following being drafted, he immediately got some NHL time with the Penguins, posting two goals and a minus-1 rating in 18 games during the 2015-16 campaign. From there, he played three seasons with the Penguins, where he posted four goals, five assists, nine points, and a minus-6 rating in 42 games.

After struggling to find his fit with the Penguins, Sprong was traded to the Anaheim Ducks during the 2018-19 season in exchange for defenseman Marcus Pettersson. From there, he had stops with the Ducks, Washington Capitals, Seattle Kraken, Detroit Red Wings, Vancouver Canucks, and New Jersey Devils. 

In 374 games over nine NHL seasons, Sprong recorded 87 goals, 79 assists, 166 points, and a minus-3 rating. It will now be intriguing to see how Sprong performs over in the KHL from here. If he impresses, perhaps it could lead to him getting interest from NHL clubs again next summer. 

Photo Credit: © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The Anaheim Ducks have missed the playoffs every year since 2017-18 and in doing so, have drafted in the top ten for seven consecutive seasons and procured one of the NHL’s deepest and most potent prospect pools. 

Despite several young players having graduated and become full-time NHLers, such as Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Mason McTavish, Pavel Mintyukov, and Olen Zellweger, the Ducks still have an impressive pipeline of potential impact and depth prospects yet to make the jump. 

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For this exercise, only players who haven’t lost rookie status are eligible for a ranking, and to be clear, these are my (Patrick Present) subjective rankings. 

Honorable Mentions: Yegor Sidorov, Herman Traff, Tarin Smith, Lasse Boelius, Calle Clang

Top Ten:

10. Nathan Gaucher, 21, C, San Diego Gulls (AHL)

9. Ian Moore, 23, RHD, San Diego Gulls (AHL)

8. Sasha Pastujov, 22, W, San Diego Gulls (AHL)

7. Tomas Suchanek, 22, G, San Diego Gulls (AHL)

Despite the Ducks having a wide collection of dart throws in the organization when it comes to goaltending prospects like Damian Clara, Calle Clang, Elijah Neuenschwander, and Vyacheslav Buteyets, only one made the top ten list of their overall prospects: Tomas Suchanek.

After a sparkling rookie AHL season with the Gulls, Suchanek sustained a gruesome ACL injury during offseason training in the summer of 2024, after returning home to his native Czechia following Ducks development camp. His injury required surgery, and he was forced to miss the entire 2024-25 season.

Suchanek’s road hadn’t been the smoothest leading up to the injury, and he, along with the Ducks organization, is hoping it’s nothing more than a speed bump, as he’s already overcome numerous obstacles to get to this point in his career.

He signed with the Gulls on a standard player contract in 2023 after having gone undrafted in 2021, 2022, and 2023, despite a quality season in Czechia’s second tier professional division in 2020-21, a solid two seasons after making the jump to the WHL playing for the Tri-City Americans between 2021 and 2023, and a simply spectacular showing at the 2023 World Junior Championship, where he backstopped Czechia to a silver medal (lost in overtime of the championship game) and posted a 5-0-2 record, a .934 SV%, and one shutout.

He earned a development, rookie, and training camp invite from the Ducks ahead of the 2023-24 season. In his first professional season in North America, he battled his way out of the ECHL with a 3-5-0 record and .906 SV% and competed for AHL starts with Alex Stalock and Calle Clang, where he shined brightest with a 14-10-5 record, a .910 SV%, and three shutouts. 

Similar to friend and countryman, as well as starting Ducks goaltender, Lukas Dostal, Suchanek exudes poise and enthusiasm off the ice, as well as a focused calm in the crease. He displays true angles and stays square as pucks are moved throughout the defensive zone in front of him. He can flash dazzling athleticism at times, especially with his hands, both glove and blocker sides.

The aspect that jumps out and is most impressive from a young netminder is his ability to play the puck with his stick and manage the game in front of him. Having him stop pucks behind the net is akin to having a third defenseman to assist in puck retrievals, and he can ignite breakouts with crisp outlets. 

Suchanek is fully recovered and attended Ducks development camp following the 2025 NHL Draft and noted how difficult it was to get his reaction time back up to speed. 

"It went better than I thought," Suchanek said. "I thought (that) I'm going to have to learn how to skate again, but it went pretty good, so I was pretty happy. 

"The biggest focus is to go step-by-step right now. You can have some goals, but I need to come back to the camp and prove to everyone and show everyone I'm still able to play hockey, as I did before the injuries. So, my main goal right now is to just show everyone that I can still play."

Suchanek has used his resilience as a motivating factor in the past and will look to do the same as he heads into rookie and training camps in September. 

"It's been very long," Suchanek said. ”Took a lot (longer) than I thought it was gonna take. It's been pretty hard, but I'm super excited to be back and anxious to play hockey again.”

The 2025-26 season will be year two of a three-year entry-level contract Suchanek signed with the Ducks in March 2024.

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Former New York Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko has signed a three-year, $14.25 million contract extension with the Seattle Kraken. 

The deal comes out at $4.525 million annually. 

“Getting a contract done with Kaapo was a top priority this summer," Kraken general manager Jason Botterill said. "We knew quickly he'd be a big part of our team moving forward. He's got size, skill and tremendous playmaking ability, and isn't afraid of going to the net. He fit in immediately with our group, and we're thrilled to have him under contract.”

Kakko filed for salary arbitration after negotiations with the Kraken were at a standstill, but the two sides were able to reach a deal before the hearing was supposed to take place on July 25.

The Rangers traded Kakko to the Kraken this past season in exchange for Will Borgen and two draft picks. 

Upon arriving in Seattle, the 24-year-old elevated his game and showed positive signs of improvement.

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In 49 games with the Kraken, Kakko recorded 10 goals, 20 assists, and 30 points while averaging 17:03 minutes.