Just two seasons ago, forward Daniel Sprong enjoyed his second-best NHL season while playing for the Detroit Red Wings.
Now he’s played himself right out of the NHL.
Over the years, CSKA Moscow has given the Red Wings many great players. All five members of the iconic Russian Five – Igor Larionov, Viacheslav Fetisov, Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstantinov, and Vyacheslav Kozlov – came through that legendary Russian hockey factory.
This time, it’s CSKA Moscow giving a former Red Wings player a chance to play. Sprong is joining the KHL club.
The 28-year-old right-winger signed a one-year contract with CSKA Moscow. He’ll be playing on the same team as Red Wings 2022 second-round draftee Dmitri Buchelnikov.
(Ex Red Wing News) Dimitri Buchelnikov(2nd round’22) has a new teammate ex red wing Daniel Sprong. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/HcpQadOTPg
— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) July 23, 2025
Sprong has played 374 NHL games with seven different clubs. He split last season between the Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Kraken, and New Jersey Devils. He accounted for two goals and five assists in 30 games. The Dutch-born forward was also good for 11-14-25 numbers in 19 AHL games with the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Scored 18 Goals For The Red Wings
The Red Wings brought Sprong aboard as a UFA in the summer of 2023 on a one-year pact. His 18 goals and 43 points accounted for the second-best season of his NHL career.
Sprong would display a deadly accurate shot and rapid release that made him an effective power-play performer. On the other hand, his five-on-five work without the puck and shyness in physical battles made playing Sprong a liability against the NHL’s better and heavier squads.
Daniel Sprong has signed in the KHL.
Sprong scored 5v5 goals at the 17th-most efficient rate of any player in the NHL over the course of his career. He never got more than 4th line minutes and played for 8 teams across 374 games. pic.twitter.com/2fLwYLWoB5
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) July 23, 2025
He came to Detroit off a spectacular season during his first tenure with the Kraken. Over the 2022-23 season, Sprong would produce career highs with 21 goals and 46 points in 66 games. He was also an impressive plus-13. By contrast, Sprong was minus-five in his lone season with the Red Wings.
An unrestricted free agent for the third successive summer, this time around, Sprong wasn’t locating any NHL suitors for his services. That being the case, he made the decision to look across to Europe.