The Kraken’s most recent forward acquisition (that was in fact a re-acquisition) finally gets a chance to re-don his old sweater, as Daniel Sprong’s visa has finally been cleared, and he is available to play against the New York Islanders and Rangers, according to Dan Bylsma:
Sprong, as a Dane, is not a Canadian or US citizen, and as such occasionally has had visa issues that have kept him out of games (not by choice) once already with the Kraken; as back in the 2022-23 season his previous paperwork expired weeks prior signing and needed to be resubmitted, before he took off and had his 46 point season. This time felt like one that was particularly frustrating, as they’ve tried expediting it by getting him a P-1A Passport, which is done generally for foreign-born athletes…but Monday was a federal holiday, and thus was delayed again.
Anybody who’s tried to apply for a Passport with a trip looming in the next three weeks can feel this particular pain and deeply.
For his part, Dan Bylsma has both been extremely patient, and had a sense of humor about the whole thing; suggesting that he’s been taking the long route to Seattle via hitchhiking with a stick-and-bindle. One must truly marvel at the idea of a Danish fella with a bunch of hockey bags trying to catch a ride on the side of I-5 South.
Maybe he offered to teach people how to say Rødgrød med fløde properly.
There’s also talk of another roster move incoming as the Kraken wait on more concrete details of what Jordan Eberle’s time of return looks like. We’ll have more details on that as they emerge.
I think I can speak for everyone by saying three things in closing:
- Welcome back to the Deep, Daniel!
- I hope this heralds another absolute ripper of a season on your part!
- For Pete’s sake…SET A REMINDER ON YOUR CALENDAR APP FOR THESE KINDS OF THINGS, DUDE. Do you REALLY want to be doing drills in a BCHL rink again waiting for the US Government to print a piece of paper rather than playing NHL games?