SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Kraken reacquired Daniel Sprong on Friday in a trade with their cross-border rivals, the Vancouver Canucks, sending future considerations back in return for the well-traveled forward.
Sprong, 27, had just three points and averaged under 12 minutes of ice time in nine games with Vancouver. He spent the end of the 2021-22 season and all of ’22-23 with Seattle before playing last year with Detroit.
“Hopefully this gives us a little jolt to get things going in the right direction,” Seattle general manager Ron Francis said.
The Kraken are looking for an offensive spark after losing nine of their first 14 games. Sprong had his best NHL season with them, setting career highs with 21 goals and 46 points and matching his best assist total with 25.
“Obviously we’ve been struggling to score some goals lately, so we’ve been looking at that,” Francis said. “He knows our team, our locker room. We thought it was a low-risk gamble to give him a shot.”
Sprong has also previously suited up for Pittsburgh, Anaheim and Washington since making his debut in the league in 2015. He has 165 points in 366 regular-season and playoff games.
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Vancouver Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen (32) is congratulated by Daniel Sprong, center, and Carson Soucy (7) after defeating the San Jose Sharks in an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnight, the Health Ministry said early Thursday. The Israeli military said it had targeted a group of militants.
The strike hit a car outside the Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the territory. The journalists were working for the local Quds News Network.
The military said it targeted a group of fighters from Islamic Jihad, a militant group allied with Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023 attack into southern Israel ignited the war. Associated Press footage showed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings still visible on the back doors.
Several young men attended the funeral outside the hospital, many of them sobbing. The bodies were all wrapped in white shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says over 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds.
Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera network and accused six of its Gaza reporters of being militants. The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its war coverage, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties from Israeli military operations.
Separately, the military said a 35-year-old reserve soldier was killed during fighting in central Gaza early Thursday. A total of 389 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operation over a year ago.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border in a surprise attack on nearby army bases and farming communities. They killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel's air and ground offensive has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry. It says more than half the fatalities have been women and children but does not say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The offensive has caused widespread destruction and driven around 90% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps along the coast, with little protection from the cold, wet winter.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
A relative mourns over the body of one of the five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners react as they carry the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A relative mourns over the body of one of the five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and friends mourn over the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians, mostly journalists, gather around the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A woman reacts during the funeral of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
