ANAHEIM, Calif. — Somebody apparently failed to talk enough turkey during the planning stages of Kraken forward Daniel Sprong seeking an immigration visa ahead of Wednesday’s season opener.
The native of the Netherlands, who moved to Canada for his hockey development as a child but never obtained citizenship there or in the U.S., was the surprise of Kraken training camp and made the team just days ago after initially being invited only on a professional tryout basis. Problem is, Sprong’s immigration paperwork as a non-U.S. citizen intending to work in this country expired at September’s end.
So, the Kraken arranged a meeting for him last Friday at the U.S. Consular General’s office in Calgary — which handles all visa requests for Alberta and neighboring Saskatchewan — the day of the team’s final preseason game in Edmonton just 185 miles to the north. The Kraken had been staying all week in the resort town of Kananaskis, just west of Calgary, so the plan was for Sprong to remain behind for his appointment, get his visa, rejoin teammates in Edmonton for that night’s game and fly back to Seattle with them on the Kraken’s charter immediately after.
Players from the NHL, NBA, NHL and MLB typically are issued a P-1 visa to play in the U.S. if they show they have a major league contract. Once Sprong was offered a one-year, two-way contract midway through camp and it became clear he would make the NHL squad, the Kraken applied for an expedited P-1 on his behalf. They received an approval notice and had his Friday consular interview meeting arranged where he hoped to be given the visa.
A Kraken source said Wednesday that Sprong had all his paperwork for the meeting. But consular officials told him his case file details had yet to be entered into what’s called a Petition Information Management Service (PIMS) system, which needed to happen, so they could verify that his application had indeed been approved — showing paper approval isn’t enough — before issuing the visa.
Such delays are common and can take 3-to-5 business days to rectify.
It didn’t help that Sprong was bumping up against a weekend — and a long one, as Monday happened to be Thanksgiving in Canada.
“It wasn’t on our end,” a Kraken source with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday. “It was just because it happened to be a long weekend that it all got pushed back.”
So, the Kraken sticking Sprong into their opening-night lineup needed to wait. Instead of flying back to Seattle after playing in Friday’s game in Edmonton — and scoring a goal — he remained in Canada over the long weekend until the person working on getting his case details uploaded into PIMS returned to work on Tuesday.
Sprong was finally given a Wednesday appointment time back at the consulate in Calgary so officials could verify his approved status through PIMS. But he was told he’d need to wait for an official email telling him to come pick up his visa.
The Kraken are hoping Sprong gets the email by Thursday morning — but there are no guarantees of that — so he can obtain his visa and fly to Los Angeles from Calgary for the team’s second regular-season game. They’ve reserved two flights for him — one direct to Los Angeles and another one connecting through Vancouver, British Columbia — just in case the email arrives in time.
Wright makes official debut
With weeks of training-camp scrutiny already surrounding center Shane Wright, the Kraken’s top draft pick this summer, it was easy to overlook that Wednesday night constituted his first official NHL game. The 18-year-old had already run the gamut of emotions ahead of his first preseason game against Calgary back on Sept. 27, but admitted he still felt plenty of jitters heading into Wednesday’s opener.
“I’m really, really excited, that’s the biggest thing,” Wright said. “Most of the emotions I’m feeling right now are that I’m really excited for this. It is something that I’ve looked forward to my whole life and the day is finally here.”
Wright’s parents, Simon and Tanya, who flew from their Toronto-area home to Seattle to visit with him during training camp, attended the game at the Honda Center.
Wright centered a line with wingers Ryan Donato and Karson Kuhlman. He said the five preseason games he played in certainly helped get him ready for the opener.
“It helped me get used to the speed and the energy and also just being a pro — the daily life,” he said. “The day to day life and being in the locker room and helping show me how to prepare my body and recover properly and all that.”
As for last minute words of advice from teammates? “The biggest thing is you only get one first NHL game,” Wright said. “So, make it worthwhile and enjoy every second of it.”
Notes
- The Kraken spent recent days practicing their 5-on-3 power play situations in which Andre Burakovsky and Jared McCann would replace first unit regulars Alex Wennberg and Donato. They got a chance to put that practice to work midway through the opening period Wednesday when the Ducks went two men down for 37 seconds.
The Kraken didn’t score with the two-man edge, but the modified unit remained on the ice when the first Duck returned and McCann notched a regular 5-on-4 power play goal with a wrist shot from the left circle.
- Kraken center Morgan Geekie was a late scratch for Wednesday’s game after participating in the morning skate and pregame warmups. Yanni Goude, who had been playing wing in the preseason, shifted back to center in Geekie’s absence on a line between Brandon Tanev and Jordan Eberle.