Daniel Sprong is set for his first pro season overseas.

The 28-year-old winger inked a one-year contract with KHL team CSKA Moscow last month. After splitting the 2024-25 season between four separate NHL/AHL teams, Sprong had multiple suitors over in Russia but chose CSKA after some discussion with a few familiar faces from his past.

“He decided to play for CSKA from the first day, as soon as we started discussing different options,” Sprong’s agent, Aljoša Pilko, told Sport-Express’ Mikhail Zislis, per a translation by Google Translate. “My respect to Ak Bars for the offer they made. It was very good. But all the Russian Washington players that Sprong talked to advised him to move to the army club.”

Sprong played parts of three seasons in the Washington Capitals organization, two in the NHL (2020-2022) under head coach Peter Laviolette. While with the Caps, he was teammates with several Russian or Belarusian players, including captain Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, Ilya Samsonov, Aliaksei Protas, and Alex Alexeyev.

While all of those players have prior KHL experience, none of them have ever played for CSKA or Ak Bars. However, the location of the two teams probably played a big role as CSKA plays their games in the Russian capital city Moscow, also Ovechkin’s hometown, while Ak Bars plays eight hours east in the lesser-known Kazan.

The Capitals’ Russian contingent has previously advised a few other players seeking to sign in the KHL. Kuznetsov notably directed former Caps goaltender Zach Fucale to Traktor Chelyabinsk in 2023, while Ovechkin guided Dmitrij Jaskin to Dynamo Moscow in 2019.

Sprong will also reunite with a familiar face from his time with the Capitals on CSKA’s roster. Colby Williams, a 2015 sixth-round pick of the Caps, was a member of the AHL’s Hershey Bears when Sprong played five games on the Bears during the 2019-20 season. Williams is headed into his third season in Moscow.

Sprong struggled for any stability this past year, as he was traded by the Vancouver Canucks to the Seattle Kraken, sent down to the Coachella Valley Firebirds after being waived, and then traded again to the New Jersey Devils. In 30 NHL games, he recorded just seven points (2g, 5a).

Over the course of his NHL career, Sprong has posted 166 points (87g, 79a) in 374 games for the Capitals, Canucks, Kraken, Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, and Detroit Red Wings.