Daniel Sprong showed the Penguins enough in junior hockey that they traded up to get him in the 2015 draft.
Enough in training camp that they kept him on the major league roster.
Enough in his first nine games as a pro that they were willing to burn the first year of his entry-level contract to keep him in the NHL.
It still isn’t clear, however, what Sprong must do to claim a regular spot in the lineup.
He was a healthy scratch for seven of the Penguins’ first 21 games — that’s an even third of them — and entered the weekend having spent three consecutive games in street clothes.
Sprong’s game is very much a work in progress and there’s no question that players, especially young ones, can benefit from watching games from the press box occasionally. That doesn’t mean it’s wise to turn Sprong into a well-compensated season ticket-holder.
His personal stats entering the weekend were pedestrian — two goals and no assists in 14 games — but his ice time was even more modest. He was averaging 9:16 per game; no fewer than 640 NHLers had played more when they were in uniform.
Sprong will — and must — get better defensively, but he takes working in his own end seriously. He certainly has not been a conspicuous liability there.
With the Penguins struggling to manufacture goals for much of the season, adding a winger with a history of scoring them to the lineup would seem like a logical move.
The Penguins have three veterans — Phil Kessel, Patric Hornqvist and Beau Bennett — ahead of Sprong on the depth chart at right wing, his position of choice, and rightly so.
But while it can be quite risky to deploy a young player on his off-wing when he has limited experience there, Sprong actually has looked comfortable on the left side, and should get work there if there’s not a top-nine spot for him at right wing.
And if the Penguins can’t carve out a regular spot for him, returning Sprong to his junior team, Charlottetown in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, might be best for all concerned.
Sure, there’s a chance he would pick up some bad habits playing against less-accomplished competition, but that probably wouldn’t impede his development as much as sitting out so many games in the NHL.
Hello, old friend
Ben Lovejoy will share a sheet of ice with Cam Fowler, his defense partner in Anaheim, Dec. 6 for the first time since the Penguins reacquired Lovejoy from the Ducks March 2.
Lovejoy, whom the Penguins traded to Anaheim Feb. 6, 2013, recalls being paired with Fowler for a game against Edmonton, and those two quickly becoming a go-to defensive tandem.
“From then on, that was sort of our role,” Lovejoy said. “We were playing against the other team’s fastest line.
“We were able to develop some chemistry. He had sort of been struggling up to that point, and I really wasn’t a successful hockey player at that point in my career.
“We were able to grow together and make an impact on a pretty good Anaheim team.”
Tweet of the Week
“He’s not superstitious, he’s just a little stitious.” — @GabElizabeth8, on Sidney Crosby discarding his helmet during warm-ups before two recent games.
The Week Ahead
Tuesday: at San Jose … Penguins must be hoping Sharks defenseman Brent Burns calls off sick after the game he had against them Nov. 21 at Consol Energy Center.
Saturday: at Los Angeles … The Penguins’ California vacation is interrupted by a game for the first time in four days.
Dave Molinari: dmolinari@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MolinariPG.
First Published: November 29, 2015, 5:00 a.m.