Saturday, February 22, 2025, 5:01PM |  31°
MENU
Advertisement
Daniel Sprong has shown goal-scoring potential, but the Penguins have concerns about his all-around game before they make him an NHL regular.
1
MORE

Penguins mailbag: Why isn't Daniel Sprong in the NHL?

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Penguins mailbag: Why isn't Daniel Sprong in the NHL?

Welcome to the March Madness edition of the Post-Gazette Penguins mailbag. Over the past few weeks, the Penguins have solidified their position as one of the top three teams in the Metropolitan Division and are in a good spot to get home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs as the first or second seed.

They’re coming off a clinical 3-1 win against Dallas on Sunday night after a frustrating loss in Toronto on Saturday. This next stretch will be a tough one, though. Of their next eight games, five will be on the road and five will be against divisional teams. It starts with a trip to Madison Square Garden to take on the Rangers on Wednesday night.

As always, you can ask questions for this mailbag by emailing swerner@post-gazette.com or Tweeting @SWernerPG. Some questions have been edited for length and clarity.

Advertisement

Away we go…

Matt Murray works out alone March. 2 at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry.
Sam Werner
Matt Murray, Bryan Rust making progress in return from concussions

Carl C.: Hi Sam,

So the question I have is Daniel Sprong. What's the story here on why we are not seeing him more?

The argument that he needs to work on his offense away from the puck argument seems like something he should be working on in NHL not the AHL. It also sounds like a smokescreen argument.

Advertisement

A few thoughts I'd throw in this are:

1. Daniel Sprong is 3rd in the AHL amongst rookies for points and goals. He is top 25 and a good number of those above him played more games. He's averaging about a point a game.

2. The most alive we have seen Sidney Crosby this season was when Sprong was on his wing. For that reason alone we should have Sprong up here.

3. When he was up with the big club he was very responsibly defensively and arguably one of the better defensive forwards at the time, his Corsi / Fenwick stats where probably unsustainably high but do bear out my statement about not being a liability.

Evgeni Malkin has a lot to celebrate so far in 2018.
Jason Mackey
20 Penguins Thoughts: Evgeni Malkin mature and masterful

So once again the question is, knowing all that and seeing the likes of Sheary being a liability defensively and not scoring at all hardly and other players who have played questionably at times, why is Daniel Sprong not up with the big club?

Sam: It really wouldn’t be a Penguins’ mailbag without a Daniel Sprong question off the bat. My colleague Jason Mackey addressed Sprong in his 20 Thoughts this week, but let’s dive into it here, as well.

The Josh Jooris call-up last week was probably as definitive a sign as any that Sprong won’t play a role for the Penguins’ playoff run over the next few weeks. Sure, there’s a chance he could get the call at some point before the end of the regular season, catch fire and lock down a spot in the lineup, but it doesn’t seem likely.

The issue — as Mike Sullivan, Jim Rutherford and others within the organization have said countless times — is Sprong’s all-around game and play away from the puck. As Bill Guerin told Jason, he has the ability to play well defensively, but doing it consistently is the bigger issue. Until that gets resolved, it’s hard to see the Penguins trusting Sprong in a high-stakes environment.

When Sprong was up in the NHL in early January, he had one great game against the Islanders but didn’t record a point in the other seven. Crosby had two even-strength goals and four even-strength assists over that eight-game span with Sprong on his line, which is good, but probably not great enough to demand another Sprong recall.

It’s also worth noting that Sprong’s goal-scoring has tailed off rather significantly recently in Wilkes-Barre. He has just one goal and eight assists in his last 14 games.

The other issue with trying to fit Sprong into the Penguins’ NHL lineup is there’s really only one place to put him: Crosby’s right wing. You don’t want to put him with Malkin, who has had so much success this year with straight-line players such as Carl Hagelin, Bryan Rust and Patric Hornqvist. You could theoretically put him with Derick Brassard, but the Penguins seem pretty committed to trying to make the Brassard/Kessel combination work for now. And you’re not putting him on the fourth line. That leaves Crosby’s wing, which limits what you can do with the rest of your lineup.

The Penguins still seem high on Sprong’s potential, but it’s hard to see a role for him down the stretch.


Danielle: what have you thought of Jooris (small sample size, i know) and do you think he can make a permanent spot on the 4th line?

Nick Vucic: What the heck do the Penguins want the identity of their 4th line to be?

Also, is Rust/Murray going to be back for the playoffs?

Sam: Jooris has been pretty solid through his first two games. He’s got a 56.3 Corsi For percentage (CF%), though obviously the caveat must be made about the tiny sample size. He plays a pretty simple game, but that works in between Tom Kuhnhackl and Carter Rowney. That group got a lot of run against the Stars on Sunday night, particularly late as the Penguins were trying to put that game away. This trio is probably the best defensive fourth line the Penguins have put out there in a while.

As for Jooris’ long-term potential with the Penguins, that ties into Nick’s second question. Long-term, Sullivan would probably want a bit more offensive potential that what the Kuhnhackl/Jooris/Rowney trio offers them. Kuhnhackl/Sheahan/Rowney hasn’t really clicked so far, but that still seems like the best-case scenario for the Penguins as a fourth line that can play well defensively, kill penalties and also chip in with some offense here and there.

The wild card here could be a guy like Dominik Simon when he comes back. I could see Simon taking one of those winger spots on the fourth line, along with Sheahan and Rowney or Kuhnhackl, and injecting some real speed and offense into that unit. Bryant Rust could also be a possibility there, but the Penguins would probably like to keep him a bit higher up the lineup.

As for Rust and Murray, I would expect them to both be back for the postseason, but concussions can be really fickle, so it’s hard to guarantee anything.


Laura Craska Cooper: I keep hoping Frank Corrado will be another great reclamation project on D. Wishful thinking?

Sam: I can’t say I’ve watched enough of Corrado in Wilkes-Barre this year to offer up too much of an opinion on his potential, but the idea that he can be an NHL defenseman down the road probably isn’t too out there.

He’s 24, so the next year or two are probably make-or-break time for him, but the Penguins have obviously done some good work with defensemen in that range over the last few years (see: Schultz, Justin and Oleksiak, Jamie). Corrado also fits the Penguins’ defenseman mold under Sullivan as a strong puck-mover.

Corrado’s biggest short-term problem is that he’s currently injured, and hasn’t played since Feb. 16 down in the AHL. Projecting forward, the issue might be more one of opportunity than anything else. The Penguins have seven defensemen signed through next season, with Jamie Oleksiak potentially coming back as a restricted free agent. Corrado would have to beat out two established NHL players (likely Matt Hunwick and Chad Ruhwedel) for a spot, and that seems like a pretty tall task for a guy with limited NHL experience.


Danielle: what have you thought of the 3rd line with Sheahan on it? Also Brassard and Kessel's chemistry??

Sam: The third line with Sheahan at the left wing has looked pretty good over the last couple of games, though I’m not sure how much of a long-term solution it is. It certainly speaks tho the amount of lineup flexibility Sullivan has right now, but I would imagine the Penguins see Sheahan as their fourth-line center once the postseason starts up.

The key factor here could be the health of Bryan Rust. We haven’t seen a Rust-Brassard-Kessel third line yet, which might be the most effective option the Penguins have there. Rust just has a tendency to make every line he plays on better. Take these top three lines:

Guentzel-Crosby-Sheary

Hagelin-Malkin-Hornqvist

Rust-Brassard-Kessel

That's probably the best-case scenario for the Penguins if everything is clicking. And then your fourth line can be Sheahan plus whatever combination of Simon, Kuhnhackl and Rowney (and maybe Zach Aston-Reese?) you want it to be.

As for Brassard and Kessel in general, I don’t think we’ve seen that much of a spark between them quite yet. That’s not to say it can’t happen — it may still be a bit too soon — but it doesn’t seem to be there quite yet. That said, I don’t think the Penguins are going to change it up any time soon. Malkin is playing so well right now away from Kessel, I don’t think you’d want to screw that up.


@hornqvist87: whats your take about the possibility of a flyers first round?

Sam: It’d be really, really fun. Those teams haven’t played in a playoff series since the infamous 2012 first-round matchup, so they’re due. This one would certainly be a lot different, especially because the Penguins seems way, way less likely to indulge the Flyers with all the after-the-whistle stuff that series entailed. It’d probably be a fun series, with lots of action up and down the ice both ways.

All that said, though, the Flyers probably wouldn’t scare me too much if I were the Penguins. The Devils are really the only team the Penguins could face in the first round that has given them problems these year, and they seem to be fading a bit. Maybe Florida could be tricky, but they’ve still got some work to do to get in that position.

If it’s Penguins/Flyers in the first round, I’d probably take the Penguins in six.


Adam Tiska: With Oleksiak’s solid play, what do you think he’s gonna get come this summer??

Sam: That’s an interesting question. Oleksiak is an arbitration-eligible, restricted free agent after this season. He makes $964,688 but is probably due for a relatively significant raise this summer.

Exactly how much that raise is probably is still somewhat to be determined by Oleksiak’s play over the next couple of months. As things stand, I’d probably put him somewhere between $2 million and $2.5 million per year, with some wiggle room on either side. As far as term, it’s possible the Penguins try to lock him up long-term, depending on his demands, but that would give them six defensemen signed to long-term deals. That sounds nice in theory, but also doesn’t give you a whole lot of roster flexibility. Something shorter-term probably makes more sense for them if they can make it work.

The Penguins will also have to pay Rust as an RFA (as well as Kuhnhackl), so it’ll be tight under the salary cap (as it always is with them). But with the cap expected to rise, they should be able to fit it all in.

Sam Werner: swerner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SWernerPG

First Published: March 12, 2018, 7:08 p.m.

RELATED
Dean Schreiner, left, and Dan Veltri, employees of Advance Signs, install facing for the Covestro logo in 2016. CMU students are using materials from Covestro, the German plastics maker which has its North American headquarters in Robinson, to make ice rinks safer for the Pittsburgh Penguins and other players.
Joyce Gannon
Penguins challenge CMU students to help create safer ice rinks
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
The University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning
1
business
Amid funding uncertainty, Pitt pauses doctoral admissions
2
business
How much can retirees safely withdraw from their nest eggs? Financial experts weigh in.
Steelers receiver Calvin Austin III, left, celebrates with teammate George Pickens after scoring a 23-yard touchdown against the Cleveland Browns during the fourth quarter in the game at Huntington Bank Field on November 21, 2024.
3
sports
Steelers position analysis: Is there a path forward at wide receiver with George Pickens?
Preston Coleman, 52, was beaten and strangled inside an Aliquippa VFW on Jan. 5, 2025, in what police described as a vicious, unprovoked attack.
4
news
Bartender working at Aliquippa VFW during beating that left man unconscious facing charges
Vice President JD Vance swears in Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense.
5
opinion
David Mills: Why Christians cheer Donald Trump and his destructive crusade
Daniel Sprong has shown goal-scoring potential, but the Penguins have concerns about his all-around game before they make him an NHL regular.  (Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)
Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
Advertisement
LATEST sports
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story