sprong

SCOUTS BUZZ ON DANIEL SPRONG

Daniel Sprong has shown Penguin coaches and team officials through almost a week of camp that he has qualities to play in the NHL right now, notably an NHL shot and a great ability to see ice that head coach Mike Johnston has marveled out.

The real evaluation period for Sprong will start in preseason games 5-8 once rosters are no longer watered down.

There is some sense among scouts and team officials that another year in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League won’t do much good for Sprong’s development in critical areas he needs to improve. That has Sprong getting an audition on a nine-game tryout being something that will be more strongly considered in the coming weeks than almost anyone in the organization anticipated when the Penguins drafted Sprong in June.

“He’s mature enough where there might be [hide] nothing to lose,” a high ranking official said of Sprong on Tuesday. “You always need to be cautious and not get caught up in the moment [but] competing against NHL players has forced Daniel to learn how to play away from the puck and it’s been great at how he’s picked things up so quickly. Some kids need to be pushed by stronger competition to properly develop and we might be seeing that with Daniel.”

Sprong’s draft stock was hurt by bad habits and too much roller hockey 1-on-1 type play. What he’s done in Penguins camp is identify that he has to change the way he plays (away from the puck) to make it at a higher level and that’s the disappointing part for some in the organization as it’s hard for players of Sprong’s skill level to get rid of the bad habits in juniors when they do pretty much what they want with the puck offensively.

An amateur scout who watched Sprong frequently last season agreed that getting away from the ‘Q’ would be good for him.

“To be blunt he needs to get the hell out of the ‘Q’. The [transfer] rules are a disservice to Daniel,” the scout said.

What is meant by the rules being a disservice to Sprong is the Penguins have to either keep Sprong on the NHL roster or send him back to juniors. He can’t play in the American Hockey League because of his age when playing in the AHL would likely be the best for his development.

When it came to Kasperi Kapanen last season there wasn’t much upside in giving him a nine game tryout because he was already playing in a professional league overseas against men.

Sprong isn’t.

One feeling among some scouts and front office personnel is the QMJHL is the worst Canadian junior league when it comes to players being properly developed for the NHL.

Jonathan Droin in Tampa Bay is a great example of that. NHL types say he spent a year too long in the ‘Q’ and his overall game is still at the point where the Lightning don’t trust him on the ice in all situations. He was the third overall pick.

Is Daniel Sprong ready for the NHL? Probably not, but there’s incentive to keeping him around for the first couple weeks of the season when it comes to his development.

The Penguins enter the season with 11 locks at the forward position:

Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, Sergei Plotnikov, Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist, Pascal Dupuis, Nick Bonino, David Perron, Beau Bennett, Matt Cullen.

Eric Fehr starting the season on long-term injured reserve opens the door for Sprong to push his way on to the roster in October.

TONIGHT’S LINEUP VS DETROIT | TIME 7:30 P.M. | ROOT SPORTS

4 Rob Scuderi D

11 Kevin Porter F

12 Ben Lovejoy D

17 Bryan Rust F

19 Beau Bennett F

22 Kael Mouillierat F

27 Will O’Neill D

30 Matt Murray G

33 Reid McNeill D

34 Tom Kuhnhackl F

35 Tristan Jarry G

38 Niclas Andersen D

40 Oskar Sundqvist F

43 Conor Sheary F

46 Dominik Uher F

47 Tom Sestito F

49 Dominik Simon F

51 Derrick Pouliot D

55 Sergei Gonchar D

61 Sergei Plotnikov F

71 Evgeni Malkin F

72 Patric Hornqvist F
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