DETROIT -- The one voice that just might matter most within the Penguins' evaluation of Daniel Sprong sounded plenty displeased Wednesday night.
"You know ... he hasn't really stood out like we would hope right now," Mark Recchi began a reply to a question about Sprong following the 3-2 overtime loss to the Red Wings on Wednesday night at Little Caesars Arena. "But you know, we've got to keep working with him, keep getting him games, keep getting him comfortable here."
After a slight pause, Recchi added, "He's a good young player. We expect more. And we expect that we'll get that 'more.' He'll have lots of opportunity in the next four games."
That's how many remain in the preseason.
Through the first two, Sprong, easily the pivotal figure in this camp in terms of what he could bring to the lineup versus what he might actually bring, had an assist Tuesday in an up-and-down showing against Buffalo and went without a point Wednesday, recording a shot, a hit and a giveaway in 17:27 of ice time.
Mike Sullivan is away from the team for the funeral of his father. Recchi and Jacques Martin, his assistants, have been running the bench in his absence, as well as dividing the media sessions.
It's Recchi who unquestionably knows Sprong best, as I detailed in my column from Buffalo, having worked in the Penguins' development department and, thus, with Sprong, since he was their second-round draft pick in 2015. Recchi's been hard on Sprong over the years but invariably honest, according to both. As Sprong told me before the Buffalo game, "He’s helped me a lot. He’s really gotten me focused on the parts of my game he wants me to do better."
This was no exception, judging by how evident it was that Recchi was holding back while speaking those words above:
I've known Recchi back to his Hall of Fame playing days. He's a man of few words, of choice words. He knew exactly what he wanted to say, as well as how, as well as why.
I can't blame him in the slightest.
In this game, Sprong connected on several smart passes skating on a line with former AHL linemates Teddy Blueger and Adam Johnson and, together, they created the bulk of the Penguins' chances on the night. But that didn't wash out the occasional lapses, including failing to support the puck during a sustained attack, which has been Sullivan's biggest issue with Sprong for two-plus years. Nor did it wash out passing up multiple opportunities to shoot, in effect holstering his greatest weapon. Nor did it wash out having his head down while stickhandling deep in the defensive zone, only to have noted hitman Justin Abdelkader clean his clock.
It was the second time he'd been decked in as many nights.
I spoke one-on-one with Sprong afterward at his locker stall, this before Recchi's group interview outside in the hallway, and it was easy to tell he wished the night had gone better.
"Yeah, we had some good looks as a line, and it helped that we played together in Wilkes-Barre," Sprong told me. "I thought in the first and third periods, we had some really good looks and chances. The second was ... kind of back-and-forth, not any real O-zone time or anything. But I thought as a line, we did really good."
I'm not going to weigh in much here. I've made my stance on Sprong known for years: He's got all the talent to put up 40 goals in the NHL without a soul being surprised. But he's also got this strange, spread-out playing style that might always confound and irritate those around him and, more important by far, prevent him from getting the shots he needs to get all those goals.
It's a hell of a quandary for all concerned, but especially now since he's entering his first season in which he's got to stay in Pittsburgh -- he'd never clear waivers to go back -- and, within that, he's got to play. Because if he's in Pittsburgh and isn't playing, he'll be stunted, and that helps no one.
To repeat this for maybe the billionth time: He's anything but dumb. He's anything but lazy. He's anything but insubordinate. He's just been playing the game a certain way his whole life, and the change isn't exactly coming without bumps.
It's incumbent on everyone to make it work. There's ample reason to have faith in all of these particular parties.
• Another thing I like about Recchi calling out Sprong is that it's good for the fan base, I think, to hear that from a voice other than Sullivan's. This isn't about a coach picking on a young guy. It's about several coaches trying to make him better.
• The most fun players to watch and the easiest players to notice were both on Sprong's line, for what it's worth.
Blueger's Igor Quotient -- a just-for-fun term I once used many years ago to describe players who always get a good result from their touches, a la Igor Larionov -- is really high for a center projected for the Penguins' fourth line. He gets the puck, then, despite limited speed, quickly puts the puck into the next best place it can be. That's not common.
And Johnson was just blazing vapor trails up the left wing, including poking free for two partial breakaways, one sprung by Sprong and the other on a beautiful backhand chip by Blueger. If not for the Red Wings' breathtaking Dylan Larkin, he'd have been the fastest player on either side.
"He can really go," Sprong said of Johnson. "He's great at stretching the ice."
At least twice, Martin moved down the bench to pat Johnson on the shoulder.
• Jack Johnson made his semi-debut for the Penguins, though it was preseason, and he still sounded stoked: "I'm excited to be out here playing. I'm happy to be with Justin Schultz. I'm happy to have a game under my wing now. I'm just happy."
He's really like that.
I've gathered much, much more on the subject of the pairing of Johnson and Schultz, and that'll be on the site first thing Friday morning. For now, suffice it to say they acquitted themselves well and, as they have all through camp, looked natural together. And that hasn't been an accident.
This will be fun to write, actually. I just want a little time to do it justice.
• Give it up for Tristan Jarry. Facing most of the Red Wings' real lineup, as Casey DeSmith did the night before in Buffalo, he stood equally tall and, befitting his superior athleticism, made at least a handful of saves better than any DeSmith had.
The difference, as ever with Jarry, is focus. So, when he lapsed out on Detroit's tying goal midway through the third period by old friend Jussi Jokinen -- he thought he had the puck in his sweater, then froze for some reason and put his head down while the puck skipped out to Jokinen -- it might have been a reminder of the work he still needs to do.
• Derek Grant and Ryan Haggerty scored the Penguins' goals.
Grant's came 18 seconds into the second period, following an authoritative rush by Bryan Rust -- who continues to show spectacular wheels -- and a smart feed from below the goal line by Dominik Simon:
This was Haggerty's, at 9:02 of the same period:
That's a nice snipe there for a 25-year-old still working on an AHL-only contract.
Clark Donatelli, head coach at Wilkes-Barre, told our Taylor Haase this about Haggerty: "He plays hard, he's going to the net, he's got a great NHL shot ... He's playing the right way. Not just the scoring. He's getting in on the forecheck, he's playing physical, he's blocking shots, his wall play's good."
• The assist on the latter went to Calen Addison, the second-round pick in camp who's been amusingly paired with Jamie Oleksiak -- Addison is roughly the size of one of Oleksiak's legs -- but has shown smooth skating, striking confidence and maturity miles beyond his 18 years.
"This has probably been the best experience of my life, probably," Addison said afterward. "Putting on that jersey for the first real time in a game was special. I'm just overwhelmed by the whole game, by being here, by being able to play ... so ... I'm just thankful for the opportunity. I can't thank them enough for allowing me to play."
By that, Addison suggested he knew it's rare for a draft pick to appear in a preseason game the same summer. They'll be invited to camp, but that's generally it.
Recchi made clear it was well deserved.
"He was very impressive," Recchi said of Addison in this game. "He's going to get stronger and stronger, and he'll be a really good player. He has great composure for a young defenseman."
• Oleksiak's been tremendous from Day 1, by the way. In one stirring sequence of the first period -- and by stirring I mean that it might have stirred any of the dozens who bothered attending amid a sea of empty red seats -- Oleksiak drove his left shoulder cleanly into the chest of the Red Wings' Michael Rasmussen, bowling him over, then bolted up ice to lead the resulting rush.
• Let the record show Addison had one of those, too, leveling the Red Wings' Christoffer Ehn, although Ehn had been down in a crouch. But hey.
• Never let anyone wear No. 51 again. Poor Joseph Cramarossa, the journeyman left winger cursed to wear Derrick Pouliot's old digits, made two ghastly giveaways in the defensive zone, then left the ice in the second period with a serious-looking injury to his left arm. There was no immediate update on his status.
• Let the record show that someone from Penn State scored for Detroit. That was Trevor Hamilton with the long-range point flick late in the second period, and man, it just doesn't yet roll off the tongue -- or keyboard -- to talk about NHL players from Penn State, does it? But it's a credit to Guy Gadowsky's program and the magnificent arena in State College that it'll get that way before long.
• The Penguins are off Thursday. As in completely off. No camp. No scrimmage. No game. Nothing at all. They'll be back at it with two practices Friday in Cranberry, beginning at 10:10 a.m. And I'll remind: Those are free and open to the public. If you've never been, it's a perspective unlike any other.