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.