He specified Spooner with the grittiness, so that includes not being as soft and being better defensively.
I see what he's saying, and like you, I've seen Spooner a lot play for my team. Khusnutdinov looks more dynamic offensively than he produces. He skates well, he stick-handles pretty well, he's constantly in movement around the ice and he does have some scoring ability, but for a forward that the most reputable sources peg as below 5'10, he doesn't score enough to justify being a high-end guy.
Thats similar to Spooner. Spooner looks very dynamic, and does do some scoring, but you get the feeling watching him that he should produce better than he does. Khusnutdinov might end up the better player than Spooner because he plays more of a 200 foot game, but his game comes with risk.