Blueger’s work ethic paying off
lists of the team’s top prospects. It took the Latvian center another three years to make his NHL debut with the Penguins.
“I thought then I was pretty good, but looking back on it now, I probably wasn’t very good at all,” he said, with a laugh. “Obviously, I was far from making the NHL back then. I still had a long way to go. It took some time to get here.”
Blueger, who became an NHL regular this season, is the perfect example of a Penguins prospect. They picked him eight years ago, let him develop at the NCAA level for a few years then welcomed him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He continued to grow at the American Hockey League level, with little fanfare.
When they called up Blueger last season, when he was 24, they weren’t surprised he fit right in. But it took Matt Cullen’s retirement last summer for a fulltime role to open up. And 49 games later, Blueger is pushing for a bigger one.
Blueger, for all intents and purposes, has filed the Bonino role this season. Heck, on some nights these past couple of months, he played more than McCann, who was listed as the second-line center until Sidney Crosby returned last week.
Want to know what coach Mike Sullivan and the Penguins think about Blueger? Look at how they used him, along with gritty linemates Brandon Tanev and Zach Aston-Reese on his wings, in the 4-3 win Sunday against the Boston Bruins.
The Penguins often trusted the Blueger line to skate against Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak, one of the most lethal lines in hockey.
Blueger, like most centers, struggled against Bergeron in the faceoff circle. And the Penguins allowed a pair of high-danger scoring chances in those situations, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. But, in more than five minutes of 5on-5 ice time against Bergeron, Blueger and Co. kept that line off the scoreboard.
“Teddy’s line is hard to play against. They just compete hard,” Sullivan said. “We’ve used them in certain situations matchup-wise throughout the course of this season. He gets a lot of difficult starts in the defensive zone . ... Teddy’s line has played a valuable part in the success the team has enjoyed to this point.”
Blueger, Tanev and Aston-Reese — by far their most-used forward trio — have played more than 343 minutes together at 5-on-5 this season. Despite many minutes against top opposing players, they have a 51.7% shot share and have generated 55 high-danger chances compared to just 33 for the other guys.
That line has scored some big goals, too. Tanev had overtime winners against Montreal and Vegas, and Tanev and Blueger were heroes Jan. 12 in Arizona.
“They bring a unique identity to this group,” their coach said Sunday. “They’re a real good checking line. But they bring an offensive dimension, as well.”
Sullivan was talking about the whole line. But that summed up Blueger well.
When Blueger first arrived in Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton after four years at Minnesota State, he was typecast as a fourth-line grinder. But his offensive game blossomed in his twoplus seasons there. Blueger, with 21 goals in 45 games, was the leading scorer for the AHL club last season before the Penguins kept him here for good.
Blueger, who had a legendary work ethic in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, has spent countless hours improving his stride. He admits he has “a long way to go” and, sure, it doesn’t always look pretty. But he keeps up with the NHL’s pace.
The rest of his game has grown, too, since his first training camp in 2016. Just ask another Penguins center who had an eye on him that summer.
“He’s got a mature game. He’s able to create offensively, but he’s still really responsible defensively,” Crosby said. “I think he takes a lot pride in all those little things, things that maybe take guys a little more time to figure out. He seems to grasp it right away. He’s been a big part of our team in every area this year.”
Blueger, who buried his seventh goal of the season Sunday off Crosby’s crazy through-the-legs pass, has 17 points and a plus-4 rating this season. He is also a regular on a penalty-kill unit that ranked 14th entering Monday.
“As the season has progressed, I think I’ve gotten better and better,” Blueger said. “I’m getting more comfortable out there. The game is slowing down a bit, and I’m feeling more confident in terms of holding on to pucks and trying to make plays. I’m getting better at reading the game and knowing what to expect.”
The Penguins now have high expectations, too. On his radio show two weeks ago, general manager Jim Rutherford said Blueger “probably” is the next Bonino.
“He’s a really smart player. He’s probably the Nick Bonino replacement,” the GM said on his show on WXDX-FM (105.9). “He’s a lot like Bonino. He plays that role and he plays it well. And as time goes on and he gets more used to the league — because basically this is his first full season in the NHL — he will get better and better.”
The question is whether the Penguins will ask him to fill that role this spring.
Like all Cup hopefuls, they know they will need to roll four lines in the playoffs. So whether McCann, Bjugstad or someone else centers their other line remains a subject of intrigue. Obviously, Andrew Agozzino isn’t the answer.
But whether the Penguins list them as the third line or the fourth line on the fancy lineup graphics they tweet out before every game, it sure looks like the Blueger line is going to have a significant role when their next Cup chase begins.