Many Penguins fans clamored for Teddy Blueger to get his shot at the NHL during the Penguins' search for a third-line center, but the 23-year-old says that he's still focusing on improving his game in Wilkes-Barre.
Growing up in Latvia, a young Blueger used to wake up in the middle of the night to watch the "big games" in the NHL, something he said has been "the dream ever since I can remember."
Searching for the best place to carve out a path to the NHL, Blueger moved to America at 14.
After attending Shattuck-St. Mary's for three years, the prestigious boarding school that produced such talent as Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews, he was drafted by the Penguins in the second round in 2012.
During his time in high school, his focus was the offensive side of the game. His final year at Shattuck-St. Mary's, he recorded 24 goals and 64 points in only 51 games. Then-Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting Randy Sexton said that "the offensive upside on him is very, very high.”
If Blueger was going to succeed in the Penguins' system, though, he knew he had to reinvent his game.
"My coach kind of pulled me aside and said, 'If you're going to make it in the pro game, you've got to be able to defend,' " he told me. "You know, I realized, in Pittsburgh you're pry not going to beat out Malkin or Crosby. So, you're going to have to be a bottom-6 forward."
He worked on developing the defensive side of his game throughout college, including becoming a responsible player on the penalty kill, a role he still has in Wilkes-Barre. The change, he says, adds a lot of value to his game at this level.
"If you're versatile like that, if you can chip in offensively and responsible defensively and kill penalties, you're going to have a lot of ice time," he said. "The coach is going to be able to trust you."
During the Penguins' training camp, development coach Scott Young praised him for his overall game, and the ability to take away passing lanes.
Coaches throughout Blueger's career have lauded his vision and his strong hockey IQ in his decision-making. One of Blueger's other main strengths is his stickhandling ability, something that may be a product of Blueger modeling his game after that of Pavel Datsyuk.
Blueger showed off his hands in his game-winning goal on Wednesday, his league-leading third overtime goal of the season.
Still, the main thing that may be holding Blueger back from taking that next step is his skating.
During training camp, the higher-ranking team officials told DKPittsburghSports.com that they don’t think he’ll be ready for the NHL until he gets stronger in the lower body and core muscles. While they love his cleverness with the puck, especially in tight quarters, they feel that he would wear down in the NHL without additional strength.
After some power-skating work over the summer, Blueger feels that his skating is making progress.
"I think it's definitely improved," he said, "I still think there's a long way to go. I definitely feel a lot better skating-wise than I did last year."
He realizes the importance of continuing to improve his skating if he wants to make the jump to the NHL.
"It's kind of the modern game, all the best teams are fast," he said. "So you've got to be able to skate out there. That's one of the most important aspects of the game, and you've got to keep up. That's why I've got to keep working on my skating."
Blueger saw a lot of success with the offensive side of the game in the first half of the season -- his 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) are tied for third on the team -- but it is still something he wants to focus on developing.
"Scoring has kind of been a bit secondary, I guess," he said of his focus. "But obviously it's great to score and contribute, and score any chance you get," he said. "I think when the offensive opportunity presents itself, I try to take advantage of it."
Blueger said that he definitely keeps an eye on the roster needs in Pittsburgh, especially when the team was searching for a third-line center.
"You, for sure, think about it," he said about a potential call-up. "Obviously that's your goal, your dream, it's been like that for so long. You definitely think about it, but you can't necessarily control that type of thing. You have to focus on controlling what you can control, which is how you play. I think if I play well and I can do that consistently, I'll get my chance sooner or later."
"As much as you maybe want to think about, 'Oh, maybe they'll call me up now,' I think that kind of takes the focus from playing well," he continued. "It can be kind of a long process, but you've got to stick with it, and just play well game after game after game, and then you'll get your chance."
MORE FROM WILKES-BARRE
• Jan. 3: vs. Bridgeport, 3-2 overtime win
• Jan. 5: vs. Springfield, 4-2 win
• Jan. 6: vs. Belleville, 6-0 win
• Casey DeSmith and Daniel Sprong were named to the Atlantic Division roster for the 2018 AHL All-Star Classic. You can read more about that here.
• Sprong was also named the AHL Rookie of the Month for December after scoring nine goals and five assists in the month's 12 games.
• DeSmith was held out of Wednesday's game as a precaution, in the event that Pittsburgh needed to recall him. As a result, the Penguins signed Sebastien Caron, 37, to a tryout agreement. Caron retired in 2016 with 95 NHL games on his resume, most of them with Pittsburgh. He dressed as the backup, and was released the next day. Tyler Piccotti shared this video of Caron talking about his experience:
Here's a little of what Caron had to say after the game. Also a nice videobomb from Jarred Tinordi. pic.twitter.com/9rvs2EqnpA
— Tyler Piccotti (@CVPiccotti) January 4, 2018
• Jarred Tinordi's fight with Springfield's Edward Wittchow might just be the team's fight of the year:
• With Saturday's win, the Penguins extended their win streak to five games. Their season high is six games, from Oct. 15 to Nov. 3.
• DeSmith's win on Saturday was his second shutout of the season.
• Christian Thomas, a candidate for Team Canada's Olympic roster, had a big weekend, scoring three goals and tallying one assist on Friday and Saturday.
• Lines and defense pairings from Saturday:
Zach Aston-Reese - Jean-Sebastien Dea - Ryan Haggerty
Garrett Wilson - Greg McKegg - Christian Thomas
Adam Johnson - Teddy Blueger - Colin Smith
Freddie Tiffels - Jarrett Burton - Thomas Di Pauli
Jarred Tinordi - Zach Trotman
Andrey Pedan - Kevin Czuczman
Chris Summers - Ethan Prow
• The Penguins (21-10-2-1) are back in second place in the Atlantic Division after continuing their win streak, trailing the Providence Bruins.
• Wilkes-Barre will be on the road this weekend with an opportunity to move into first place. They'll face the Belleville Senators (14-20-0-3) on Friday, and the Laval Rocket (15-16-52) on Saturday.
GOALS OF THE WEEK
Dea's second goal on Saturday is by far the goal of the week. Just, wow:
SAVE OF THE WEEK
Anthony Peters pulled out all the stops to keep the puck out of the net on Wednesday:
TOP PICK TRACKER
• Defenseman Zachary Lauzon (second round, 2017) is still suffering from a neck injury, but is making progress towards a return to Rouyn-Noranda. He hasn't played since Nov. 26.
• Forward Kasper Bjorkqvist (second round, 2016) had two goals and an assist in Providence College's two wins this week, bringing his season total to nine goals and three assists in 22 games. Our Lance Lysowski spoke one-on-one with Bjorkqvist during the Three Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh.
• Goaltender Filip Gustavsson (second round, 2016) won silver with Sweden during the World Junior Championships in Buffalo, and was named the best goaltender of the tournament. Gustavsson finished the tournament with a 4-1 record, a 1.81 goals against average and a .924 save percentage. On Sweden's loss to Canada in the Final, he said, "it feels empty."
• Defenseman Connor Hall (third round, 2016) was held scoreless and was a overall minus-2 in three games for Kitchener this week, his first full week since returning from a shoulder injury.
WHEELING WATCH
Tomorrow's feature will take a look at Jaynen Rissling, nephew of former Penguin Gary.
PROSPECT FUN THING
Tom Kostopoulos is still out with a long-term injury, but that didn't stop him from showing up at the Pens and Pins charity event on Sunday!
