Penguins Ink Blueger to Two-Year Extension

In his first significant personnel move of the summer, Penguins general manager Ron Hextall signed center Teddy Blueger to a two-year contract extension worth $4.4 million, with an average annual value of $2.2 million.

“Teddy has proven to be a versatile, two-way center, as well as a fixture on the penalty kill,” said Hextall. “He is a valuable player for our team.”

The signing short hopped a potential arbitration hearing for the restricted free agent. The 26-year-old native of Riga, Latvia, earned $750,000 in each of the past two seasons.

Blueger, indeed, enjoyed a solid season in 2020-21. Decent enough when filling in on the third line and terrific as a fourth-line center, he tallied seven goals and 22 points in 43 games, a highly respectable 13-goal, 42-point pace over a full 82-game slate. Numbers all the more impressive when you consider he and linemates Zach Aston-Reese and Brandon Tanev served primarily in a shutdown role, as witnessed by Blueger’s paltry share of offensive zone starts (31.6 percent).

One of the black-and-gold’s top penalty killers as Hextall noted, Blueger paced the club with three short-handed goals, including a spectacular 3-on-5 effort versus the Capitals on January 19. Although still a work in progress in the faceoff circle, Teddy improved rather dramatically, winning 48.7 percent of his draws. Up from 45.1 the season before.

In terms of intangibles, he’s regarded as one of the Pens’ most diligent players and hardest workers, both on and off the ice. The 6’0” 185-pounder even displayed a feisty side, dropping the gloves twice (although not very successfully).

Still, there’s some question as to whether the speedy forward will be among the seven forwards protected prior to the upcoming expansion draft. Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Kasperi Kapanen, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust are virtual locks to be shielded. Which leaves only two available slots for Blueger, Aston-Reese, Tanev, Jeff Carter, Jared McCann and Jason Zucker.

If Teddy isn’t on the Pens’ protected list for the upcoming expansion draft, due to be submitted no later than Saturday? At $2.2 million a year, he could he be an attractive target for Seattle Kraken GM Ron Francis.

Stay tuned.