The Pittsburgh Penguins need to see so much more from their depth centers.
It’s no secret that the Pittsburgh Penguins’ scoring depth has not passed the test this season. The team has gone as the stars have gone when it comes to scoring. If the top-six doesn’t produce, the Penguins have lost most nights.
To single out any singular player feels kind of wrong when guys like Jeff Carter, Danton Heinen, and Kasperi Kapanen have not scored at the rate the Penguins would expect middle-six guys to score. However, if you’re a Penguins fan, you’ve got to have a pretty big gripe with Teddy Blueger’s offensive output.
As fourth line center for much of his tenure in Pittsburgh, Blueger’s role was clearly defined. He is an elite penalty-killing forward and plays a really good brand of defensive hockey while being pretty good in the faceoff dot as well. That is all fine and dandy and something the Penguins and head coach Mike Sullivan surely appreciate.
However, Blueger will be a free agent at season’s end. He currently makes $2.2 million against the cap on a Penguins team full of underachieving offensive players making more money than their current production level warrants. Blueger’s offensive production has him fitting right in.
With Carter quietly but seemingly officially moved to the wing, Blueger has been elevated to the third-line center. Ryan Poehling returned on Sunday to center the fourth line. Josh Archibald is the final forward yet to return from injury. The current four center alignment figures to be the new norm when they get their full complement back.
Looking at Blueger’s current offensive production, he’s got one goal in 31 games. That production could certainly be higher for a fourth line center but as the third line center? That isn’t going to fly. He currently boasts a 2.7 shooting percentage on the year.
For context, no other regular forward on the Penguins sits lower than 5.9% and that figure is from Danton Heinen…who hasn’t scored since October. The next lowest figure is Bryan Rust at 8.6% and he’s taken the fifth most shots on the team this season so his figures to be more of a quantitative issue.
Blueger has 32 goals in 236 career NHL games so he isn’t lighting the lamp with any sort of rapid frequency across his career to date. However, he’s posted at least six goals in all four of his NHL seasons prior to this one and his pace won’t reach that this season.
The Penguins have been at their best when they can roll three and even ideally four lines that can score. They proved that in the early tenure of Mike Sullivan. In recent seasons, they’ve had a handful of passengers and Blueger has been no exception to that this season.
His defensive prowess and penalty-kill performance is a very valuable asset. However, players can be found from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and on the cheap in free agency - see Archibald, Josh - to fill that type of role. The Penguins can’t afford to pay a forward more than $2 million to score one goal halfway through the season.
Blueger took a high hit from Brenden Dillon last season that broke his jaw and saw him miss more than a month of play. Ever since his return, Blueger hasn’t been the same player. Management has privately expressed their frustration with his inability to get back to the level of play he was at prior to the injury.
Somehow, the Penguins are going to need Blueger to generate some more offense. If he is going to stick as the third line center for the remainder of the season, it’s going to be a requirement that he gets some offense going as the Penguins won’t go very far as a two-line team.
As far as his contract status for next year, his return may depend on if he can provide offense. Surely, he is a solid penalty killer and bottom-six guy but the Penguins traded noted penalty-killer Zach Aston-Reese last season and their penalty kill hadn’t really missed a beat.
Blueger’s kind of player is replaceable if he continues to slump in the goal scoring category.
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