The Pittsburgh Penguins announced several moves today, which included activating several of their players off of injured reserve. The team announced they activated forwards Nick Bjugstad and Bryan Rust (who was on long-term injured reserve) and both are expected to play in today’s lineup against Dallas.
The Penguins also changed the status of several players as Sam Lafferty, Adam Johnson and Joseph Blandisi all had their emergency recalls altered to regular recalls.
Rust has missed the entire season after blocking a shot in the preseason with his hand. The 27-year-old winger has also been a major missing piece in the Penguins’ lineup which also is missing Evgeni Malkin. The hope is that Rust can immediately supply the top-six with a prominent winger and add some offense to a suddenly struggling Pittsburgh squad. Rust scored a career-high 18 goals last season.
Bjugstad hasn’t appeared in a game since Oct. 5 after going down with a lower-body injury and should be a big addition to a team in need of some healthy veterans. The 27-year-old center has only appeared in two games this season, but scored nine goals and 13 points as a bottom-six center for the team in 32 games after the Penguins acquired him from Florida in February earlier this year.
Without the Gudbranson trade, Rust could not have been activated. Was not enough cap space with all of the other injured players coming back