Teddy Blueger Undergoes Surgery

The Pittsburgh Penguins will be without Teddy Blueger for the next while, as the team announced the checking center underwent surgery to repair a fractured jaw. Blueger will be out for the next six to eight weeks.

The injury occurred on a hit from Brendan Dillon yesterday, which even had Seth Rorabaugh of the Tribune-Review wondering if Blueger had suffered a broken jaw on the play. While the team won in a shootout over the Jets, they’ve now lost an important piece of the lineup for up to two months.

Blueger, 27, averages nearly 16 minutes a night for the Penguins, eating the hardest defensive deployment on the team and generally coming out ahead. In more than 537 minutes with Blueger on the ice at even-strength, the Penguins have outscored opponents 24-18 despite him hardly ever starting his shift in the offensive zone. With him out of the lineup, the team will also need to find another center for the penalty kill, where he averages more than any Penguins’ forward not named Brock McGinn.

Injuries certainly aren’t something new for the Penguins, but head coach Mike Sullivan has always been able to find a replacement from somewhere to keep the machine chugging along. The team has won five in a row and is now within striking distance of the New York Rangers for first place in the Metropolitan. Luckily, Blueger’s timeline means he’ll be back in advance of the playoffs, and even potentially the trade deadline which is still almost two months away.