Vegas Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon acquired Blueger on Wednesday bringing in an elite penalty killing defensive center.
Blueger goes over the boards when his team is in the defensive zone. This season the 28-year-old Latvian took 84 percent of his faceoffs inside his own blueline, which ranks as the third highest percentage in the NHL.
Blueger is also an elite penalty killer. Over the last three NHL seasons he's one of 56 forwards who have logged 300 or more penalty kill minutes. Blueger's goals-against-per-60-minutes at 4v5 ranks fourth in the NHL over that time.
Vegas hasn't had a dominant defensive center of this caliber since the departure of Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare. Blueger is a young version. He retrieves pucks and stalls opposition offensive zone time.
McCrimmon grabbed Blueger from the Penguins in exchange for defenseman Peter DiLiberatore and a third-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Blueger has spent the past five seasons in Pittsburgh with the Penguins, skating in 250 contests while gathering 92 points (33 G, 59 A). This season, the forward has appeared in 45 games and recorded 10 points (2 G, 8 A). Blueger also has experience in the postseason, playing in 18 games with the Penguins during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The native of Riga, Latvia has represented his country in multiple major international tournaments, including three consecutive World Championships (2017, 2018, 2019). In 2019, Blueger had the highest faceoff percentage (62.7%) of all skaters in the competition. Blueger was drafted by Pittsburgh in the second round (52nd overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft.
