Penguins place Blueger on LTIR

Blueger, 28, has yet to play this season after suffering an upper-body injury during a practice in late September. While he may have suffered a setback, there is also a chance the Penguins chose to do this specifically for salary cap reasons. As pointed out by capfriendly, the Pens received $2.2 million in cap relief with this transaction, which has allowed them to call up forwards Sam Poulin and Drake Caggiula from the American Hockey League.

While by no means a star level player, the Penguins will gladly welcome Blueger back into their lineup whenever he gets cleared to play. The pesky fourth liner scored nine goals and 28 points in 65 games last season, while also adding a lone assist in seven playoff outings.