As the Stanley Cup Final speeds to a quicker than hoped ending for the Edmonton Oilers, the Leafs are still assessing their options among potential free agents this summer and one name that could be on their list is checking centre Teddy Blueger.
Teddy Blueger
Position: Centre
Shoots: Left
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 185lbs
Blueger’s name hasn’t really made it into the “noticeable” realm for casual hockey fans, but for those that are paying attention he has been a contributing member of some good teams for a few years now. He isn’t the type of forward that brings a massive amount of offense, which is likely why he has managed to fly under the radar, but he excels on the defensive side of the puck and has been on pace for about 35pts in 3 out of the past 4 seasons.
A former 2nd round selection of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Riga, Latvia native has been in North America for half his life already. A student at Shattuck St-Mary’s, a prep school for athletes, Blueger has been coached at a high level for a long time. He followed his time there with 4 years playing for Minnesota State University of the NCAA and finally worked his way through the AHL ranks and into the NHL. He didn’t break into the NHL until his mid 20’s, but it didn’t take a ton of time to figure out what he was great at. He has played at least 2 minutes a night on the penalty kill since his first full season in 2019-20 and did the same with the Vancouver Canucks this past year. He starts almost 60% of his shifts in the defensive zone, where coach’s trust him to win the faceoff, gain possession and help with breakouts.
It’s that keen defensive play and the ability to contribute more offense than your run of the mill 4C (looking at you David Kampf) that would make me happy to see the Leafs recruit Blueger. A smart player that can also suit up on the wing and move around your bottom 6, Blueger would help boost a terrible penalty kill while also being a smart playmaking centre that could lineup up with the likes of Calle Jarnkrok to create 2/3rds of a very good two-way 3rd line. The only knock I have on him is that his size isn’t ideal, but for a team like Toronto that hasn’t had good faceoff depth for a very long time he’d be a welcome addition.
@AFPAnalytics has his next contract projected at 2 years, with a caphit of about $2.2M. While all eyes are on the defenders the Leafs could add to the team on July 1st, it’s my belief that they could use an additional centre as well and there are just 20 UFA’s that are set to hit the market this summer that are listed as centre’s according to capfriendly. Once you weed out the too expensive to play 3C options (Elias Lindholm, Chandler Stephenson etc) and the obvious 4C options (Sam Carrick, Kevin Stenlund etc) you’re left with very few 3C options. While we’ll cover more of those as the days wear on, I believe that Blueger brings more bang for your buck than the others and can thrive in his very specific role of being a checking/PK centre that is good on the draw and can contribute some depth scoring.