Blueger's persistence was rewarded on Jan. 30, 2019, when he made his NHL debut with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who had selected him in the second round (No. 52) of the 2012 NHL Draft.

The center from Riga, Latvia, began playing hockey at home at a school founded by Helmut Balderis, a longtime star with Dynamo Riga of the Soviet league who also played briefly with the Minnesota North Stars. Blueger came to North America in 2009 and played three seasons at Shattuck-St. Mary's, a prep school in Minnesota, where the hockey program was run by former NHL forward J.P. Parise.

The Penguins drafted Blueger after he scored 88 points (24 goals, 64 assists) in 51 games during his third season at Shattuck St. Mary's. He went on to play four seasons at Minnesota State University before signing with the Penguins on March 22, 2016.

Blueger was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, where he set a team rookie record by finishing plus-24 in 2016-17. He scored 21 goals in each of his next two AHL seasons before earning his chance to play in the NHL following the 2019 NHL All-Star Game.

Two days after making his debut against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Blueger scored his first NHL goal, against the Ottawa Senators, then scored again the next day at the Toronto Maple Leafs. He finished with 10 points (six goals, four assists) in 28 games despite averaging 11:03 of ice time.

Blueger became a regular on Pittsburgh's checking line in 2019-20, scoring 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) in 69 games, averaging 15:49 of ice time.

NOTES & TRANSACTIONS

• WCHA First All-Star Team (2016)