VANCOUVER — The most glorious moment in Latvian hockey history occurred simultaneously with Teddy Blueger’s greatest achievement, and it’s just too bad that the two shining events couldn’t somehow have been connected or at least not overlapped.
When Latvia stunned the United States and the hockey world by winning the bronze-medal game at the 2023 World Championships in Finland, Blueger had just helped the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Dallas Stars in the National Hockey League’s Western Conference Final.
Vegas won the Stanley Cup two weeks later, and although Blueger did not play in the Final and had not met the 41-game requirement to have his name inscribed on the trophy, the Knights successfully petitioned the NHL for his inclusion in the team’s imprint of immortality.
Blueger had been a trade-deadline pickup by the Knights, from the Pittsburgh Penguins, to provide centre depth and defensive acumen.
The Latvian played 18 games in the regular season and six more in the playoffs, and when he had his day with the Stanley Cup in Riga that summer, the national hangover from the world championships party in May was still fresh.
If the Vancouver Canucks continue to harvest assets for their free-agency-eligible players before this year’s NHL trade deadline on March 6, the upheaval, at least, will be familiar to Blueger.
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But what will be entirely new and incredibly exciting for the 31-year-old is going to the Olympics next month in Italy as one of Latvia’s most experienced and accomplished players, and having his chance to help orchestrate another miracle on ice for his country.
“I don’t know if it’s the last chance,” the 31-year-old said after the Canucks practised Wednesday at Rogers Arena. “But I think this will be a great opportunity. When it was announced (that NHL players would return to the Olympics), we still had to qualify to get in, right? So that was kind of the first step. But other than that, yeah, for sure, it was super exciting to think about having the chance to go.
“The only Olympics I think I could have gone to was Sochi (in 2014), and I didn’t make the team for that one. So, I mean, this means a lot. There’s all this build-up, but I’m not really sure what to expect. You hear the Olympic stories, all the sports, the village, all these events going on. It’s hard to actually picture what it’s going to be like.”
It would be even harder for Blueger to picture not going, but that grim possibility did occur to him.
The centre is just four games into his comeback from a perplexing, undisclosed injury that forced him to miss three months of the Canucks’ season.
The injury on Oct. 19 was initially expected to keep him out four to six weeks, and possibly less. But after Blueger participated in contact drills at a practice in mid-November (while wearing a non-contact jersey), coach Adam Foote announced his top penalty-killing forward had suffered a “setback.” There was another one in December.
“I mean, it was very hard,” Blueger said. “There were two setbacks throughout the process. I think the whole timeline ended up being double, if not more, than what kind of I originally anticipated. The whole thing, from the diagnosis to the treatments, it wasn’t straightforward, as weird as that might sound. You’d think: ‘Okay, here’s your injury, this is the protocol, go through these steps.’ But it didn’t go like that. And with each setback, it was increasingly more difficult.
“You’re not travelling with the team, you’re kind of stuck here. I just had to work on it every day, just refocusing, coming in, doing everything I can to recover as quickly as possible, and then trying to not look at the big picture. Even with the Olympics, when it first happened, I wasn’t really worried at all. But then, as January crept up and, you know, they officially announced the roster and I still haven’t played yet, then you’re thinking, like: ‘Okay, this is kind of cutting it close here.’ Obviously, you try not to think like that and let those thoughts creep in. Just try to focus on the day-to-day … and then work your way back.”
Blueger has looked good in his four games back, scoring twice while averaging 15:59 of ice time, winning 30 of 59 faceoffs and earning a 65 per cent share of high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five.
Given Blueger’s position and defensive chops, penalty-killing pedigree, faceoff ability, character and Stanley Cup ring, he should absolutely generate interest from NHL contenders as a deadline rental if he stays healthy.
But that’s the other thing about his relentless battle back from injury: the chance to play in the Olympics comes at the cost of likely getting traded from Vancouver, which signed him as a free agent after his Stanley Cup spring.
Canucks president Jim Rutherford confirmed in November the organization’s intention to trade its UFA-eligible players as part of a rebuild. So Blueger knew what he was coming back to.
“I think, you know, after being in the league a little bit, it’s hard to take this stuff personally,” he said. “I think that would get exhausting and kind of zap your energy. And by the end of it, you would end up…”
“Yeah, bitter at everyone basically,” he said. “I mean, that’s just kind of the nature of how (the NHL) goes. So, no, I don’t think I take it personally. Until something actually happens, it’s kind of all, you know, rumours and stuff. I think there was stuff going on in the summer, right? Like, I was supposed to get traded (and didn’t). So, no, I don’t think I’m sitting here anticipating anything.
“Last time I got traded, it was completely unexpected. I just think anything can happen at any time. Obviously, when it does, it’s a bit of a whirlwind, and things move fast. But until then, I can’t be thinking in my head like, ‘Oh, in a week, I might be somewhere else.’ My focus has to be here and with the guys that are here and just doing my best for this team.”
That’s been a challenge for everyone on the Canucks, who have lost 14 of their last 15 games (1-12-2) heading into Thursday’s contest against the visiting Anaheim Ducks.
The Olympics, at least, will be an escape for the Canucks chosen to go: Blueger, Elias Pettersson (Sweden), Kevin Lankinen (Finland), and Filip Hronek and David Kampf (Czechia).
“It definitely helps, any kind of positivity,” Blueger said. “I’d welcome that at any time. A couple of wins here (before we go) would be great in that regard.”
After their eight-game homestand ends Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canucks’ final pre-Olympic games are Monday in Utah and Wednesday in Las Vegas. NHL rosters are frozen Feb. 4-22.
