Penguins News Roundup 2/8/18: Blueger Recalled As Hörnqvist, Kühnhackl Hit IR

5:20 p.m.: The other shoe(s) dropping … The Penguins have placed both Patric Hörnqvist and Kühnhackl on the injured reserve list, calling up center Teddy Blueger from the American Hockey League. The 23-year-old Blueger has 26 points (12 goals) in 45 AHL games this season.

Known for his hockey sense and overall smarts on the rink, Blueger was drafted in the second-round six years ago. A native of Latvia, he’ll be in line to make his NHL debut Friday in Dallas if Rowney can’t go as fourth-line center

4:30 p.m.: TSN’s Frank Seravelli has put an interesting name on his Top 40 trade targets list: Blue Jackets center Boone Jenner. Jenner, 24, is a restricted free agent this summer. With five goals and eight assists in 46 games, he’s having a down offensive season, but his $2.9 million cap hit would be more manageable than some on Seravelli’s list.

2 p.m.: Mike Sullivan calls Rowney “day-to-day” with that lower-body injury suffered Tuesday against Vegas.

Here are today’s lines and defense pairings, courtesy of @PensInsideScoop:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
ZAR-Sheahan-Sheary
Simon-Reaves

Dumoulin-Letang
Määttä-Schultz
Cole-Oleksiak
Hunwick-Ruhwedel

11:43 a.m.: The trade rumor mill may be going to unexpected places. Brandon Saad?!

Elliotte Friedman Speculates About The Blackhawks Trading Brandon Saad https://t.co/viWO6UdJr1

— Spittin’ Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) February 8, 2018

11:42 a.m.: Conor Sheary is at practice, as a full participant, per our John Perrotto.

7:00 a.m.: The Pittsburgh Penguins practice today from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. We should learn more regarding the injuries to Carter Rowney and Tom Kuhnhackl. Long-term injuries would force the Penguins to make call-ups, perhaps including Daniel Sprong, or trades of necessity. Two-thirds of the fourth line could be out.

The Penguins will practice in Cranberry then head west to play the Dallas Stars, tomorrow night, and the St. Louis Blues, Sunday at 1 p.m. EST.

On the trade rumor front, the Penguins scouted the L.A. Kings game last night. After a pair of scouting missions last weekend to the Kings AHL affiliate, the Penguins and Kings appear to have something on the stove. Ten other teams also scouted the Kings vs. Edmonton Oilers game in Los Angeles.

Also check out Matt-alytics, Matt Gajtka‘s deep dive into the numbers. Has Ian Cole done enough to earn a sweater? Matt has answers.