Yes I know, I know, he spells it Hellberg, but can you just let me have this? It’s awesome wordplay, I need this. It’s been a week, man.

And it’s been a week for the Pittsburgh Penguins too.

After being thrashed again, this time by the Dallas Stars at home two nights ago, the Penguins have hit the injury bug, including in net with Alex Nedeljkovic.

Nedeljkovic had apparently suffered the injury in net during Pittsburgh’s 4-1 loss to the Stars, and tried to fight through it in practice yesterday. He left practice early and soon after, was announced to be on injured reserve.

“He tried to practice today,” head coach Mike Sullivan said yesterday. “It was bothering him to the point where we’ve got to take further action with the evaluation process.”

As a result, the Penguins made a series of confusing moves that were all designed to create as much flexibility under the salary cap. The Penguins re-assigned Radim Zohorna to the WBS Penguins, and called up injured forward Corey Andonovski to the NHL.

In addition to that, rookie defenseman John Ludvig, who made his NHL debut last night, has been diagnosed with a concussion and is out indefinitely.

Hooks Orpik of Pensburgh did a great job explaining just why those moves had to be made, and why Zohorna will be back up with the big club in no time, which you can read about here.

But I am going to zero in on the calling up of Magnus Hellberg, who suddenly finds himself a rather prominent player within the Penguins’ organization.

The Penguins signed Hellberg, 32, to a one year, one way deal this offseason to be their third string goalie. He was brought in to replace free agent Dustin Tokarski, who took that role within the club last season.

Hellberg was a decent insurance policy to take, but it’s safe to say that the Penguins weren’t planning on calling upon him so early in the season. The Swedish veteran has been minding the net for over a decade, but he has very little National Hockey League experience to his name.

He got a majority of that action last season in Detroit, ironically taking over for the same man he is now. Last season, Alex Nedeljkovic was in the midst of a horrible season, and the Red Wings opted to waive Ned and call up Hellberg.

Magnus played 17 games last season for Detroit, recording a 3.29 goals against average and a .885 save percentage. He went 4-8-1 on a struggling Red Wings squad.

Hellberg played 1 other game last year, a 4-2 win for the Ottawa Senators over the Dallas Stars.

The Senators were the second of three teams Hellberg was with that season; he also spent a hot minute with the Seattle Kraken, but he never actually appeared in a game for them.

In his lifetime, Hellberg has 23 NHL games to his name, sporting a 7-8-1 record with a 3.14 goals against and a .886 save percentage. He is capable of some highlight-worthy stops, like this one during his one game in Ottawa, but overall, he has struggled at the NHL level, albeit in brief stints.

Interestingly enough, Hellberg has tremendous numbers against the Penguins in his NHL time. He is 2-0-0 with a .953 save percentage and only 2 goals against.

He was the man who took over for Detroit’s Ville Husso after the Penguins lit him up for 4 goals in the first period. Hellberg shut the door completely and the Red Wings stormed all the way back to win 5-4…in other words, the game where Jake Walman hit the griddy on the Penguins’ home ice.

With starter Tristan Jarry off to a less than ideal start this season (sporting a .892 save percentage to date), the Penguins are going to need a reliable backup who can steal a few games, especially as the team tries to snap out of a horrible start to the year (2-4-0).

The Penguins will hope to reverse fortunes starting tonight as they host the Colorado Avalanche.

(Featured photo via the Pittsburgh Penguins)