Alex Nylander was the common butt of the joke last year for many Penguins fans.

It wasn’t because of his play. It wasn’t because of his actions. It wasn’t anything he even did.

But Nylander was up and down between the National Hockey League and American Hockey League what must have felt like twice a day.

From March 7th to April 13th, Nylander was transferred between the NHL and AHL levels nine times, including a four-day stretch where he was either called up or sent down on any given day.

That was a ton of miles driven back and forth between the opposite sides of Pennsylvania, all while having to be ready at a moment’s notice to turn around and start driving the other way.

Given some of the moves made earlier in the season, as Kyle Dubas works salary cap wizardry to squeeze every dollar he can, some fans have quipped that players have received “the Nylander treatment.”

Pittsburgh called up forward Jonathan Gruden from the AHL a few weeks ago, only to send him back down in a matter of hours. They did the same with forward Jansen Harkins, who is currently back with the team, but had the same thing happen to him.

Due to salary cap constraints on the Penguins’ roster last year, the team was at a shortage of depth roster plays on their active roster. In a situation like that, when injuries arise and a team can’t ice a full roster, they can sometimes call up a player on emergency loan.

Emergency loans are most common for goaltenders, but can extend to other positions. Nylander knows that all too well.

For all the miles he drove, he only played in 9 games as a Pittsburgh Penguin last year.

His stats don’t leap off the page: 1 goal and 1 assist, but his style of play brought a much needed change of pace to the struggling bottom six for the Penguins.

Depth scoring killed the Penguins last year, and former general manager Ron Hextall made several moves in the hopes of trying to get a spark. Brock McGinn and Teddy Blueger found themselves shipped out, but the incoming Nick Bonino (who was injured nearly right away) and Mikael Granlund did not bring up the scoring at all.

Nylander was an addition from within the organization after the deadline, and he hoped to make an impact on the NHL roster then, and moving forward.

A former 8th overall pick by the Buffalo Sabres in 2016, Nylander has bounced around the NHL quite a lot. The 25 year old is already in his third organization; in 2019 he was traded one-for-one to Chicago for Henri Jokiharyu, and in early 2022 he was flipped to Pittsburgh straight up for Sam Lafferty.

Last season was his first NHL action in over two years. He missed the entire 2020-21 season recovering from knee surgery, and split 2021-22 between Chicago and Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliates.

Hoping he could get a full time crack at the NHL roster come October Nylander re-signed with the Penguins after last year. The contract was signed after Ron Hextall was fired, but before Kyle Dubas came along, which does add an interesting wrinkle in Nylander’s path.

History is a big deal when new management comes into town. Players who were already with the team, and therefore have no connections to the new general manager, might be likelier to find themselves playing somewhere else, whether that be a new NHL team or the minors.

Hextall acquired Nylander. Dubas did not.

While that’s in no way to suggest that Dubas would have anything against Nylander, it’s a common occurrence in the NHL for that to have at least a bit of weight.

Nylander came into training camp battling for a roster spot, and this year’s camp battle wasn’t easy.

Dubas loaded the team with depth, in part to try and improve the team’s bottom six, but also to entice some more competition in training camp and preseason, to bring out the best in the players battling for spots.

An unforeseen wrinkle in Nylander’s path to an NHL spot was the addition of Jansen Harkins.

Harkins was a waiver claim from the Winnipeg Jets in the final days of the preseason. Harkins, who had split last season between the NHL and AHL, made the opening night roster ahead of several players who had a solid chance, including Radim Zohorna and Alex Nylander.

Harkins would be waived after just 4 games with Pittsburgh, as the team wanted to call up Zohorna and decided Harkins was the person to replace.

Meanwhile, Nylander was assigned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to start the season, and played in 11 AHL games so far this year. In that time, he scored 5 goals and 3 assists, and when the time came for another chance at the NHL level, he was thrilled.

You’ve just got to stay positive and keep working hard every day,” Nylander said in his time with the media on Wednesday. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do. Now I’m here, so I’m really happy and excited.”

With injuries to Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell, the Penguins needed help at the forward position. So up comes Nylander, as does Harkins.

While Rust, luckily for the Penguins, is out only day-to-day, Rakell has been placed on Injured Reserve. With that gap in the lineup, it opens up a real chance for a guy like Nylander to force the team into a very difficult decision.

Nylander slotted into Rakell’s spot in the lineup yesterday in his first NHL game this season, alongside Evgeni Malkin and Reilly Smith, and he very nearly scored in that game.

While seeing time on the second power play unit, Nylander deflected a shot by his former WBS teammate Vinnie Hinostroza into the net for a Penguin goal, but it did not survive a challenge by the New York Rangers and was overturned. Nylander ended up being just barely offside.

Despite that though, he had several good looks on the ice and was very noticeable.

And being noticeable is good, but not getting that goal does hurt.

Once Rust returns, it’s likely that Harkins is the guy sent down. Of course, that’s not a guarantee, but given that Nylander was a top six plug in and Harkins was a healthy scratch (Jeff Carter played instead of him), it’s fair to assume that’s the chance when Rusty is back.

However, Nylander has until Rakell is back to sell himself. This is Nylander’s prime chance to force the Penguins to make a hard choice. If Nylander plays lights out from now until Rakell’s return, he might just play his way into a full time NHL job.

However, given the salary cap constraints Pittsburgh is in, Nylander is going to have to be as close to perfect as he can. He will have to force the Penguins to carve out a spot for his cap hit and roster spot.

If he stays in the top six, that will give him a good chance to show that. Whether he actually will is yet to be seen, but in the meantime, it will make for one of the season’s most interesting storylines.

(Featured image of Nylander during the 2022-23 season by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)