The Athletic has live coverage of the NHL trade deadline.

PITTSBURGH — As long as Sidney Crosby is out of the lineup, the Pittsburgh Penguins have a problem down the middle. And they know it.

The Penguins have won only 30 percent of their faceoffs in four games with Crosby unavailable. They’re considering bringing back an old friend to help with their center depth.

League sources have told The Athletic that Pittsburgh is considering a deal that would bring former Penguins center Teddy Blueger back to the team. Blueger, a defensive-minded center for the Vancouver Canucks, was drafted by the Penguins in 2012 and played the first five seasons of his career in Pittsburgh.

After one season in Las Vegas, where he won the Stanley Cup, he moved on to Vancouver, where he has played the past three seasons.

The Penguins and Canucks are frequent trade partners. Kyle Dubas, the Penguins’ general manager and president of hockey operations, did business with Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin when the Penguins sent Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor to Vancouver last season. They also orchestrated a deal last summer that brought goaltender Artūrs Šilovs to Pittsburgh.

The Canucks, owners of the NHL’s worst record, are obvious sellers. Dubas, meanwhile, would like to add depth to his playoff-contending Penguins, acknowledging on his radio show Wednesday night that he ideally would like to add a forward and a defenseman to the mix before Friday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline.

Blueger has long been a reliable bottom-six center. His career high for goals in a season is only nine, but Blueger has five goals in 14 games this season for the struggling Canucks. He missed 43 games earlier this season with a lower-body injury.

Injuries forced the Penguins to play without Crosby and Blake Lizotte on Tuesday in Boston.

There is good news on the injury front, however.

Lizotte skated Thursday morning, and coach Dan Muse said he is likely to play against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.

Also, Crosby has now skated two days in a row and appears to be ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation from an injury sustained during the Olympics.

While they both appear to be trending in the right direction, Dubas may wish to add some depth at center anyway. The current Penguins regime isn’t all that familiar with Blueger, but a few players on the Penguins roster certainly are. He was a well-liked teammate in Pittsburgh and the kind of responsible player the Penguins are interested in adding.

Blueger would be a rental: He has a $1.8 million salary cap hit and is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

The 31-year-old veteran scored 33 goals in 250 games with the Penguins.

A team source confirmed the desire to add a forward and a defenseman but said the majority of Dubas’ focus right now is on adding a center. This isn’t an indication that Crosby’s rehab is going poorly, but it’s more about the Penguins’ recent faceoff struggles and their inability to find consistent lines outside of the Evgeni Malkin-Tommy Novak-Egor Chinakhov trio. Dubas wants more center depth if the Penguins reach the postseason.

Dubas, league sources said, is not against taking a big swing at some of the bigger names on the trade market. However, he, like many NHL executives in recent days, has seen how the market has heavily favored sellers. The sources said Dubas wants to add with a playoff run in mind, but he’s not likely to sell the farm: He is said to be “disciplined” in keeping his focus on the future while not short-selling what this year’s Penguins have already accomplished.

Karlsson’s 180-degree turn

The Penguins are absolutely marveling at the way Erik Karlsson is playing right now.

Everyone I’ve spoken to in the organization is delighted with the way he has performed under Muse, and many of them have noted that his recent performance with Crosby out of the lineup has been especially splendid.

A year ago at this time, a lot of those same people were openly pulling for Dubas to deal the enigmatic defenseman.

That most certainly isn’t the case these days.

Evgeni Malkin contract update

Numbers were not discussed at length when Dubas met with Malkin’s agent, JP Barry, last week.

These were not contract negotiations. Rather, it was a conversation geared toward figuring out if it makes sense for Malkin and the Penguins to continue their 20-year marriage in the 2026-27 season.

A team source said Malkin wasn’t particularly thrilled with how the meeting between Barry and Dubas went. Malkin himself made it pretty clear after Saturday’s loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden that he wasn’t very happy with the situation, and both Malkin and Dubas wanted to have a conversation about it.

Dubas has made it clear he’s thrilled with how Malkin has played this season. I sense that Dubas is impressed and maybe a bit surprised with how Malkin has transitioned from center to wing.

Dubas’ plan a few months ago did not include keeping Malkin past this season. The GM clearly didn’t believe that bringing back a fading player who turns 40 in July was the most sensible move for his rebuilding team. Of course, two things have changed that equation: Malkin hasn’t faded, and the Penguins’ rebuild seems considerably ahead of schedule.

Has Dubas’ mind changed?

That remains to be seen, but the sides have not discussed numbers, and if a new contract does come Malkin’s way, it won’t be until after the season.