The Pittsburgh Penguins recalled forward Alex Nylander from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Tuesday and placed forward Ryan Poehling on long-term injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 14.

Nylander’s recall was under emergency conditions because of the absences of forwards Mikael Granlund (undisclosed illness) and Bryan Rust (personal matters).

With Granlund and Rust scratched, Nylander made his NHL debut in Tuesday’s home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at PPG Paints Arena, opening the contest as the right winger on the third line. Additionally, the Penguins dressed an irregular lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen with rookie P.O Joseph serving as the extra body on the blue line.

This marked Nylander’s first recall to the NHL level since he was acquired via trade with the Chicago Blackhawks in early January 2022. He is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s leading scorer with 50 points (25 goals, 25 assists) in 54 AHL contests this season.

A first-round pick (No. 8 overall) with the Buffalo Sabres in 2017, Nylander, 25, has played at the NHL level with the Sabres (19 games) and Blackhawks (65 games). His most recent NHL action came during the 2019-20 season with Chicago.

In 84 NHL contests before Tuesday, Nylander (6-foot-1, 192 pounds) had 32 points (13 goals, 19 assists).

“My goal is to get to the NHL and stay there,” Nylander said in an interview with the Tribune-Review last month. “That’s been my goal since I was drafted. Get to the NHL and, obviously, stay in the NHL. And be the player that I am this year up there (in the NHL) as well. I know that can come.”

The son of long-time NHL forward Michael Nylander and the brother of current Maple Leafs star forward William Nylander, Alex Nylander has made strides over the past 13-plus months to develop his overall game to return to the NHL.

“If you have any type of history where people label you, it takes you a while to shed it,” Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach J.D. Forrest said. “He’s done his best — in particular this season — to shed a lot of that history that was kind of following him, whether that was justified or not. He’s done a good job of changing the discourse on him.”

Nylander is signed to a one-year, two-way contract that carries a salary cap hit of $750,000 and is a pending restricted free agent.

To make room for him on the NHL roster, Poehling was placed on long-term injured reserve. A series of undisclosed injuries have hobbled Poehling since December, causing him to miss 25 of the past 38 games.

Players on long-term injured reserve must be sidelined for 10 games and 24 days. Poehling already meets the games-missed criteria but only has been absent for 21 days. He is not eligible to be activated until Saturday’s home contest against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Since joining the Penguins via an offseason trade with the Montreal Canadiens, Poehling appeared to move forward in his career in terms of finding a role.

A first-round pick (No. 25 overall) in 2017 with the Canadiens, Poehling never seemed to establish firm ground with that organization. After joining the Penguins, Poehling carved out a steady role on the fourth line and with the penalty kill before his health went south on him by December.

In 38 games this season, Poehling has 11 points (five goals, six assists) while averaging 10 minutes, 57 seconds of ice time, including 2:10 in short-handed situations.

Injuries are never convenient. But they appear to have stunted a scarce bit of momentum for Poehling as an NHLer.

“Ryan is really frustrated,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s a competitive guy. He wants to be in the lineup, and it’s hard when players go through that. We’re trying to support him through that process. He’s been a very good player for us. … He can play center, he kill penalties, we can move him around the lineup, he brings a ton of speed and size and reach. He certainly makes us a better team when he’s in our lineup. It’s been frustrating for him.”

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