Penguins activate defenseman Nathan Beaulieu from long-term injured reserve

NEW YORK — The Penguins activated defenseman Nathan Beaulieu from long-term injured reserve on Thursday, a few hours before Game 2 of their first-round playoff series with the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Acquired from the Winnipeg Jets at the trade deadline on March 21, Beaulieu has yet to appear in a game for the Penguins. At the time of the transaction, Beaulieu was on long-term injured reserve due to an undisclosed ailment he suffered in early March.

While on long-term injured reserve, a portion of a player’s salary cap hit does not count toward his team’s cap figure. But with the salary cap not enforced during the postseason, NHL teams are not required to be cap compliant.

That led the Penguins to acquire the 29-year-old as a reserve defenseman — who carries a salary cap hit of $1.25 million — exclusively for the postseason.

The left-handed Beaulieu appeared in 24 games this past regular season for the Jets and recorded four assists while averaging 10:46 of ice time per contest.

At 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, Beaulieu offers a physical element few others on the Penguins’ rosters can provide.

“Without a doubt, he’s a guy that will be an option for us we would anticipate here in the playoffs,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said as recently as Friday. “We think Nathan is a good solid defenseman. (He) brings a different dimension to our defense core than what we have. He brings a little bit of an abrasiveness, he’s a physical player, he can help us on the penalty kill, he’s a good shot blocker. He’s strong in the battle areas. So he brings a little bit of a different dimension than I think the makeup of the rest of our group.

“That’s something that we’ll take into consideration when we’re making lineup decisions. Without a doubt, he is an option for us. We’ll just have to see how it goes and we’ll make decisions game to game accordingly.”

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