Penguins Sign Blomqvist; Top Goalie Prospect Inks ELC

Wilkes-Barre, Pa — The Pittsburgh Penguins signed 2020 second-round pick Joel Blomqvist (52nd overall) to an entry-level contract. CapFriendly broke the news on Twitter Wednesday, one day after the Penguins announced they signed Blomqvist to an amateur tryout agreement for the remainder of the WBS Penguins season.

PHN is in Wilkes-Barre Wednesday to cover 2022 first-round pick Owen Pickering, also on an ATO. Team sources told PHN that Blomqvist arrived from his native Finland on Tuesday, and the team is giving him a couple of days to acclimate to the time change before giving him a start.

Blomqvist, 21, played one game with the WBS Penguins at the end of the 2021-22 season. He stopped 25 of 27 shots, but WBS lost.

Blomqvist was to represent Finland at the 2022 World Junior Championships prior to its cancellation. It would have been Blpmqvist’s second consecutive national team appearance.

The 6-foot-2, 187-pound goalie was selected in the 2020 NHL Draft. He has played parts of the last four seasons with Kärpät of Liiga and Hermes of Mestis, Finalnd’s second-tier professional league. In 45 career Liiga starts, Blomqvist has gone 14-9-12 with a 1.92 goals-against average, a .917 save percentage and six shutouts.

Karpat is the most successful SM-liiga team of the 21st century. He was the first of two goalies the Pittsburgh Penguins selected. They also took Swedish goalie Calle Clang in the third round but traded him in the Rickard Rakell deal at the 2022 NHL trade deadline. 

The three-year ELC begins next season and runs through 2025-26.

The deal carries a $925,000 AAV at the NHL level.

This season with Karpat, Joel Blomqvist slumped to a .907 save percentage in 21 games with a 2.29 GAA. Last season, he posted an impressive .940 save percentage in 20 games.