Penguins’ Joel Blomqvist Needs to Seize Big Opportunity in Front of Him – The Hockey Writers – Penguins Goaltending

The Pittsburgh Penguins goalie depth has become less of a worry over the last few seasons as they have added the likes of Alex Nedeljkovic, Joel Blomqvist, and most recently, Sergei Murashov. Their depth is going to be tested early this season as on Wednesday (Oct. 2), the team announced Nedeljkovic will be out week-to-week with a lower-body injury he suffered early in their 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday (Sept. 30).

This is a huge loss as the Penguins open their regular season next week with a back-to-back against the New York Rangers and the aforementioned Red Wings. Though it may be a loss of a veteran goalie, the Penguins have a young, hungry goaltender in Blomqvist waiting for his moment to shine, and now can be that time. He has a big opportunity ahead of him, and will be looking to seize that chance.

Blomqvist is a promising goalie who made a splash last season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. With the “baby” Penguins, he went 25-12-6 in 45 games played. Through those games, he managed to accumulate a 2.16 goals-against average (GAA) and a .921 save percentage (SV%), which ranked him third and fifth respectively. His 25 wins tied him with Matt Murray for second-most wins by a rookie goalie with Wilkes-Barre, just one short of tying Marc-Andre Fleury.

Has a Scouting Report on Detroit Already

As mentioned before, the Penguins open their 2024-25 campaign with a back-to-back next week. The first is on home ice, which will see Tristan Jarry get the start, then on the road the next night to play the Red Wings. Blomqvist could make his NHL debut then as he has already seen a number of the Red Wings’ regular roster players such as Patrick Kane, Dylan Larkin, and Moritz Seider, to name a few, so he has an early scouting report on how they play and shoot. Yes, it is preseason, but you can still scout the same as if it were a regular season game, especially when guys will still be shaking off the rust of their game. That leaves a good chance for Blomqvist to step in the net in what has been a very good rivalry over the years when they face Detroit.

Can Be a Solid Backup Choice to Begin NHL Career

I discussed in a previous article that Blomqvist could be a solid choice between the pipes for the Penguins soon, but they should not rush his development too quickly to get…