The Pittsburgh Penguins have some question marks at the goaltending position after a rough playoff performance and at least one member of the depth chart won’t be there next season. Emil Larmi, who signed an entry-level deal with the team in 2019, is on his way back to Finland after inking a new two-year contract with the Lahti Pelicans.
Larmi, 24, has spent the last two seasons with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL, though his performance there has been less than stellar. In six appearances this season he posted just an .845 save percentage, allowing nearly five goals per game. That follows the .883 he put up in 2019-20, certainly not what the Penguins were hoping for when they signed the undrafted netminder.
The team could potentially retain his restricted free agent rights with a qualifying offer, but there may not be much need after he struggled so much in North America. Larmi would technically still be an RFA after this new two-year deal expires, but would be arbitration-eligible, a relatively risky situation for a Penguins team that doesn’t want to commit any contract slots or salary unnecessarily. More likely he will go unqualified this summer and become an unrestricted free agent, perhaps never to play in North America again.
Unrelated to this article, is there an updated site that explains which players are exempt from the Seattle expansion draft? Lots of confusion about this in the world of the interwebs!
I would suggest using CapFriendly’s resource on this: link to capfriendly.com
I did look at that page, but some people are questioning whether it’s current or not. My take from that site is that both Eeli Tolvanen and Alexander Carrier are exempt from the draft, but some are saying otherwise.
In those specific cases, Carrier is not exempt and Tolvanen is, as CapFriendly suggests. Tolvanen’s 2017-18 and 201-19 seasons do not count towards his total because of his age during them (under 20), despite playing in a handful of NHL games.
Carrier’s minor league seasons do qualify as professional years because he was 20+ during them.
If you look at Cap Friendly’s FAQ page, they specifically say it’s either 27 NHL GP in 20/21 or 54 NHL GP combined in 20/21 and 19/20. So my takeaway from that is that unlike the 40/70 rule that was in place for the Vegas draft, the league is only counting NHL games this time. They list Carrier as 2 GR needed to be exposed to the draft.
Best I can come up with. Thanks for the reply!
There is a difference between being exposed and meeting the qualifications for minimums. Many exposed players will not meet the qualifications for the team but will still be eligible to be drafted.
Like the reply below, those numbers (27/54 this year or 40/70 in the past) are not for draft eligibility, but for the exposure requirements. Every team must leave exposed at least two forwards and one defenseman, who are eligible for selection, signed through 2021-22, and meet those games played requirements.
That’s different than what makes you eligible for the draft, which is based on professional seasons. It’s termed “first and second year professionals” are exempt, but what defines a professional year is a bit complicated. For players under 20, European and minor league seasons do not count, instead, it is only if they played 10 (or this year, 7) games in the NHL. For seasons at 20+, minor league or seasons under NHL contract and loaned to Europe, count.
When looking at CapFriendly’s resource, don’t look at the highlighted green players. Everyone in the first three boxes is eligible for the draft. Only those in the “EXEMPT” box are ineligible for the draft.
Okay, so in the Preds particular situation, they have 3 Dmen (Harpur, Benning and I presume Borowiecki) who meet the requirement and won’t be protected. So in that situation, where does that leave Carrier?
He needs to be protected or will be available to Seattle. You can either protect 7F/3D or 8 skaters. For Nashville, it’s hard to see Carrier getting protected ahead of Josi, Ellis, Ekholm..so they would need to go to 8 skaters to protect him (or Fabbro for that matter.)
Their situation is one to monitor in the coming weeks.
(As a note, Harpur does not meet the exposure requirements because he is not yet signed for 2021-22. Again, this does not mean he is exempt from the draft. Benning/Borowiecki will serve as their exposed defenseman)
See, this is where this is confusing. If a player like Fabbro, who is a RFA, doesn’t meet the exposure criteria but has to be protected from the draft, what is the purpose of the 27/54 rule? Any team would obviously take Fabbro over Benning or Borowiecki. Seems like a rule without any clear distinction.
As a comparison, both Nico Hischier and Eeli Tolvanen are 22 years old and both born in 1999, only 3 months apart. Both played enough games this season to meet the exposure requirement but Hischier has to be protected and Tolvanen is exempt?
My taxes were easier than this. :(