Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton announced that they’ve signed goaltender Joel Blomqvist to a tryout agreement while also re-assigning defenseman Niclas Almari from Lukko in Finland to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The 20-year-old Blomqvist was a second-round pick of the Penguins back in 2020 with the selection they acquired from Ottawa in exchange for Matt Murray. He recently wrapped up his season with Karpat in the SM-liiga where he led the league in GAA (1.32) and SV% (.940) in 20 games. He has not yet signed his entry-level deal with Pittsburgh and still is under contract for another year in Finland so this may not be an immediate precursor to him getting an entry-level pact but rather just a way to keep him playing for a little while longer.
As for Almari, the 23-year-old is in the final season of his entry-level deal. He played in 11 AHL games and six ECHL contests before being loaned back overseas a little over two months ago. The return home didn’t do much for his production as he had just two assists in 22 games between the regular season and playoffs so he will need to impress down the stretch if he wants to receive a qualifying offer this summer.
Even during the years when the Yinzer bandwagon know nothings turned on him, Jimmy was doing the job excellently.
Kept the right guy in Jarry, signed him to a great contract and turned Murray into the goalie of the future.