For those of you who don’t keep an eye on the prospect pipeline of the Pittsburgh Penguins, allow me to introduce you to Joel Blomqvist.

Aside from maybe Brayden Yager, he is the prospect I am highest on in the Penguins’ low prospect pool. Blomqvist is a 6′ 2 goaltender from Finland who las lit up the AHL this season in his first full year in North America.

He has played 40 games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins so far this year, recording 22 wins. That mark put him fourth in WBS history for wins by a rookie goaltender, and he still has time to climb the latter further.

His goals against average of 2.15 is third in the entire AHL, and his .919 save percentage is currently sixth in the league. Among rookie goaltenders in the AHL, Blomqvist is second in goals against average and third in save percentage.

He was also named to the AHL All Star game.

He looks absolutely fantastic down in WBS, and his rise through the ranks of the Penguins has made for a very interesting question for Pittsburgh in net for 2024-25.

Blomqvist was drafted in the second round (52nd overall) in 2020. The Penguins used the draft pick they acquired from the Matt Murray trade to draft him.

Oddly enough, the Penguins also took a goaltender in the third round of that year’s draft. Calle Clang, taken 77th overall, was once noted as a top prospect for the Penguins as well, but he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks as part of the Rickard Rakell deal.

For what it’s worth, the Penguins seem (at least as of now) to have made the right choice. In 28 AHL games this season for San Diego, Clang has a 3.24 goals against average and a .897 save percentage.

Meanwhile, Blomqvist will likely be challenging for an NHL gig next year. The 22 year old was called up this season briefly to backup Magnus Hellberg when both Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic were injured, but never actually took the ice before he was reassigned.

As previously mentioned, this is Blomqvist’s first full pro year in North America. Though he played one AHL game in each of the previous two years, those were only after his season the Finnish Liiga had already wrapped up.

In the 2021-22 season, with Kärpät, Blomqvist recorded a 1.32 goals against average and a .940 save percentage. Both numbers far and away led the league, and in the playoffs that year he kicked things into an even higher gear.

Amongst goaltenders who played 2+ games, Blomqvist recorded a league best .950 save percentage and 1.10 goals against average in 7 contests.

Last year, he took a step back, putting up a 2.20 goals against average and a .907 save percentage, and subpar playoff numbers, but he has regained his footing in the AHL.

At this point, it sort of feels like he has shown what he is capable of, and that is a pretty high ceiling. But you’ll never fully know until you see him play in the NHL, and he certainly has done enough to earn a look.

So, if Blomqvist is NHL ready, what happens to the two guys ahead of him?

There’s two different ways the Penguins could approach this.