The goaltending battle for the Pittsburgh Penguins will be one of the big stories to watch this season.
And, unfortunately, one of their young netminders is facing an injury setback early on in the pre-season.
On Wednesday, the Penguins announced that goaltender Joel Blomqvist is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Blomqvist started the Penguins’ pre-season opener against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, and he exited halfway through to make way for Sergei Murashov to finish the game, which was the plan beforehand.
Blomqvist, 23, had two NHL stints last season, seeing success in the first one and struggling with inconsistency in the second. He finished the NHL portion of his 2024-25 season with a 4-9-1 record and an .885 save percentage, and he put up an 8-7-3 record with a .914 save percentage at the AHL level.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound netminder is one of several goaltenders fighting not only for a spot on the NHL roster, but also a spot on the AHL roster. Tristan Jarry, Sergei Murashov, Filip Larsson, and Arturs Silovs are also competing for the net in camp, and GM and POHO Kyle Dubas has reiterated that camp performance – and developmental needs, to a smaller extent – will dictate the two goaltenders who are on the NHL roster out of camp.
‘My Goal Is To Take Another Step’: Penguins’ Goaltender Battles For Positioning In Camp
Goaltending has been an interesting topic of discussion around Pittsburgh Penguins’ training camp this season, and understandably so.
Other injury notes:
– Forward Noel Acciari – who has been out since the beginning of camp with a core muscle injury – took part in Wednesday’s morning skate wearing a white non-contact jersey. There is no official update to his status, and head coach Dan Muse said it’s part of his recovery process.
– Forward Tanner Howe – out since April after getting surgery to repair a torn ACL – skated on the injured ice this morning with Acciari.
– Forwards Joona Koppanen (lower-body) and Mathieu De St. Phalle (upper-body) as well as defenseman Scooter Brickey (lower-body) are all day-to-day and did not practice Wednesday.
– No update was provided on the status of forward Rutger McGroarty, who is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury and has not yet skated.
McGroarty Out Indefinitely With Upper-Body Injury
There is some bad news on the injury front for the Pittsburgh Penguins and one of their top prospects.
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