The Penguins on Thursday loaned goaltender Emil Larmi to his former Finnish club, HPK.
The loan is a full-season agreement, but allows Larmi to leave HPK when NHL and AHL training camps start.
HPK sits at the bottom of the Liiga standings with an 0-5-2 record, and doesn't have a clear No. 1 starting goaltender, creating an opening for Larmi. The other two goaltenders on the roster, Daniel Lebedeff and Joona Voutilainen, both have sub-.900 save percentages.
Larmi, 24, was HPK's starter for three full seasons from 2016-19 and led the team to a Liiga championship in the 2018-19 season, after which he earned an entry-level contract with the Penguins.
Larmi's first year in North America was a wild one.
In his third start in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL in October, Larmi started to faint in the locker room during an intermission, he suspected due to a concussion sustained earlier in the period. After the health scare, he was out of the lineup for three weeks. After a rocky few starts following his return, he was assigned to Wheeling of the ECHL in December. His one-day stint in the NHL came two weeks later. In total, he played just nine games for Wilkes-Barre and 11 for Wheeling before the pandemic cut the season short.
"It was weird," Larmi said, reflecting upon the year, when I spoke to him in June. "Well, it was rough. It wasn't what I expected, but at least there's something to learn. It was rough. I just have to keep focusing on what's coming. At least it's fun to get back on the ice and practice with the NHL team. I'm still excited about the future."
While Larmi describes his rookie season as "rough," Mike Vellucci, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's head coach last season, liked how Larmi responded to the adversity.
"Unfortunately for him, he’s had a tough year," Vellucci told me back in March. "But it’s not his fault. It was a difficult season how everything played out. We got Casey, it just changed the whole thing. He got injured after he had a great start. It was just one of those things, the poor kid couldn’t catch a break. It’s nobody’s fault, but where do we go from here? He just needed to get his confidence back. He went down to Wheeling and played really well. They were very happy with him, (Andy Chiodo) was really happy with his growth. It was just a great learning experience for him."
Chiodo is the Penguins' goaltending development coach.
Larmi joins a growing number of Penguins prospects who are playing in Europe this season, either as originally planned or as a result of the coronavirus delays:
F - Kasper Bjorkqvist - KooKoo (Liiga)
F - Jan Drozg - HK SZ Olimpija (Alps League)
F - Radim Zohorna - BK Mlada Boleslav (Czech)
F - Valtteri Puustinen - HPK (Liiga)
F - Raivis Ansons - Zemgale (Latvia)
D - Niclas Almari - Lahti Pelicans (Liiga)
D - Jesper Lindgren - MODO Hockey (Allsvenskan)
D - Antti Palojarvi - KooKoo (Liiga) / Hermes (Mestis)
D - Santeri Airola - Ilves (Liiga)
D - Cam Lee - HC Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
G - Calle Clang - Kristianstads IK (Allsvenskan)
G - Joel Blomqvist - Karpat (Liiga) / Hermes (Mestis)
G - Emil Larmi - HPK (Liiga)