The Penguins added goaltending depth on Wednesday with the signing of college free agent Filip Lindberg out of the NCAA champion UMass Minutemen.
Lindberg, 22, was a seventh-round pick of the Wild in 2019. Because he was drafted as a 20-year-old, the Wild only held his signing rights until this offseason. The Wild had tried to sign Lindberg, but Lindberg elected to test free agency.
"We're extremely excited to to add him to the organization," Hextall said of Lindberg on Wednesday. "Whenever you can get a good young goaltender, you're obviously excited but we've got the two young kids (Calle Clang, Joel Blomqvist) and now we have a couple guys that are older, and I say that in their early 20s (Lindberg, Alex D'Orio). Then obviously we got our big guys (Tristan Jarry, Casey DeSmith) so we like the add to our system and we're excited to see him play this year."
The 6-foot-1, 194-pound native of Espoo, Finland played three seasons at UMass, splitting the starts fairly evenly over the last two seasons with Matt Murray -- not that Matt Murray, but the one who the Penguins brought to development camp two years ago.
Lindberg went 10-1-4 in 15 appearances last season, with five of those 10 wins being shutouts. He posted a 1.24 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage. He was named to the Hockey East second All-Star Team.
“Filip Lindberg may be the untold story of college hockey this year,” UMass coach Greg Carvel told the Daily Hampshire Gazette. “He’s got stats that I don’t know if I’ve seen in a long time.”
“The bigger the game, Filip is a very calm kid. That’s the nature of who he is, his personality. It’s a credit to him,” UMass defenseman Marc Del Gaizo added. “He’s great when he’s under pressure. It gives me confidence and the team confidence when’s back in the net and he’s under control.”
"He showed a lot of promise last year and won the national championship," Hextall said Wednesday.
Lindberg came up through the Espoo Blues youth system in Finland, where he was teammates with Penguins defense prospect Niclas Almari.
With Max Lagace signing with the Lightning for next season, Lindberg figures to share the net with D'Orio in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for next season.
