CRANBERRY, Pa. -- One couldn't have asked for much more from Joel Blomqvist in his first season in North America.
Blomqvist, the 22-year-old netminder who was the Penguins' second-round pick in 2020, was an AHL All-Star in his rookie season. He came just shy of a franchise record, with his 25-12-6 regular-season record tying Matt Murray for the second-most wins by a rookie goaltender in Wilkes-Barre history and coming one win short of Marc-Andre Fleury's record of 26.
For Blomqvist, the next step in his development will be to solidify himself as Wilkes-Barre's true No. 1 goaltender, prove that he deserves to be Pittsburgh's next-man-up when opportunity presents himself, and fight for some NHL time.
With what Blomqvist showed last season, he seems primed to do just that this year. And he'll get the opportunity to get off to a good start on Saturday night in Buffalo, N.Y., where he'll start and play the full game against the Sabres in the Penguins' preseason opener.
Blomqvist's record last year was impressive. The 2.16 goals-against average and .921 save percentage were both impressive. But the most encouraging thing Blomqvist showed last season was remarkable consistency. He needed no adjustment period. In his 45 appearances, he only allowed more than three goals six times, and three of those instances came in a single rough three-game stretch starting in November. He had one shutout, and 17 games where he only allowed one goal.
"I thought I just worked hard every day," Blomqvist told me Friday of what allowed him to do that. "I think that's the biggest reason. You just need to put in the work every day in practice to get the confidence in the games too, and that way you play good in the games."
Blomqvist said he was overall "pretty happy" with the way his rookie season ended for him, saying that the bad feeling of a first-round exit made it tough to be too pleased with the way things went. Kyle Dubas had said prior to the AHL playoffs that Blomqvist's performance in them would give him some more information when it came to how to proceed in decisions regarding Pittsburgh's backup goaltending job in the coming season.
The AHL first round is best-of-three, meaning that it only takes two wins to move on. Wilkes-Barre was swept by Lehigh Valley, and Blomqvist recorded a 3.49 goals-against average and a .894 save percentage. Blomqvist looked good in the first loss, a 2-1 Phantoms win in which he stopped 30 of 32 shots. The players in front of him just couldn't get much off in terms of offense. Wilkes-Barre was eliminated the next game with a 5-4 overtime loss, and Blomqvist stopped 29 of 34 shots. And if the AHL had video review, it would have made up for the terrible officiating in that game. At least one Phantoms goal came directly off a missed Phantoms penalty call, and the Phantoms' tying goal to force overtime was scored with a blatant high-stick.
"Those series are tough when there's so little games," Blomqvist said. "It makes it so every mistake counts even more in those situations. It's hard to say a reason (for the sweep), but it just sucks that it ended that way."
It's hard to really blame Blomqvist for Wilkes-Barre's early elimination given the circumstances, but he didn't do himself any favors, either. And so Dubas re-signed Alex Nedeljkovic in the offseason.
Mike Sullivan was complimentary of Blomqvist's first season, calling it "really good."
"He's technically pretty sound," Sullivan said of his observations of Blomqvist. "He has good size (6-2, 187). He's tall, he's rangy, by nature he takes up a lot of net. So when you combine some of his technical game and how sound he is with his size and his physical stature, I think it really sets him up for success. He had a really good year for Wilkes-Barre last year and we're hopeful that he'll build on it. We think the sky's the limit for him."
Even though Blomqvist had a pretty good first year, there's still steps to be taken if he starts in the AHL this season. For one, he wasn't Wilkes-Barre's true No. 1 goaltender until leading up to the NHL trade deadline. The Penguins went into last season with a veteran AHL starter in Magnus Hellberg, giving the Penguins more of a safety net in the event a recall is needed given Blomqvist's lack of North American experience beforehand.
Hellberg and Blomqvist had a great relationship. Hellberg is Swedish, and Blomqvist is Finnish but with Swedish roots, and speaks Swedish. His nickname -- "Blomma" -- is actually a Swedish word, coincidentally the word for "Flower." Fitting, given his new home.
When Hellberg was up in Pittsburgh in February last year shortly after Blomqvist's All-Star selection, I asked him about what he saw from Blomqvist and he lit up when speaking about Blomqvist, calling himself Blomqvist's "bigger brother."
"He's taken big steps," Hellberg said. "I think he's a really great guy and a great goaltender. "I think he carries himself really well down there and has a bright future. I was in his shoes when I came over when I was 21, and I remember having the older guys helping me and giving me advice and just feeling like you can talk to someone. Obviously we both speak Swedish, and I think that's a safe zone for him too."
Blomqvist echoed almost that same sentiment when I asked him about Hellberg's influence on Friday, calling Hellberg his "safe point."
"He was an awesome guy," Blomqvist said with a smile. "It was really, really valuable for me to have a guy like him in my first year here. He's obviously a great guy. But he has lots of experience, too, and he felt kind of like a big brother."
The Penguins split the "brothers" up at the trade deadline, and the reason was two-fold: They wanted to do right by Hellberg and trade him to an organization where he would get more playing time, and so Florida's system provided that opportunity. But they also wanted to force Blomqvist into a real No. 1 role, and take away his safety net. Even with the more frequent playing time and pressure that came from his new role, he remained consistent.
With the goaltending depth the Penguins added in the offseason, Blomqvist is again going to have to really earn his playing time. ECHL Goaltender of the Year Taylor Gauthier is still around. Filip Larsson, one of the Swedish Hockey League's top goaltenders last season, signed a two-year deal with the Penguins this summer. And Sergei Murashov was a surprise mid-summer addition, leaving Russia and signing his entry-level deal this summer. That's four goaltenders all really should be earning top AHL minutes, and that's just not possible.
If you ask Blomqvist, he's pretty pleased with that depth surrounding him. It's going to push him.
"I think I perform better when there's competition," he said. "Yeah, I mean, there's going to be other guys fighting for the same spot. So it won't change ever, you just have to try to be better than the other guys."
MORE FROM THE MORNING SKATE
• These were the Penguins' lines and pairings at the morning skate:
Rutger McGroarty - Drew O'Connor - Cody Glass
Jesse Puljujarvi - Tristan Broz - Valtteri Puustinen
Ville Koivunen - Vasily Ponomarev - Emil Bemstrom
Tanner Howe - Jimmy Huntington - Avery Hayes
Ryan Graves - Mac Hollowell
John Ludvig - Harrison Brunicke
Ryan Shea - Nathan Clurman
Justin Lee - Philip Waugh
Justin Lee was out there but isn't on the roster tonight, which suggests Philip Waugh is the scratch on D tonight because he's paired with him. And it looks like Atley Calvert is the one out at forward, he's on the roster but didn't take regular line rushes
• First power-play group: Mac Hollowell, Drew O'Connor, Valtteri Puustinen, Rutger McGroarty, Cody Glass
• Second power-play group: Harrison Brunicke, Ville Koivunen, Tristan Broz, Emil Bemstrom, Jesse Puljujarvi
• The Sabres are dressing an NHL-heavy lineup. The Penguins think there's a benefit to them doing that.
"It's a huge benefit," Sullivan said. "I think it'll be a great test for our guys against an NHL lineup, we're going to have to be ready to play. They're a talented group, and they've got a lot of pedigree with some of their draft picks that are emerging as pretty good players in this league. So I think it'll be a big test for some of our guys, and it'll be an opportunity to see how some of our guys stack up against an NHL lineup."
• The Penguins made their first cuts of training camp, sending Justin Cloutier, Cooper Foster, Caeden Carlisle, Donovan McCoy, Emil Pieniniemi, Charlie Schenkel back to their respective junior teams. Of that group, only Foster and Pieniniemi are their actual draft picks, the rest were invites.
• The game will be televised on SportsNet Pittsburgh locally and on the radio at 105.9.
