With the Pittsburgh Penguins entering the offseason after a brief return to the postseason, TribLive will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 53 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until future seasons — with the organization.
Starting with veteran Noel Acciari and going on through to prospect Bill Zonnon, every player will be profiled in alphabetical order.
This series is scheduled to be published every day until June 24, two days before the start of the NHL Draft. In the event of a transaction, that schedule will be altered as necessary.
(Note: All contract information courtesy of Puckpedia.)
Joel Blomqvist
Position: Goaltender
Catches: Left
Age: 24
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 204 pounds
2025-26 AHL regular season statistics: 26 games, 16-5-6 record, 2.40 goals against average, .913 save percentage
Contract: In the final year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $886,667. Pending restricted free agent on July 1.
(Blomqvist is eligible for salary arbitration. He does not require waivers for an assignment to a minor league affiliate)
Acquired: Second-round draft pick (No. 52 overall), Oct. 7, 2020
This season: Going back to the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas proclaimed an open competition for the top two goaltending positions in the organization (i.e. the NHL roster) and reiterated that stance at the start of training camp.
Joel Blomqvist, blessed with plenty of potential and skill, was very much a part of that casting call but almost immediately, he fell behind the pack as he suffered an undisclosed injury during the team’s preseason opener on Sept. 22.
That malady was costly for Blomqvist, who wound up on the season-opening injured non-roster list.
Sidelined until mid-November, he was returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Nov. 15.
With Blomqvist able-bodied, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins largely did what the Pittsburgh Penguins did in net and platooned almost every other start between Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov, another promising prospect.
That division of labor paid off well for all parties concerned, especially Blomqvist, who won his final six games of the regular season.
Blomma makes the save! pic.twitter.com/qyl7hkrkFB
— x – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 11, 2026
After a brief recall to the NHL roster to serve as an emergency backup goaltender for a playoff game in Philadelphia on April 29, Blomqvist was returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the next day and has dressed as the backup to Murashov through Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s first three contests of the postseason.
The future: For the time being, it looks like Blomqvist will be manning the door on the bench for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as Murashov has taken over as that team’s top goaltender in the postseason.
Management will presumably re-sign Blomqvist, a pending restricted free agent and keep him in the mix going into next season.
But there are several questions about the organization’s other goaltenders that will need to be answered this upcoming offseason as well. Will veteran Stuart Skinner leave as a pending unrestricted free agent? Will rookie Arturs Silovs remain as a pending restricted free agent? Will Murashov be promoted to the NHL on a full-time basis?
Murashov has clearly emerged as the organization’s top prospect in net and is the Penguins’ goaltender of the future, if not present. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a future for Blomqvist.
He was a fairly high draft pick and has been an All-Star at the American Hockey League level (2023-24). And he showed some competency during a handful of NHL appearances during the 2024-25 season. He could very well form another platoon with Murashov at the NHL level.
Don’t forget about Blomqvist as the Penguins sort out their goaltending this offseason.