The Penguins still have Joel Blomqvist in the picture, but the road ahead looks a lot different than it did a year ago.
Blomqvist comes in at No. 8 in PensBurgh’s 2026 Top 25 Under 25, down one spot from No. 7 last year. He’s now 24 years old, stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 200 pounds, and he spent much of the 2025-26 season working back from a lower-body injury that cut into his year before it really got going.
Pittsburgh announced on Sept. 26, 2025, that Blomqvist had been hurt in a preseason game and would miss several weeks. He didn’t get back into the mix until mid-November, when he was sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Nov. 15 and settled in as a platoon partner for Sergei Murashov. Together, they helped drive the Baby Penguins to a 46-17-7 regular-season mark and all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals of the Calder Cup playoffs.
On the year, Blomqvist posted a 16-5-6 record in 26 games with a 2.40 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. That 2.40 GAA ranked sixth in the AHL, while his save percentage checked in seventh. Murashov, for comparison, finished 24-9-4 with a 2.20 GAA and a .919 save percentage.
Blomqvist’s NHL work was limited to a single emergency recall for a Pittsburgh playoff game against the Flyers on April 29. He was sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the next day. It was Murashov who got the bigger NHL look during the season, appearing in five games in early November after Tristan Jarry went on injured reserve.
Even with Murashov rising fast, Blomqvist still carries the profile that made him a well-regarded goaltending prospect in the first place. He’s been described as a calm, technically sound goalie with strong anticipation and positioning. His quiet game and efficient tracking remain selling points, while his posture is still viewed as a possible issue at the top level.
The organization also made a commitment to him last month, signing him to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $875,000. Hooks later broke down the deal structure and noted that it includes a two-way arrangement with a $300,000 downside guaranteed salary, with the contract worth up to $850,000 if he spends the full 2026-27 season in the NHL. The second year changes to a one-way deal worth $900,000 no matter where he plays.
For now, Blomqvist is projected as the organization’s third-string goalie and the starter in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, while Arturs Silovs and Sergei Murashov are lined up for most of the NHL work. That doesn’t mean Pittsburgh has moved on from him. He was a relatively high draft pick, made the AHL All-Star team in 2023-24, and gave the Penguins a glimpse of what he could offer during the 2024-25 season, when he went 4-9-1 in 15 games with a 3.81 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage.
Goaltending depth matters, and in a league moving to an 84-game regular season, that depth is going to be tested. Blomqvist still fits that bill for Pittsburgh, and he remains one of the organization’s most experienced young players in net. But the clearest path to the crease is no longer his alone, especially with Murashov’s rise suggesting the Penguins may now see him as the prospect with the higher ceiling.
Blomqvist’s next step is straightforward enough: take control of the net in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and be ready when the NHL call comes, whether it arrives this season or next.
In Other News...
Penguins Prospect Ranking Fuels One Debate Fans Can't Ignore
A new ranking from Corey Pronman put the Penguins prospect pool 16th in the NHL, a reminder that the organization has made progress under Kyle Dubas but is still stuck in that wide middle ground where there is promise without a clear breakthrough. The system has gotten better, and there are more legitimate names to watch than there were not long ago, but it still does not look like a pipeline built to carry the franchise through the next era on its own.
Rutger McGroarty, Ben Kindel and Harrison Burnicke were all pointed to as possible NHL regulars, which is encouraging enough for a team that has needed youth in the pipeline. The harder part for Pittsburgh is the absence of any obvious star-level answer waiting in the wings, the kind of prospect who can eventually soften the inevitable transition from Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Finally Resolve Cruz Lucius Situation With Telling Next Step
Cruz Lucius path to the pros has taken another turn, and this one closes the book on his brief Penguins holding period. The winger, acquired in a trade with Carolina, had a strong season at Arizona State and was in a position where recent NCAA eligibility rule changes could have sent him back to college hockey.
Instead, Lucius chose to leave, and Pittsburgh moved his rights to Anaheim for future considerations. For the Penguins, it is a tidy resolution to a situation that had lingered since the original trade, while for Lucius it clears the way for the next stage of his career outside the organization that had been waiting on his decision. [Read more 🡒]