Flyers sign Eetu Makiniem to a one-year, two-way contract

The Philadelphia Flyers have added a little more depth between the pipes, as they have signed goaltender Eetu Mäkiniemi to a one-year, two-way contract.

The deal carries an NHL cap hit of $775,000 for the 2024-25 season, with a minor-league salary of $200,000.

According to PuckPedia, if Mäkiniemi plays 26 NHL games this season, he will become a restricted free agent. If he doesn’t, he will become a Group 6 unrestricted free agent again.

The 25-year-old was invited to Flyers training camp on a professional tryout agreement. Mäkiniemi made his preseason debut on Monday night against the Montreal Canadiens. He allowed one goal on 14 shots in 31:14 of ice time.

It is unclear where he will fit into the Flyers’ lineup, as Samuel Ersson and Ivan Fedotov are the projected duo with the big-league club to start the season.

Mäkiniemi has spent the last two seasons in the San Jose Sharks organization, appearing in two NHL games during the 2022-23 campaign. He earned his first and only NHL victory in his first start on Dec. 9, 2022 against the Anaheim Ducks. However, the Finnish netminder did not see any ice with the big club last season. Instead, he played the majority of the year with the Sharks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. He also played in three games for San Jose’s secondary affiliate, the Wichita Thunder.

In 2023-24 with the Barracuda, the 25-year-old went 8-8-0 with a 3.14 goals-against average, a .900 save percentage and three shutouts.

Mäkiniemi was originally taken in the fourth round, 104th overall, of the 2017 NHL Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes. He signed his entry-level contract with the Hurricanes in 2021, spending a year with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, the same season the club won the Calder Cup. In July 2022, Mäkiniemi was a piece heading to San Jose as part of the trade that sent Brent Burns to the Hurricanes.