Penguins’ Joel Blomqvist out day-to-day with lower-body injury

Some early injury problems between the pipes for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

On Wednesday, the team announced that goaltender Joel Blomqvist is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

The Penguins didn’t specify when Blomqvist was hurt, nor what is ailing him, either.

The 23-year-old did play in the Penguins’ first preseason game of the season on Monday. He started the contest against the Montreal Canadiens, stopping all 11 shots he faced in the first half of the game before the team switched him out for Sergei Murashov. Pittsburgh went on to lose the game, 2-1, in a shootout.

Blomqvist is coming off a pretty fruitful 2024-25 season. He made his NHL debut on the second night of the season, earning his first win with the Penguins on Oct. 10 against the Detroit Red Wings. He was up and down between Pittsburgh and its American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. In 15 games with the big club, the Finnish backstop posted a record of 4-9-1 with a 3.81 goals-against average and a .885 save percentage.

With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he went 8-7-4, with a 2.84 GAA, a .914 SV% and one shutout. Blomqvist made one appearance in the Calder Cup Playoffs, as the Pens fell to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the first round.

That all came after an exceptional rookie season in the AHL. Blomqvist went 25-12-6 in 45 games during the 2023-24 campaign, posting a 2.16 GAA, a .921 SV% and one shutout. Along with representing the Atlantic Division at the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic, Blomqvist was named to the league’s All-Rookie Team and was a Second-Team All-Star.

In 65 AHL regular-season games, he has a record of 33-12-10 with a 2.38 GAA, a .918 SV% and two shutouts.

Blomqvist is heading into the final season of his three-year, entry-level contract, which carries an NHL AAV of $925,000 and a minor-league salary of $80,000.