He might well be a Pittsburgh Penguins goalie next season, but top Penguins prospect Joel Blomqvist was honored by the AHL, which named him to the All-Rookie team.
Blomqvist’s stats are worthy of notice. He leads all rookie goalies with 25 wins. He ranks third among all AHL goalies with a 2.14 goals-against-average and fifth among all goalies with a .921 save percentage.
Penguins GM Kyle Dubas seemed to indicate that with a solid playoff run, Blomqvist would be in line for a promotion to the NHL next season (Read More: Signs Point to Penguins Not Re-Signing Nedeljkovic; Space for Top Prospect)
The AHL All-Rookie Team is full of players who got the call to the NHL late this season.
G – Joel Blomqvist, WBS
D – Brandt Clarke, ONT
D – Logan Mailloux, LAV
F – Josh Doan, TUC
F – Brad Lambert, MB
F – Logan Stankoven, TEX
Blomqvist was the Penguins’ second-round pick in 2020 (52nd overall). Coincedentially, it was selection acquired from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for goaltender Matt Murray. Blomqvist is currently tied with Murray for the seventh-most wins in a single season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton franchise history and one behind Marc-Andre Fleury for most wins by a rookie.
The WBS Penguins qualified for the AHL playoffs for just the second time since the 2017-18 season. In 2022, they beat Hershey in a best-of-three Round One series, but Springfield swept WBS in the following round.
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