Fifth Avenue Forum

I assume Maatta is gone regardless...

Of course they're looking for RD, but they could also use a buck or buck and a half of free cap space with no strings attached. JJ just fills right in to the spot that Zaitsev plays.

Right, not a pro guy...will return to Lethbridge, assuming he doesn't make Pittsburgh...

This team is going to look very different in the near future.

So there’s a rumor floating around that GMJR is looking at moving Bjustad and Maatta for Staal and Van Riemsdyk with retained salary? If true, hoochie mamma

I don't think there's anything real there...

Kessel did cancel the Minnesota deal. Or, more accurately, *a* Kessel to Minnesota deal...

I don't think there's anything else imminent...I think they'll re-visit this at the draft or early in the offseason...but I think that's where the most value in the league is going to lie...

Galchenyuk for Kessel

The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed 22-year-old Finnish goaltender Emil Larmi to a two-year, entry-level contract, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.

The deal runs through the 2020-21 campaign and has an average annual value of $700,000 at the NHL level.

The 6-foot, 183-pound goaltender is coming off of a championship season in 2018-19 with HPK of Finland’s top professional league, Liiga. Larmi appeared in all 18 playoff games for HPK, going 12-6 with a 1.72 goals-against average, a .932 save percentage, and two shutouts, both of which came in the finals. He is teammates with current Penguins prospect Niclas Almari, who also recently signed an entry-level deal with Pittsburgh.

”Emil is coming off of a fantastic playoff run with HPK, and has proved himself to be one of the best goaltenders in Liiga,” said Penguins goaltending development coach Andy Chiodo, who has extensively scouted Larmi in Finland. “He’s an athletic and mobile goaltender that reads the game well and is highly competitive. We are excited for Emil to join our organization as he transitions to life and hockey in North America.”

Larmi, who went undrafted in the NHL, has spent the past three seasons with HPK as their starting goaltender, compiling a 50-44-29 record (wins-losses-ties), 2.07 goals-against average, .931 save percentage, and 15 shutouts. He finished the 2018-19 campaign with the Liiga’s third best goals-against average (1.94) and was tied for the third-most shutouts (4).

Oh wow. He is...interesting to watch. He’s like a windup toy in there.

windup toy is a good phrase for him.

Yeah, I like the idea of getting creative...I don't see this goalie making it based on a glance...

Andy Chiodo!?!

Seems Fleuryish, but hard to argue a .950 save %

I don't see much Fleury to him in what little I saw...he looks like athletic Antti Niemi with a shade of Mike Murphy mixed in...

Athletic Anti Niemi seems like an oxymoron.

He reads the play well, but he might as well be wearing Mylec pads because he looks like he is playing street hockey. Guys like this can really dominate lower levels, but that doesn't translate to the bigs.

That's my immediate impression as well...

Meow, you remember Mike Murphy, yes? I'm not sure when you got down to Charlotte, but he played for the Checkers for a quite a bit after the OHL...he played it like ball hockey too, probably the last guy that I saw out of the North American system that really made it anywhere for any length of time that played like that...

I guess USNTDP backup Cameron Rowe kind of stuff...his movements before shots come are good, they almost look rehearsed...the second a shot is taken, it's like microwaving a stick of butter...

I used to joke that Murphy got bonuses every time he was on his ass when the whistle blew. I swear he had an extra joint in his legs that let them go all kinds of wonky ways.

@TheAthleticPGH
Penguins GM Jim Rutherford: Phil Kessel "will probably play for Pittsburgh next season."

I imagine this is probably posturing from GMJR, but regardless we haven't played a game in so **** long that it's beginning to feel like the franchise never existed in the first place.

"you won't let us trade you? ok...you're playing 70 games this year. we're sitting you out when you inevitably start falling apart after New Years. "

...not very likely, of course

hot take: bench him game 1 and get the streak over with so we can treat him like any other player going forward with rest/maintenance days

hot take: bench him game 1 and get the streak over with so we can treat him like any other player going forward with rest/maintenance days

This isn't the NBA...players don't really take a lot of games off...

Also, don't treat humans like objects.

Again, I say that if the best/only deal on the table for Kessel was Zucker (or Kessel/Johnson for Zucker/Rask), THANK YOU Phil for blocking that trade!!!

Ultimately, I think they'll circle back to this around July 4th...whether it goes down then, of course I don't know, but this isn't dead by any means...