Jun 2, 2019 2 min read

Penguins sign goalie

The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed 22-year-old Finnish goaltender Emil Larmi to a two-year, entry-level contract.

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, 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).