What I'm hearing about the Penguins' goaltender of the future and the NHL trade deadline

SALT LAKE CITY — Many Penguins fans are excited to see Joel Blomqvist back with the NHL team, and there's no question that the young goaltender could have a very bright future in the league. He hasn't been spectacular, but he's been very solid in his NHL cup of coffee. He has a mental toughness that will serve him well. He looks like a keeper.
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Several people in the organization, however, have told me they don't think he's the goaltender in the Penguins' system with the highest ceiling.
That would be Sergei Murashov.
The goaltender from Yaroslavl, Russia, doesn't turn 21 until April Fool's Day, but his talent is no joke. He has dominated at every level of his hockey career. He has played junior hockey in Russia, professionally in Russia, for ECHL Wheeling and for AHL Wilkes-Barre.
This is a list of his GAA per season:
The sample size is small, as those numbers comprise only a total of 155 games over the past five seasons. Still, they are staggering. The save percentage numbers during each of his seasons are just as stunning:
He hasn't put up those numbers in the NHL and only a handful of these games have come at the AHL level. So, Murashov has much to prove.
But …
A member of the Penguins organization told me last week: 'That kid is an absolute stud. His ceiling is incredibly high.'
Still, we should keep in mind that Murashov is raw. I don't think he'll be ready next season. My guess is that, in the 2025-26 season, the Penguins will go with Blomqvist and Alex Nedeljkovic between the pipes, unless Nedeljkovic is traded, which isn't unimaginable. Still, Nedeljkovic is the perfect personality to have around a young goaltender.
Murashov should get a season being the guy in Wilkes-Barre.
He's young, he's raw, and it doesn't seem wise to have a young goaltender play behind these Penguins. In terms of pure physical talent, though, the Penguins believe Murashov is special.
Between Murashov and Blomqvist, the Penguins employ two young, talented goaltenders. They're hopeful that at least one of them can become a bonafide No. 1 goaltender at the NHL level. If they both emerge as No. 1 caliber guys, even better. They'll both be given a chance.
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Blomqvist is the more polished and experienced of the two, but Murashov's athleticism is special. The expectations for him in the Penguins' organization are very high.
• You'll note that I didn't mention Tristan Jarry in the goaltending plans for next season.
Training camp is eight months away. Any number of things could happen between now and then. Maybe Jarry finds his game in Wilkes-Barre, has a great training camp and makes the team. Maybe he'll be traded. Maybe he'll be bought out. Maybe he'll stay in Wilkes-Barre.
These are all possibilities. But as long as Blomqvist and Nedeljkovic are healthy and in the organization, it's difficult for me to imagine seeing Jarry in a Penguins uniform at the NHL level again. If a Penguins goaltender gets injured, I suppose it would become a possibility.
• As for trade deadline talk, not much has changed.
Kyle Dubas wants to aggressively sell. He might not entirely get his wish until this summer simply because it's a great unknown whether this will be a busy trade deadline around the league.
In recent years, the week between the NHL Draft and the July 1 free agency opening has produced the most fireworks around the league. Much of this is because of Covid. The salary cap has barely risen in years because of a lack of NHL revenue when Covid hit, which has handcuffed many teams in-season, as players had been signed to lucrative contracts in previous years with the expectation that the salary cap would be higher than it is.
Dubas prefers to land young NHL players or prospects over draft picks. But, make no mistake, the Penguins are still perfectly agreeable to add picks.
• Marcus Pettersson is still the most likely member of the Penguins to be traded.
And he knows it.
'It's not the first time my name has been out there,' he said. 'You have to try and not let it bother you, and not let it have an effect on how you're performing on the ice. I'm doing my best.'
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• I have seen several people on social media spewing venom toward coach Mike Sullivan because Owen Pickering was sent back to Wilkes-Barre.
He hates young players! Grrr!
Sullivan doesn't hate Pickering. Far from it. He likes him as a player and as a person. The Penguins coaching staff saw what it believed to be minor regression in his game recently, so it decided to keep him out of the lineup for a bit. After discussing the situation with Dubas and the Penguins' braintrust, it was determined that sending him down to Wilkes-Barre where he can play heavy minutes nightly is much more sensible than having him sit in the press box for any length of time.
Feel free to disagree with that approach. Maybe it's best for Pickering's growth, maybe it isn't. But the Penguins are hardly down on him. In fact, his stock has significantly risen in their eyes, and they view him as a very clear part of their future.
My guess is that we'll see Pickering again soon, probably at the conclusion of the 4 Nations Face-Off or thereabout.
• Erik Karlsson detractors will very quickly remind you he's never won anything because he doesn't play 'winning hockey.'
That's not particularly fair to Karlsson, who has played on some pretty mediocre rosters throughout his career. Sure, he plays a reckless style that isn't exactly pleasing to most coaches. During most of his time in Pittsburgh, he's been disappointing. Facts are facts.
But he's still a great player, and anyone who suggests he doesn't care about winning is misguided.
I spoke with Karlsson in Anaheim last week after practice, and he practically whispered when analyzing the Pittsburgh portion of his career.
'It's been two years now, and I haven't really been able to get anything going,' he said. 'It's frustrating.'
Karlsson has played better in recent weeks, relatively speaking, but has never been the dynamic presence the Penguins were expecting when they traded for him 18 months ago. He has scored only 15 goals in 134 games after scoring 25 in his final season with the San Jose Sharks.
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The losing is taking a toll on Karlsson, who has never played in a Stanley Cup Final in his 16-year NHL career. He's reached the conference final only once, dispatched by Chris Kunitz and the Penguins in double overtime of Game 7 in 2017.
'We've been a very volatile team,' Karlsson said. 'We've got to get something going. And now the problem is, other teams around us or ahead of us in the standings have started winning. I know the potential is there. We just have to keep going.'
(Photo of Sergei Murashov: Maksim Konstantinov / Associated Press)

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