The Philadelphia Flyers have one of the most unproven goaltending tandems in the National Hockey League — and they could be looking to rectify that before training camp. The squad is signing Eetu Makiniemi to a professional tryout, the Finnish netminder’s agency confirmed on Thursday.
“[Eetu Makiniemi] has accepted a Professional Tryout Offer with the [Flyers] for training camp ahead of the 2024-25 NHL season,” wrote WD Sports & Entertainment on X, formerly Twitter.
The 25-year-old will be invited to the team’s training camp in Voorhees, New Jersey later in September. Currently, the Flyers have five goalies signed under contract, with the duo of Samuel Ersson and Ivan Fedotov expected to man the crease in Philadelphia in 2024-25.
Makiniemi is hoping he can convince the front office otherwise. He spent the last two seasons in the San Jose Sharks’ organization, spending the 2023-24 campaign split between the American Hockey League’s San Jose Barracuda and ECHL’s Wichita Thunder.
He posted a respectable 8-8-0 record along with a 3.14 goals-against average and .900 save percentage in the AHL, and will now look to earn a longer look in the National Hockey League.
Eetu Makiniemi has appeared in just 2 NHL games
Makiniemi has played in just two NHL games, which came during the 2022-23 season. He earned his first-ever NHL victory by beating the Anaheim Ducks on December 9, 2022.
The Finn was originally drafted in the fourth-round, 104th overall, by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2017 NHL Draft. He was excellent for the AHL’s Chicago Wolves — Carolina’s affiliate at the time — posting an 11-2-1 record along with a sparkling .922 save percentage and two shutouts in 2021-22.
The next summer, he was sent from Carolina to California as part of the trade that landed Brent Burns in Raleigh. After signing a one-year contract with the Sharks, and spending the entire 2023-24 season in the minors, he’ll now look to earn another NHL shot in Pennsylvania.
Although Makiniemi has struggled to earn a shot in the big leagues, he was exceptional coming through the Jukurit system in Finland, being named the league’s best goaltender in the Mestis league — the country’s second division — in 2019-20.
It will be a tall task for the 6-foot-2, 184-pound netminder to earn a spot with the Flyers, but the team’s questionable goaltending situation makes it one of the most realistic opportunities he’ll get.
Makiniemi will compete with Ersson, Fedotov, Cal Peterson, Parker Gahagen and Keith Petruzzelli when training camp opens next month.
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