The Philadelphia Flyers announced today they have signed goaltender Eetu Makiniemi to a one-year, two-way contract with an average annual value (AVV) of $775,000, according to General Manager Daniel Brière.
Makiniemi, 25 (4/19/1999), entered Flyers training camp this season on a professional try-out. Prior to joining the team, he posted an 8-8-0 record with a 3.14 goals-against average (GAA) and .900 save percentage (SV%) in 18 games for the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League (AHL) last season. He also appeared in three games for the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL, where he recorded a 1-2-0 mark, 3.39 GAA and a .907 SV%.
The 6-foot-2, 183-pound goaltender recorded a 2.77 GAA, .906 SV% and a 27-20-4 record in 54 career games for the Sharks’ primary affiliate in the AHL. He made his NHL debut on Dec. 7, 2022 vs. Vancouver, coming in relief and stopped 6-of-8 shots he faced. He stopped 23-of-24 shots in his first NHL start on Dec. 9, 2022 at Anaheim to get his first NHL win.
He was originally drafted by Carolina in the fourth round (104th overall) in the 2017 NHL Draft. He was acquired by San Jose with Steven Lorentz and a conditional pick in the 2023 NHL Draft from Carolina in exchange for Brent Burns and Lane Pederson on July 13, 2022.
Before coming over to North America, the Finnish native played professional hockey in Liiga, Finland’s top hockey league. He was named to the Second All-Star team in Mestis, Finland’s second-tier hockey league, and awarded Mestis’ Best Goaltender after the 2019-20 season.
