Penguins

Penguins A to Z: Tristan Jarry remains the goaltender of the present (for now)

Seth Rorabaugh
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Chaz Palla | TribLive
In 51 games this season, Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry had a 19-25-5 record.

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With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2023-24 season coming to an end without any postseason action, TribLive will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 51 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until next season — with the organization, from fourth-line center Noel Acciari to reserve winger Radim Zohorna.

This series is scheduled to be published every weekday leading into the second day of the NHL Draft on June 29.

(Note: All contract information courtesy of Cap Friendly.)

Tristan Jarry

Position: Goaltender

Catches: Left

Age: 29

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 194 pounds

2023-24 NHL statistics: 51 games, 19-25-5 record, 2.91 goals against average, .903 save percentage, six shutouts

Contract: In the first year of a five-year contract with a salary cap hit of $5.375 million.

(Note: Jarry’s contract contains a no-trade clause which allows him to submit a list of 12 teams he would not accept a trade to.)

Acquired: Second-round draft pick (No. 44 overall), June 30, 2013

This season: Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas didn’t simply re-sign Tristan Jarry last June.

He committed to Jarry by flying to his home in the Edmonton area to meet with Jarry and his wife. The point of this trip was to get familiar with Jarry the person before determining if he should re-sign Jarry the player.

After coming away from that encounter in good spirits and seeing there were limited options on the pending free agent market among goaltenders, Dubas deemed Jarry worthy of being the Penguins’ goaltender of the present and future going into the final years of the franchise’s “Big Three” core — forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang — in its employ.

The first year of the five-year commitment Dubas made to Jarry was mixed.

While it wasn’t by any stretch a successful season for Jarry, it wasn’t quite a failure either. It was underwhelming and a bit disappointing but also intriguing.

In a lot of ways, it was weird.

When you lead the NHL in shutouts despite having a losing record, that’s abnormal.

When you score a goal — as a goaltender — that’s not typical either.

And when you don’t start any of the team’s final 13 games — primarily as a coach’s decision — as the team makes a desperate push to qualify for the postseason, that is strange as well.

Jarry’s season largely tracked as the team did to open 2023-24. Not much in the way of sustained success or failure. Jarry and the Penguins always seemed to be a game or two away from being .500, either above or below that mark.

A sobering moment of clarity for Jarry came Oct. 30 in a 4-3 home loss to the Anaheim Ducks when he allowed forward Mason McTavish to score a game-winning short-handed goal with 13 seconds left in regulation.

After that, Jarry was blunt in critiquing his play

“I need to be better,” Jarry said. “That’s the bottom line. The guys need a save there at the end.”

Jarry squared up his game after that and pieced together a season-best four-game winning streak, including a somewhat bizarre shared shutout with reserve Magnus Hellberg in a 2-0 road win against the Ducks on Nov. 7. After his helmet was dislodged, Jarry took a puck to the face and left the game after 38:15 of ice time and was replaced by Hellberg.

Beyond that, Jarry’s season largely had a stop-and-start nature to it. A two-game winning streak would be followed by a three-game losing streak. A three-game stretch of wins here followed by two losses in overtime or a shootout there.

Jarry did ensure a place in franchise history during a 4-2 road win against the Tampa Bay Lightning when he became the first goaltender to score a goal. At 18:52 of the third period, Jarry settled a puck and fired it down ice into an open cage.

On Feb. 6, with a 3-0 home win against the impressive Winnipeg Jets, Jarry made 23 saves to take over the league lead with his sixth shutout of the season.

That wound up being his final shutout of 2023-24 as his play and the Penguins’ overall success dipped in February. In his final 18 games of the campaign, Jarry had a 5-11-1 mark, along with a 3.18 goals against average and .880 save percentage.

A handful of those appearances saw Jarry be pulled in favor of backup goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, including Jarry’s final start of 2023-24. In a 4-2 road loss to the powerful Dallas Stars, Jarry was yanked after stopping only 16 of 20 shots.

Aside from relieving Nedeljkovic on two occasions — once for a medical-related scenario and another for ineffective play — Jarry was a spectator for the remainder of the regular season.

Jarry was scheduled to start at least one game in the first week of April but a team-wide illness ensnared him and kept him out of the lineup.

The future: In the days following the team’s regular season finale, coach Mike Sullivan and Dubas each proclaimed Jarry as the team’s top goaltender going into next season. In fact, Dubas acknowledged Nedeljkovic — who had helped salvage what appeared to be a lost cause into a viable push for a playoff spot in the final weeks — could very well just leave as a pending free agent.

Dubas did offer one caveat to the goaltender equation, however, in the form of prospect Joel Blomqvist.

Coming off a successful first season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Blomqvist could very well push for a roster spot going into 2024-25.

And considering Blomqvist’s pedigree and experience — the 22-year-old has played at the professional level, including in his native Finland, for parts of five seasons — it’s not outrageous to wonder if he is ready to challenge for not just a roster spot but starting duties as well.

But given the commitment management made to Jarry last summer and the strong endorsements offered following this season by Sullivan and Dubas, Jarry remains the Penguin’s goaltender of the present.

For now.

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