The Pittsburgh Penguins goaltending saga took another turn Saturday.
Tristan Jarry was assigned to AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a conditioning loan, the team announced via social media.
The Penguins have assigned goaltender Tristan Jarry to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL) on a conditioning loan. pic.twitter.com/tRCiuivpBz
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 26, 2024
Jarry had accompanied the team on a Canadian road trip this past Sunday but was a healthy scratch for two games before returning to Pittsburgh after the Penguins’ loss to the Flames in Calgary on Tuesday night. Coach Mike Sullivan said Thursday after a practice in Edmonton that Jarry was no longer on the trip so he could work with the team’s director of goaltending, Jon Elkin.
Jarry can be loaned to the AHL for conditioning purposes without needing to clear waivers. Per the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and Players Association, a player must agree to a loan; it has a maximum of 14 days; and the player’s salary and cap hit remains the same as if the player is in NHL.
He has not played for the Penguins since allowing three goals on five shots against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 16. That game was only his third start this season; he allowed nine goals on 68 shots in the others, including a 6-0 loss to the New York Rangers in the Penguins’ home opener on Oct. 9.
Jarry only started that game because Alex Nedeljkovic, re-signed to a two-year contract over the summer, was injured during training camp. Nedeljkovic started the Penguins’ final 13 games last season and was ticketed to open this season as the starter.
That Jarry wasn’t the clear No. 1 goalie coming out of camp was a story in and of itself. He signed a lucrative, lengthy extension (five years, $26.88 million) in July 2023 — one of Kyle Dubas’ first significant decisions as president of hockey operations.
Jarry was 28 at the time and generally viewed as the best available goalie on the open market, though his preference was to remain with the Penguins despite his free-agent status.
A second-round pick in 2013, Jarry was selected to the NHL All-Star Game in 2020 and 2022. He has finished in the top 10 in shutouts three times, and twice apiece in goals-against average and save percentage.
However, the Penguins have not won a Stanley Cup playoff series since Jarry supplanted Matt Murray as the go-to goalie for the 2020-21 season, and they missed the postseason in two of his four years as the starter.
Jarry’s struggles from the second half last season — he went 5-11-1 with a .880 SV percentage and 3.82 GAA over his final 18 appearances — carried over into this one. He is 1-1-0 with a .836 SV percentage and 5.47 GAA through three starts and was passed on the depth chart by rookie Joel Blomqvist.
The Penguins attempted to trade Jarry during the offseason but found no takers. His contract allows him to submit a list of 12 teams to which he could approve a trade.
Required reading
- Penguins’ strange road trip gets stranger as Tristan Jarry heads back to Pittsburgh
(Photo: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
