Whatever you have to do to keep him playing well and boosting his numbers, you have to do it.
Tristan Jarry returned to the Pittsburgh Penguins starting lineup this week after nearly two-months in the American Hockey League. The result was two of the best games he has played all season in helping the Penguins win back-to-back games against two very good opponents in the Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights.
He was especially strong in Tuesday’s game against Vegas, stopping 35 out of 37 shots in a game where the Penguins were doubled up in shots, scoring chances and expected goals.
If we are being honest, they did not deserve a win.
It was the type of game we have not seen enough from him — or any Penguins goalie recently — as he not only gave his team a chance to win, he pretty much stole it.
From a big picture perspective neither win means anything. The Penguins are not going to the playoffs this season, and any winning they do from here on out is likely to be a case of way too little, way too late. Maybe you want to see them keep losing for draft lottery positioning, but given the lottery odds and the lack of a franchise-altering prize at the top of this year’s class I am not going to stress too much about that.
They can still be positioned for a top-10 or top-five pick.
I am also not going to turn down Jarry playing well the rest of the way, mainly because trying to boost his trade value as much as possible over the next month should be a pretty big priority.
Maybe the biggest priority since the young guys are likely to stay in the American Hockey League for a playoff push there.
When I say boost his trade value, I am not necessarily talking about getting him to the point where you can get a haul for him. Or even any kind of a return. But just get him to the point where you can find somebody that is willing to take on his contract, or maybe give you another reclamation project back in return.
Basically: Can you get him to the point where you can find your Darcy Kuemper for Pierre-Luc Dubois swap?
Or something similar to that.
Something in that ballpark at least.
Speaking from a Penguins perspective, there is not anything I can or will see from Jarry over the next month that is going to change my opinion on him as the Penguins’ long-term (or short-term) goalie option. We have seen the highs and lows of his career. We have seen the brief moments of strong play that can go on as long as half of a season and send him to an All-Star, only to watch them crumble in the second half or in the playoffs.
The Penguins need to be thinking about Joel Blomqvist and, ideally, Sergei Murashov as their long-term goalie options. Or somebody else not currently in the organization.
If you can get a strong finish out of Jarry, maybe you can sell another team on him. I know the contract is not ideal, but under a rising salary cap in the coming seasons it is not as ugly as it was coming into this season.
A $5.5 million salary cap number on next year’s $95.5 million salary cap would be the equivalent of a $4.7 million cap hit at the start of last season when Jarry signed the contract. On the $104 million salary cap in 2026-27, it would be the equivalent of a $4.3 million cap hit in 2023-24. Still not great, but certainly not cap-crushing. Especially given the market rate for mid-level (or below mid-level) goalies across the league right now. Karel Vejmelka is 28 years old and has literally had one season with a save percentage over .900 and just signed for $23.8 million over five years.
Even the mid guys are getting expensive.
The free agent market for goalies is barren.
The trade market is probably limited to John Gibson and guys like Cam Talbot.
Maybe there is a window to move him this offseason. I would not be expecting much, and maybe you have to flip one of those draft picks you have accumulated to sweeten the pot, but just creating more salary cap relief for yourself over the next few years, or getting somebody that you might be able to squeeze more out of for a similar salary cap number, would be a very nice benefit.