What it means for the future
The Pittsburgh Penguins are about to head out on a two-week road trip, and it looks like they will be bringing different goalies with them. The team took to announcing beforehand today that they will be placing starting goalie Tristan Jarry on waivers today.
Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry will be placed on waivers today at 2:00 PM.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 15, 2025
Every team will have an opportunity to claim the goalie, who carries a $5.375 million cap hit through the 2027-28 season. If (read: when) he clears waivers tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon, the Penguins can assign him back to the AHL.
Jarry spent time earlier in the season in the AHL on a conditioning assignment after a dreadful start to the 2024-25 season. His play has slumped again, with a sub .900 save% in five of his last six starts. The breaking point appears to be the previous two games, where Jarry gave up matching performances of three goals in each game, despite facing 17 shots in each game.
Another factor is that the Pens are getting great goalie performances in the AHL. As we literally just wrote this morning:
The goalies — Joel Blomqvist recently celebrated his 23rd birthday and is off to a second very fine season in Wilkes (.912 save% in 12 games, 2.93 GAA, 1 shutout and a 6-4-2 record). Blomqvist is the top prospect at his position in the organization right now, but the work of free agent signee Filip Larsson (.927 save%, 2.44 GAA, 4 shutouts and a 7-4-2 record) can’t be overlooked either. Larsson, 26, has yet to play in the NHL after spending 2020-24 back in Sweden. Considering that Pittsburgh has some of the worst goalie inputs at the starter and backup position, it’s not a huge stretch to state that both of their AHL goalies might be in better form at the moment than both of their NHL goalies. Does that mean the Pens have the stomach for drastic roster movement to shuttle Tristan Jarry or Alex Nedeljkovic off the roster and call-up a minor league goalie? It hasn’t happened yet. But poor goaltending has been at a breaking point these last few games and if the team wishes to attempt to salvage their season, bringing up a minor league goalie and giving them an opportunity to play NHL games is worth consideration, even if it means potentially carrying the awkward three healthy goalie setup.
From the last line of thought, it appears the Pens will take the drastic step to rip the bandaid off and shed Jarry from their NHL roster instead in the quest for clearing the way for a yet-to-be-called-up minor league netminder.
Blomqvist has a .902 save% in eight NHL games this season, while Jarry was in the minors and Alex Nedeljkovic was injured. That was in the early part of the year when the Pens were hemorrhaging shots. In 22 games this season Jarry has a .886 save% and a goals saved above average that ranks near the bottom of the league. Nedeljkovic, with a .886 ave% in 19 games and similarly poor advanced stats, is hardly much different statistically.