The Pittsburgh Penguins have officially signed goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to a two-year, $5.0MM contract extension. The deal was first reported by Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff (Twitter link). The deal carries an annual cap hit of $2.5MM, committing Pittsburgh to a total of $7.875MM between starter Tristan Jarry and backup Nedeljkovic.
Nedeljkovic was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st, after playing through a one-year, $1.5MM contract signed last summer. He appeared in 38 NHL games this season – just the second-most he’s played in one season – and managed good results, posting 18 wins and a .902 save percentage. He stood as a reliable backup option for the Penguins, clawing his way back to an everyday role in the NHL after spending much of the 2022-23 season in the minor leagues. It was a hard fall for Nedeljkovic, who had a career year in 2021-22, serving as the Detroit Red Wings’ starter, managing 20 wins and a .901 save percentage across 59 appearances. That season remains the only year that Nedeljkovic has filled a starter role at the NHL level, though he’s made spot starts as far back as the 2016-17 season. Now 28, Nedeljkovic has totaled 141 games across seven years in the NHL, managing 60 wins and a .906 save percentage even amongst tough deployment.
The Penguins seem pleased with Nedeljkovic’s inaugural year with the club, and will now bring him back with a slight pay raise and a bit more term to once again fill the backup role behind Jarry, whose signed through the 2027-28 season. Strong performances could earn Nedeljkovic the role through the end of Jarry’s deal, though top goalie prospect Joel Blomqvist could soon pose tough competition.
Great move for the Pens, and I don’t think that it’s necessarily written in stone that Jarry is 1 and Ned is 2.
Time to move Jarry
Agreed. There was no smoke here and then boom – 2 year extension. Jarry is – in my opinion – a better than average to sometimes great NHL goalie, who goes through lapses for no apparent reason(s) and has stretches of awful. Sounds like he had an injury of some sort last season, and those have happened before too. So maybe there are reasons some of the times but not always. Word is he walked into management’s (all levels) doghouse last year and set up camp. So maybe he’s a bit of a pain too. Would not be surprised to see him traded. This move to extend Ned seems like a precursor to that, especially with a very nice looking young goalie ready in the AHL for his debut. I’ve always liked Jarry, but it seems his time in the Burgh is ending. Probably best for him and team. A trade should fetch a decent top 6 forward.
Who would take Jarry? As far as I can tell, the only people who think Jarry has any value are Penguins fans. I think he’s negative value on that contract, you would have to attach something for another team to take him off the Penguins hands.
If they can’t move Jarry, he will start the year as the number 1 just out of sheer tradition of optics/higher salary/attempt to build value/whatever you want to call it. Not necessarily right, but very likely to happen.
Now in terms of trading Jarry, dumping his contract is more important than the return in my opinion. He doesn’t have a ton of value for reasons everyone has pointed out, so take what you can get, even if its a mid round pick. But the key is no salary retention.
I thought the same thing about Matt Murray. I don’t think you can get any value for him, but it is possible a team takes a chance on him.
I’d be ok seeing what a season of Ned and Joel would look like with whoever has the best glove getting the bulk of the starts.
Really surprised he took 2.5. Figured with the goalie market there was no way he’d be back.