With the Pittsburgh Penguins recalling goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic from his conditioning loan without a corresponding roster move it was inevitable that the Penguins would have to healthy scratch one of their three netminders for today’s game. Their highest-paid goalie, Tristan Jarry, found his name on the chopping block when the roster was announced with the team opting for Nedeljkovic and youngster Joel Blomqvist.
Nedeljkovic started today against the Winnipeg Jets allowing five goals on 36 shots for an .861 save percentage in the loss. It was his first game back since suffering a lower-body injury in a preseason matchup against the Detroit Red Wings on September 30th.
Aside from Nedeljkovic making his season debut, the move speaks more to Pittsburgh’s confidence in Blomqvist and the ongoing lack thereof with Jarry. The 23-year-old netminder has managed a .906 SV% through the first three starts of his NHL career while Jarry has only mustered an .836 SV% including three goals allowed on five shots in only 11 and a half minutes of the team’s game against the Buffalo Sabres on October 16th.
The Penguins are only seven games into the 2024-25 regular season so there is more than enough time for Jarry to turn it around and take back the starting job. The bad part is that this issue extends before this season with Jarry losing the starting role to Nedeljkovic in the back half of last year.
Despite Jarry having enough time to turn his season around, there is some recent precedence for a team making a bold decision on a high-priced goaltender. The Edmonton Oilers placed Jack Campbell and his $5MM salary on waivers last season after only five games to start the season before buying him out this past summer.
There’s no indication Pittsburgh will act similarly to the Oilers last year but the organization’s response to his recent stretch of play, coupled with the healthy scratch today, likely shows Jarry that his spot in the lineup isn’t as secure as he would like.
The Penguins are just below the league’s average in save percentage to start the regular season but are not a unique club having early issues in the crease. Should Jarry’s uninspiring play continue into the American Thanksgiving season — he could force Pittsburgh’s hand in making a very difficult decision.
Need saves.
$5.4MM well spent!
It’s rather unfair to goalies.
If some other 5.4million+ dollar player was playing below average *cough Pettersson* they wouldn’t be considering being bought out after playing 3 scoreless or below average games.
But if you’re a goalie you might be!
By playing “below average”, you could make a reasonable argument that Pettersson would be their best defender.
I’ve been around for some seriously poor defensive Penguin teams in my day, but this one could “surpass” them all.
Having said that, Jarry should have an engraved seat in the press box as far as I’m concerned.
This makes no sense. You need 6 defenseman to play, and usually roster 7. You only need 1 goalie a night, mostly, and usually only dress 2. Is Petersson not one of their 6 best Defenders? I doubt this. You can make an argument that Jarry isn’t even PIT’s 2nd best goalie.
It’s unfair in the sense that when a non-goalie gets into a rough patch, the team can usually hide him with sheltered minutes mixed with the press box to let him work things.
Because teams usually only roster 2 and there are no sheltered minutes available, the goalie is stuck.