The Pittsburgh Penguins are changing their goaltending tandem once again. The Penguins announced they’ve recalled goaltender Tristan Jarry from their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and have reassigned Joel Blomqvist in a corresponding transaction.
Jarry has spent much of the last two months with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, managing a 6-5-1 record in 12 games with a .908 SV% and 2.67 GAA. After clearing waivers in mid-January, Pittsburgh made the difficult decision to reassign Jarry to the AHL for the first time since the 2018-19 season. The Penguins will now hope Jarry has regained confidence in his game after a relatively strong stretch of play in the AHL.
The Surrey, British Columbia native doesn’t have much runway left with the organization. Jarry parlayed .909 SV% and 2.90 GAA in 47 starts into a five-year $26.88MM extension in Pittsburgh after the 2022-23 season. To put it bluntly, the Penguins haven’t received a quality return on investment.
Since the start of the 2023-24 season, Jarry has managed a 27-33-9 record through 69 starts with a .897 SV% and 3.04 GAA. He lost his starting role to Alex Nedeljkovic toward the end of last season and hasn’t done anything to earn it back. Still, the Penguins’ goaltending struggles don’t begin and end with Jarry, as the entire goaltending trio has produced a .888 SV% in 63 games with a startling -25.2 goals saved above average, according to Hockey Reference.
Meanwhile, given his struggles in the NHL this season and that he’s only 23 years old, the hourglass was nearly empty for Blomqvist’s stay in Pittsburgh for the remainder of the season. He’s earned a 4-9-1 record through his first 15 NHL starts with a .885 SV% and 3.81 GAA.
Given the early struggles of his career and the Penguins’ lethargic play in front of him for much of the season, it’s prudent for Blomqvist’s development to return to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Uusikaarlepyy, Finland native has been remarkably better in the AHL, boasting a 32-19-10 record in two years with a .917 SV% and 2.38 GAA.
Good for Bloomqvist as he may gain more confidence back in the minors but was not overly impressed. The defense or lack there of in front of him left him in bad spots but he also let in quite a few soft goals. Like the game winner on Sunday.
The Pens are trying to pick the best of the worse but until they figure out defense and Karlsson stops with his middle of the ice passes it’s not going to make a difference.
Karlsson likely wont be there past this week, some team like Toronto will likely swoop in or Edmonton
No one is taking on Karlsson at the deadline. Perhaps this summer when the cap goes up. But I doubt the pens want to use their last retention slot on him right now
Good way to ensure drop even farther back in the standings.
How is Kyle Dubas even an executive in the NHL? When you examine his body of work, It’s clear the standards are subpar, At least in Pittsburgh.
His very first moves have handcuffed this team terribly.
Extended Jarry who hadn’t had a good season
Signed graves to a long term deal
Traded for Karlsson – granted he shed some contracts in that deal but this has not worked out
No one he’s signed for the 3rd and 4th lines have really worked out
His best signing right now might be Grzelcyk
Just an overall failure on talent evaluation
Guentzel
This means nothing. Blomqvist wasn’t impressing and he was getting hung out to dry. May as well let him get a playoff run in the ahl. Jarry sucks, but so so we.
This can’t get be any worse for the Penguins, right?