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Tristan Jarry

Tristan Jarry Reportedly Generating Trade Interest

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What a difference a year can make. According to ESPN’s Kevin Weekes, Pittsburgh Penguins’ netminder Tristan Jarry is drawing trade interest from around the league. Unsurprisingly, Weekes lists the Edmonton Oilers as the primary suitor.

Last season, few would have believed that Jarry would become anything other than a likely salary dump. In the second year of his five-year, $26.88MM contract, Jarry managed a 16-12-6 record in 36 games with a .892 SV% and 3.12 GAA. Additionally, according to MoneyPuck, Jarry was ranked 35th (among goalies that played in 30 or more games) in Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAE) with a -4.7 mark.

Due to a combination of conditioning loans and waiver placements, all signs indicated that Pittsburgh’s relationship with Jarry was coming to an end. However, due to his poor performance, Jarry had little to no value on the trade market.

However, much like the Penguins as a whole, the 10-year veteran goaltender has appeared to turn a corner, albeit in a small sample size. Before missing the team’s last seven games due to an injury, Jarry had earned a 5-2-0 record in seven starts with a .911 SV% and 2.60 GAA. In terms of his GSAE, he has already overcome last year’s performance, producing a 4.8 according to MoneyPuck.

Unfortunately, as much as the Oilers may be interested in adding Jarry, there may be too many obstacles to overcome. For starters, Jarry’s $5.375MM cap hit is $1.775MM more than Edmonton is paying Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard combined. The Oilers will assuredly need to match salary, given that they’re currently $159K under the upper limit of the salary cap.

The one obstacle that could be easily overcome is Jarry’s 12-team no-trade clause. Although they haven’t gotten off to a positive start to the 2025-26 campaign, Edmonton has won back-to-back Western Conference Finals and is objectively far closer to contention than the Penguins. Additionally, although he’s a native of British Columbia, Jarry spent his Major Junior days with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings.

Regardless, given how he has performed up to this point of the season, it would be foolish for Pittsburgh to isolate Jarry’s market to just the Oilers. Teams such as the Montreal Canadiens, Utah Mammoth, and Carolina Hurricanes could all enhance their goaltending depth and have a far better financial outlook than the Oilers.

Penguins Activate Tristan Jarry, Ville Koivunen; Reassign Sergei Murashov

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have activated starting goaltender Tristan Jarry and winger Ville Koivunen off of injured reserve. Both are expected to step back into the lineup for Wednesday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres. To make room for Jarry, Pittsburgh has reassigned rookie goalie Sergey Murashov to the AHL. The Penguins also plan to healthy scratch rookie Benjamin Kindel, for development purposes, and to make room for Koivunen’s return and Tristan Broz’s NHL debut.

Murashov played in the first four games, and made the first three starts, of his NHL career on his latest recall. He was sharp throughout, posting a 1-1-1 record, one shutout, a .913 save percentage, and a 1.90 goals-against-average. Murashov will return to the AHL as the league’s reigning ’Goalie of the Month’, after he began the season with a 5-1-0 record, .935 Sv%, and 1.68 GAA in seven games. He should step right back into Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s starting role, bringing a big boost to a club that’s 5-1-0 in their last six games.

Pittsburgh won’t lose much steam swapping back to Jarry. The 10-year-veteran was in the midst of a big resurgence to start the season, after posting the first sub-.900 Sv% of his career last season. He started this yaer with a 5-2-0 record, .911 Sv%, and 2.60 GAA – firmly locking in his spot as Pittsburgh’s starter less than one year after being placed on waivers. He will look to stay hot in his return to the lineup, after missing seven games due to injury. Jarry should resume starting duties, with Arturs Silovs serving as backup.

The Penguins make a similar swap in their forward group. Kindel has been among the most exciting rookies to start the year, but appears to finally be slowing down. He has recorded one point, 11 shots on goal, and five blocks in his last six games – a quiet spell after he scored six points in seven games as October turned over to November. The Penguins have already committed to holding Kindel past his nine-game trial, helping to remove the pressure to rush the 18-year-old into a starring role. He will get a chance to take a brief break, and recollect, but should get a chance to return to the lineup soon.

Koivunen could prove a barrier to that, if he can return from injury with a hot hand. He only scored two points in 11 games before going down, a disappointing result compared to the 11 points he has scored in six AHL games. He was a star scorer for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season as well, netting 56 points in 63 games, and recording seven assists in the first eight NHL games of his career. Koivunen seems to have an NHL breakout incoming, and will get a chance to continue fighting for it following these roster moves.

Penguins Reassign Samuel Poulin, Likely To Activate Tristan Jarry

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The Penguins returned winger Samuel Poulin to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after suiting up in their last two games, per the team. His roster spot will likely go to goaltender Tristan Jarry, whom head coach Dan Muse implied should be ready to come off injured reserve before tomorrow’s contest with the Sabres, per Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Poulin, 24, continues to be a fine call-up option but has seemingly plateaued far short of what the Pens hoped for him when they selected him No. 21 overall in the 2019 draft. His two-game call-up in place of winger Ville Koivunen, who Rorabaugh also said could be an option to come off IR tomorrow, raised his career total of NHL appearances to 15. He’s still looking for his first goal but has two assists with a -5 rating in 10:06 of average ice time. He got a bit of a longer leash on this call-up, averaging 13:49 per game, but posted a -2 rating and only managed one shot on goal. The Pens did out-attempt opponents 29-24 with Poulin on the ice at 5-on-5, though.

However, in the minors, the 6’2″ Quebec native is having his best season yet. After establishing himself as a top AHL contributor in the past two years, he’s now flirting with a point-per-game pace. In 16 appearances, he has seven goals and eight assists for 15 points to lead the team in scoring. Since the beginning of the 2023-24 season, Poulin now has a 42-47–89 scoring line in 114 games.

His demotion comes as Bryan Rust is expected not to miss any time with the illness that kept him out of yesterday’s practice, per Rorabaugh. That’s spectacular news for a Pens team that already has five forwards on IR, including top-six pieces Justin Brazeau and Rickard Rakell.

As for how they’ll use Poulin’s roster spot, there’s a bit of a question mark. If only Jarry is coming off IR tomorrow, that means the Pens will carry three netminders for the time being. Top prospect Sergey Murashov has looked the part through his first four NHL appearances in Jarry’s weeks-long absence, posting a 1-1-1 record with a .913 SV%, 1.90 GAA, and his first career shutout through four appearances. With only 0.1 goals saved above expected, though, he clearly grades out as the Pens’ third-best netminder behind Jarry and Arturs Silovs, at least based on the latter two’s early-season samples (per MoneyPuck). It does little for the 21-year-old’s development to keep him on the active roster if he’s not going to be used in an equal three-goalie rotation.

In all likelihood, they haven’t returned the waiver-exempt Murashov to WBS because they’re still waiting for absolute certainty on Jarry’s status for tomorrow. If he and Koivunen are both available, Murashov would presumably be reassigned in a corresponding transaction to keep them at the 23-player roster limit.

Metropolitan Notes: Holmström, Jarry, St. Ivany

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New York Islanders forward Simon Holmström will be a game-time decision for Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Stars due to an illness. He would leave a notable hole in the Islanders lineup if he can’t take the ice. Holmström is one of eight Islanders forwards to play in all 19 games this season. He has four goals and nine points in those appearances – ranking him seventh on the team in goals and ninth in points.

Holmström’s scoring hasn’t taken off yet this season, but his lineup role has grown over the year nonetheless. He averaged over 18 minutes in ice time over New York’s recent four-game winnning streak, helped along by three of those games going into overtime. Holmström’s growing role is largely thanks to his impact away from the puck. He leads the team’s forwards with 22 blocked shots, and ranks fifth in takeaways with four. He’s shown a nice bit of well-roundedness after scoring 20 goals and 45 points in 75 games last season. The Islanders will hope to continue getting that toolsy impact on Tuesday. If Holmström can’t play, the team will likely turn towards Kyle MacLean, who has one assist in 10 appearances this season.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry returned to the team’s practices on Tuesday per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports. Jarry hasn’t played since sustaining a lower-body injury on November 3rd. He was off to an impressive start before the two-week absence, recording a .911 save percentage and five wins through seven starts. 21-year-old Sergey Murashov has emerged as an interesting piece in Jarry’s absence. He posted his first career win – a shutout – in Pittsburgh’s NHL Global Series matchup against the Nashville Predators on Sunday. Pittsburgh is unlikely to let a rookie goaltender usurp their veteran starter, but Jarry’s return could push Murashov into a competition for the backup role with Arturs Silovs, who has a .918 save percentage and four wins in 10 games.
  • Penguins defenseman Jack St. Ivany also returned to practice donning a no-contact jersey on Tuesday, per Rorabaugh. St. Ivany sustained an injury to his right foot in a preseason matchup on October 1st. He was originally designated to the non-roster injured list, meaning Pittsburgh will need to clear a roster spot to activate him from season-opening injured reserve – as they will when they activate Jarry. St. Ivany split last season between the NHL and AHL rosters. He scored one assist in 19 games with Pittsburgh, and 16 points in 37 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That deployment could make him a prime candidate for an AHL conditioning loan, or even an AHL assignment, once he’s back to full health.

Tristan Jarry, Justin Brazeau, Noel Acciari All Out Multiple Weeks

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Yesterday, eyes raised when the Penguins placed all of goaltender Tristan Jarry, winger Justin Brazeau, and center Noel Acciari on injured reserve without much explanation. Today, the team’s public relations department provided updates on each of them. Acciari and Jarry have been shut down for the next three weeks due to upper and lower-body injuries, respectively, while Brazeau will miss at least four weeks with his upper-body issue.

It’s an especially unfortunate blow for Brazeau. The right-winger has already missed two games, but before his absence, he was one of the league’s best breakout stories. The 27-year-old has been stapled next to Evgeni Malkin after signing a two-year, $3MM deal with Pittsburgh in free agency and erupted with four goals in his first four games. He’s kept that pace up and was clicking at a point per game with a 6-6–12 line before getting hurt.

This is Brazeau’s third NHL season and just his second as a full-timer. Undrafted, he spent time in the Maple Leafs and Bruins organizations on minor-league deals before landing his first NHL contract from Boston midway through the 2023-24 campaign. He had 11 goals and 22 points last season in 76 games between Boston and Minnesota, where he was traded at the deadline.

His line with Malkin and Anthony Mantha has been nothing short of dominant offensively, playing a crucial role in Pittsburgh’s 8-4-2 record, which has seen them score the second-most goals in the league. Malkin is off to a vintage start with 16 assists and 19 points in just 14 games, while Mantha has more than held his own with a 6-5–11 line after missing most of last season due to ACL surgery. Philip Tomasino has replaced Brazeau on that line but is still looking for his first goal of the season after six appearances. It’s unclear if that will hold after the Pens’ roster moves yesterday.

As for Jarry, his injury quells what’s also been an impressive comeback season. After languishing with a .892 SV% in 36 appearances last season and even ending up on waivers, Pittsburgh’s formerly undisputed No. 1 has returned to form in a platoon with newcomer Arturs Silovs. They’ve started seven games each, and while Silovs has the slightly more impressive numbers, Jarry has still been well above the mean with a .911 SV%, 2.60 GAA, one shutout, and a 5-2-0 record. His 4.8 goals saved above expected are 14th in the league, per MoneyPuck.

How Pittsburgh distributes its goaltending workload in Jarry’s absence is perhaps the most compelling storyline to emerge from today’s news. The team has eight games in the next three weeks. Top prospect Sergei Murashov was called up yesterday and will presumably start at least two of them – they play the Kings on Nov. 9 and the Kraken on Nov. 22 in the second half of back-to-backs. That could mean a stretch of six in eight for Silovs, a workload he hasn’t seen at the NHL level since being forced into action for the Canucks in the 2024 playoffs.

Acciari’s injury is the second notable one in the past couple of months. He was a non-factor for most of training camp while recovering from a core muscle injury, but returned late in the preseason. It’s unclear if his upper-body designation is related to that previous abdominal issue, but it’s a possibility. He’s played in 13 out of 14 for the Pens, managing three assists and a +3 rating while averaging 12:56 per game and winning a career-high 60.4% of his draws. He’s been a quietly valuable piece at the bottom of Pittsburgh’s lineup with Connor Dewar and Blake Lizotte.

Penguins Announce Multiple Roster Moves

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have shifted around their roster. Most notably, reigning AHL ’Goalie of the Month’ Sergei Murashov has been recalled to the NHL lineup. Pittsburgh has also recalled forward Danton Heinen and defenseman Ryan Graves. To make space for those moves, the Penguins have placed forwards Noel Acciari and Justin Brazeau, and goaltender Tristan Jarry, on injured reserve. They have also assigned defenseman Owen Pickering to the minor-leagues.

These moves will most notably provide updates on the injuries to Acciari and Brazeau. Acciari left Pittsburgh’s Monday loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first period. It wasn’t exactly clear when he sustained his injury, though the team designated it as an upper-body injury. He only played in two shifts before the injury. Brazeau sustained his injury in last Thursday’s win over the Minnesota Wild. He was designated as out day-to-day with an upper-body injury, but will now be forced to miss a third-straight game on Thursday.

Despite clarity around Acciari and Brazeau, there seems to be no indication of exactly what Jarry is facing. He heads to IR with an undisclosed injury and will be forced to sit out of at least the next three games. In the interim, Arturs Silovs will serve as Pittsburgh’s starting goaltender, while Murashov steps in as backup.

That’s incredibly exciting for the red-hot Murashov, who has posted an impressive 1.67 goals-against-average across his last three games. He sits with a .931 save percentage and 1.73 goals-against-average in seven games this season – both the highest in the league among goalies with more than five starts. Murashov has truly looked the part, taking full advantage of a clear starter’s role while Joel Blomqvist recovers from injury. That performance will now earn the 21-year-old Russian his first chance at an NHL role. Murashov posted a .913 Sv% and 2.64 GAA in 16 AHL games, and a .922 Sv% and 2.40 GAA in 26 ECHL games, last season. He’s a sharp bet who Pittsburgh could be eager to test out.

Backing this slew of moves is a shift at the bottom of Pittsburgh’s lineup. Pickering will head to the minor-leagues after posting no scoring and a minus-three in four games on his latest NHL recall. He’s been a stronger play in the minors, where he’s racked up four points and a plus-four in seven games. Replacing Pickering will be Graves, who racked up three points and 13 shots on goal in his last four AHL games. He now sits with seven points and a plus-nine in 10 games on the AHL season, and will be rwarded with a chance to fill bottom-pair minutes for Pittsburgh.

Heinen will fill an opening left by Brazeau. He leads the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in scoring with five goals and 14 points in 10 games. That includes a recent six-game scoring streak that saw him rack up 12 points. Heinen is a veteran of nine NHL seasons. He’s amassed 96 goals and 241 points in 566 career appearances, including a career-best of 16 goals and 47 points in 77 games with the 2017-18 Boston Bruins.

Goaltending Questions Loom For The Penguins

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Despite a difficult season that included two demotions to the AHL, Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry has done enough to retain the starting job heading into next year, Seth Rorabaugh of triblive.com believes.

As Rorabaugh notes, the 30-year-old Jarry posted less-than-stellar numbers on the season but showed improvement after returning from being waived and then demoted to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. All told, Jarry appeared in 36 NHL games, with a 16-12-6 record, 3.12 goals against average, and .893 save percentage. However, in his final 14 games, Jarry had an 8-4-2 record, .904 save percentage, and two shutouts. It’s also important to note that much of the criticism surrounding the Penguins has focused on their defensive play in front of their goaltenders, including the play of big contract players like Erik Karlsson and Ryan Graves.

Still, Jarry’s performance over the past few seasons has been deeply disappointing for a Penguins team caught between trying to stay competitive and facing the growing need to begin a rebuild. His late-season improvements were likely enough to justify keeping him as the starter next season, but not enough for GM Kyle Dubas to generate trade interest from teams in need of goaltending who believe that Jarry is back to his all-star form.

And as Rorabaugh points out, Dubas indicated in his year-end press conference that he expects Jarry to be in an open competition with the club’s other goaltenders coming into training camp, making a potential buyout sound unlikely. Also under contract is Alex Nedeljkovic, whom the team views as a reliable NHL backup, but not a viable starting option. Like Jarry, Nedeljkovic struggled last season behind an inconsistent defense, finishing with a 14-15-5 record and a .894 save percentage.

The Penguins’ system is stocked with polished prospects, but it remains unclear whether any have the experience to handle a significant NHL workload. That group includes Sergei Murashov, who performed well in both the ECHL and AHL this past season, though it was his first year playing in North America. Joel Blomqvist also impressed at the AHL level but struggled during his first taste of NHL action. Murashov, 21, the Penguins’ fourth-round selection in the 2022 draft, posted a .913 save percentage in 16 games in the AHL after posting even better numbers in the ECHL. He also broke a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins record by winning his first 10 games. While his continued development is something to closely monitor, the Russian is unlikely to push Jarry or Nedeljkovic for playing time to start the season.

All things considered, Jarry appears to have a path to retaining the starting job next season, even if it may not be the team’s ideal scenario.

Metro Notes: Sullivan, Penguins Goaltending, Fehervary

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The Pittsburgh Penguins won’t be among the few teams looking for a new bench boss this summer. In an article from Wes Crosby of NHL.com, the Penguins will retain head coach Mike Sullivan through the 2025-26 NHL season.

Sullivan’s tenure as the longest-serving coach in franchise history is a story of two distinct coaching periods. He guided Pittsburgh to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017, and into the playoffs for another five years after.

Unfortunately, the dream ended in 2022-23, as the Penguins missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2005-06 season. Throughout his first 507 games behind the bench, he coached Pittsburgh to a 297-156-54 record. Since the start of the 2022-23 campaign, the Penguins have only mustered a 112-99-35 in the last 246 games under Sullivan’s tutelage.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • In a separate article from Michelle Crechiolo, General Manager Kyle Dubas indicated that netminders Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic would compete for the spot they wanted in training camp. Indirectly, that confirms that the Penguins intend to keep both netminders on the team throughout the summer, and that won’t be an area they’ll look to improve externally. Both goalies showed flashes of quality play throughout the 2024-25 season. Still, Pittsburgh finished the year with a 30th-ranked 3.50 GA/G and a 27th-ranked .884 SV%.
  • Defenseman Martin Fehérváry isn’t in the lineup for the Washington Capitals in Game 1 of their opening-round matchup against the Montreal Canadiens, as alluded to by Sammi Silber of The Hockey News this morning. Fehérváry continues to recover from an ankle injury suffered in Washington’s penultimate game of the season. Still, it granted an opportunity for Alexander Alexeyev, who’s taken Fehérváry’s spot in the lineup for tonight’s contest.

Examining Summer Buyout Candidates

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The NHL salary cap is increasing dramatically this summer, but that won’t stop teams from looking to cut inflated cap hits from their salary ledgers. The buyout remains an option that NHL teams will regularly use to move out a player who has underperformed relative to their NHL salary. Teams often swap struggling players in a change-of-scenery trade, but they will use the buyout as a last resort if they can’t find a market. Let’s examine this summer’s buyout candidates, beginning with the forwards.

Andre Burakovsky cashed in on a Stanley Cup-winning year in Colorado, signing a five-year, $27.5MM deal with the Seattle Kraken in free agency, including a modified 10-team no-trade list. Since signing the agreement in July 2022, Burakovsky’s performance has declined, particularly last season, when he had just seven goals and nine assists in 49 games. The 30-year-old has bounced back this year, but still fell below the 40-point margin for the third consecutive season. He should be a trade or buyout candidate given his injury history and declining performance.

A modified no-trade clause will limit a small trade market and might force Seattle to relinquish an asset to move Burakovsky or take back another undesirable contract. A buyout would be spread over four seasons and save Seattle $5.83MM over the next two seasons total, but leave them with a $1.458MM cap hit the two seasons after (as per PuckPedia). Given the bounceback this season, it seems likely that Seattle either hangs on to Burakovsky or tries to trade him rather than eating the cost of a four-season buyout.

Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers is another forward who could be moved this summer. While a trade is likelier, it’s not an impossibility that the veteran winger could be bought out. The 33-year-old’s play has fallen off a cliff this season as he hasn’t been able to generate the same level of shot production as in previous seasons. Kreider averaged 42 goals between 2021 and 2024, but couldn’t top 25 goals this season and finished with just eight assists.

Kreider carries a 15-team no-trade clause and has two years remaining on his contract at a cap hit of $6.5MM, which will be prohibitive regarding potential trade talks. With the trade market cut in half, the Rangers might have to eat some of the remainder on Kreider’s deal. Still, given that general manager Chris Drury has gotten out from under more undesirable contracts (Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba), he may find a creative way to shed Kreider’s contract without a buyout.

Under normal circumstances, Detroit center Andrew Copp would be a buyout candidate, but given that the 30-year-old will be out well into the summer after pectoral surgery, it won’t happen. Copp posted just 10 goals and 13 assists in 56 games this season, but barring a trade, he will return to Detroit next season if he is healthy enough to play by the opening of training camp.

Shifting back to defense, Ryan Graves is a prime candidate to be bought out; however, a significant caveat exists regarding moving on from the 29-year-old. The structure of Graves’ contract makes a buyout nearly impossible (as per PuckPedia) because any buyout would only move on from Graves’ salary and not include the $8MM in signing bonuses that Graves is due in each of the last four years of his contract. If Pittsburgh wants to buy Graves out, he will remain on the books for eight more years and save them just $2.58MM total over those eight years. A Graves buyout isn’t worth it for the Penguins, and the only significant cap savings would happen in the first year of the deal, the season in which the Penguins are the least likely to contend. The Penguins will have to keep Graves, trade him, or play him in the minors for the foreseeable future.

Marc-Édouard Vlasic is another veteran whose contract has become an albatross. Vlasic was once one of the top defensive defensemen in the NHL, but has fallen on hard times as he plays on a poor San Jose Sharks team. Vlasic has one year left on his contract with a $7MM cap hit and is owed $5.5MM in actual salary. He played just 24 games last year, and while he wasn’t unplayable, he’s not a good NHL defenseman anymore. Much of Vlasic’s decision will depend on what the Sharks hope to do next season; if they intend to add around their young core, they may buy out Vlasic to give themselves as much cap space as possible. If they opt to have one more year of rebuilding before adding to their lineup, they will likely burn the final year on the deal and let Vlasic walk as a UFA next summer.

A Vlasic buyout doesn’t do much to help the Sharks, saving them $2.333MM next season while adding a cap charge of $1.167MM the following year. The Sharks seem likely to keep Vlasic in San Jose for the final year and perhaps assign him to the AHL or use him as a seventh defenseman in the NHL.

Another notable defenseman who could be bought out is Jacob Trouba of the Anaheim Ducks. Trouba became a lightning rod for criticism in New York while he was a member of the Rangers, and many people didn’t think it was possible to move him and his entire $8MM cap hit. Anaheim stepped in, taking Trouba and his whole contract, and appeared excited to do so, as Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek was happy to have Trouba as a leader for a young Ducks team. Since Anaheim placed such a high value on Trouba’s intangibles, it seems unlikely that they will buy out the last year of his contract, even though he will be vastly overpaid for his play on the ice.

The top buyout candidate in net is Philipp Grubauer of the Seattle Kraken. Grubauer has been a shell of the version he was with the Colorado Avalanche and hasn’t come close to being an average NHL goalie during his time in Seattle. At the time of his signing four years ago, Grubauer had a career save percentage over .920 in seven NHL seasons, but since then, he hasn’t produced a single season over .899, and it has fallen to .875 this year. With two years remaining at $5.9MM per season, Grubauer would be incredibly difficult to trade, even in a goaltender’s market that favors the seller. His -14.6 Goals Saved Above Expected was the third worst in the NHL among all goaltenders, and his numbers in the AHL, while better, don’t indicate that he is ready to recapture his game.

Buying out the 33-year-old would save Seattle almost $4MM in cap space next year and nearly $3MM in the 2026-27 season. They would then face a charge of $1,683,333 in each of the following seasons after that (as per Puck Pedia).

The next goalie on our list is Tristan Jarry of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and while he feels like the most obvious candidate for a buyout this summer, goalies are in short supply, and anything is possible. Jarry has been better as of late, and with no actual workhorse starters available in free agency, a team may take a flier on the two-time NHL All-Star. Teams watched Los Angeles goaltender Darcy Kuemper bounce back this season after struggling last year, and with Jarry being just 29 years old, he could do the same. Jarry has the skillset to be a starting NHL goaltender, but has struggled with mistakes and letting in bad goals at inopportune times. He has also typically struggled the deeper he gets into a season, which will scare off teams with playoff aspirations.

It’s hard to imagine Jarry back in Pittsburgh next season, but they are transitioning, and many of their prospects are still a year or two away from being NHL-ready. Someone has to play goal for the Penguins, and Josh Yohe of The Athletic believes it could be Jarry going into next season. It’s hard to get a sense of what Pittsburgh will do, but none of the potential outcomes will be shocking given how the situation has played out over the last few years with the Penguins’ starting goaltender.

Photo by Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.

Penguins’ Goalie Prospect Sergei Murashov Making Waves

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Pittsburgh Penguins’ goalie prospect Sergei Murashov is making the most of his first season playing in North America, as he recently set a franchise record for the AHL-affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by winning his 10th game in a row, per a team release.

Pittsburgh’s fourth round selection in the 2022 draft, Murashov spent 26 games in the ECHL to begin the season before getting called up to the AHL. In 11 games for the Baby Pens, he has a 10-0-0 record to pair with his .916 save percentage. The 20-year-old from Yaroslavl, Russia also posted a 13-game win streak with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers from Nov. 6 to Jan. 8, which set the longest streak in their history as well.

While Murashov still has room to grow, his statistics and results this season show that he’s at least knocking on the door of the NHL. His development adds an extra element to Pittsburgh’s goaltending situation moving forward, which includes the shaky play of former all-star Tristan Jarry, the up-and-down contributions of backup Alex Nedeljkovic, and the continued development of fellow prospect Joel Blomqvist.

The most polarizing of these names is of course Jarry, who has struggled mightily since signing a five-year, $26,875,000 contract in July 2023. The 29-year-old, two-time all-star, has recorded a .894 save percentage this season, and found himself demoted to the AHL in an effort to rediscover his once promising game. His play of late has significantly improved – corresponding with the team’s surge in play – and has recorded a .928 save percentage over his last five games.

Due to Jarry’s mid-season demotion, Nedeljkovic has played the most games in Pittsburgh this season (33 starts) but has also struggled compared to previous success. Just last season, “Ned” played in 33 games for the Pens and recorded an 18-7-7 record to go along with a .902 save percentage. That was good enough to secure a two-year, $5MM contract to stay in Pittsburgh. But despite his usual standing as a trustworthy NHL-level backup, Nedeljkovic has recorded just a .893 save percentage on the season.

Blomqvist, Pittsburgh’s second round selection in the 2020 draft, has struggled in 15 games in the NHL this season, recording an .885 save percentage and a 4-9-1 record. However, in 15 games at the AHL-level, the 23-year-old has registered a strong .915 save percentage.

While there appears to be a bit of a log jam between the pipes in Pittsburgh, none of the goalies ahead of Murashov on the organization’s depth chart has done themselves any favors – even when factoring in the poor defensive play of Pittsburgh’s blueliners this season. General manager Kyle Dubas will have key decisions to make if he intends to clear a path for Murashov moving forward.

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