Penguins Notes: Jarry, Rust, Nieto
Josh Yohe of The Athletic expects Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry to return to the NHL lineup sometime next week. Jarry has been with the Penguins American Hockey League affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and has posted stellar numbers with a 3-0 record and a .937 save percentage as well as a 1.95 goals-against average.
Yohe thinks Jarry may bump rookie Joel Blomqvist back to the AHL which makes sense, given the play of fellow netminder Alex Nedeljkovic. The Penguins need to see Jarry in NHL action again before they can decide what to do in the crease for the rest of the season, and they could certainly use some good news after a rough start to the season. The Penguins can keep Jarry in the AHL for two weeks during his conditioning stint, which makes November 11th the date he will likely return to the NHL.
In other Pittsburgh Penguins notes:
- Penguins forward Bryan Rust reportedly reaggravated a preseason injury when he exited a game against the Vancouver Canucks last week (as per Josh Yohe of The Athletic). Rust suffered a lower-body injury in the preseason, and when the injury resurfaced last week, there was fear that it could be serious, but that is not the case. The Penguins want to get Rust back to full health and plan to ease him back into things so he can function optimally when he is in the lineup.
- Penguins forward Matthew Nieto was reportedly a full participant in practice today (as per Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). The 31-year-old has been out of action since last season as he continues to recover from offseason knee surgery. He remains on long-term injured reserve and will need to be activated once he is cleared for game action. It’s fair to wonder if Nieto will be a regular when he is ready to return, as the Penguins have a pile of depth options for their bottom six and may not have room for the 11-year NHL veteran.
Penguins Assign Tristan Jarry To AHL On Conditioning Loan
The Tristan Jarry situation in Pittsburgh has taken another turn. Just a couple of days after being sent back to Pittsburgh from their road trip to work on his game away from the team, the Penguins announced (Twitter link) that Jarry has been assigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a conditioning loan.
The 29-year-old has certainly struggled out of the gate this season, allowing 12 goals on 73 shots in his first three appearances, ceding time to prospect Joel Blomqvist early on. With Alex Nedeljkovic returning earlier in the week, the Penguins have been carrying three goaltenders on their active roster since then.
Jarry’s assignment to the minors doesn’t change that as players on a conditioning loan count against the 23-player active roster. It also means that Pittsburgh does not receive any cap benefit from this roster move.
The maximum length of the assignment is 14 days. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton plays in five games over that stretch so if Pittsburgh intends to keep him down there as long as possible, Jarry should at least have a few starts to work on his game to see if he can at least start to turn his fortunes around.
With Jarry being signed through the 2027-28 season with a $5.375MM cap charge, it’s fair to suggest that there isn’t much of a viable trade market for him out there. Accordingly, if Jarry struggles in the minors or even if Pittsburgh wants to extend his assignment if Blomqvist and Nedeljkovic are playing well, the next move would likely come in a couple of weeks with a waiver placement as it’s highly unlikely he’d be claimed. This certainly isn’t a situation GM Kyle Dubas envisioned when he signed Jarry to this contract in the 2023 offseason but a loan to the minors probably is the best option for both sides at this time.
East Notes: Jarry, Jarnkrok, Pinto, Tokarski
The Penguins announced that they’ve sent goaltender Tristan Jarry back to Pittsburgh from their current road trip to work with their director of goaltending Jon Elkin. Head coach Mike Sullivan indicated that this was the plan heading into the trip which has two games remaining on it. Jarry is off to a particularly rocky start with a 5.47 GAA and a .836 SV% through his first three starts and while that’s a small sample size, he struggled late last season as well, eventually losing the starting role to Alex Nedeljkovic. The assignment will give Jarry a few days to reset away from the team and he will remain on the active roster during this time.
More from the Eastern Conference:
- Maple Leafs winger Calle Jarnkrok’s lower-body injury is believed to be a sports hernia, reports Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. The 33-year-old has filled an important middle-six role for Toronto over the last two years but hasn’t been able to play this season due to the injury. Jarnkrok is currently on LTIR and while he’s eligible to return in early November, that doesn’t seem likely to happen at this point as he has yet to skate since sustaining the injury.
- Senators center Shane Pinto is listed as a game-time decision for their game on Friday, relays Sportsnet’s Alex Adams (Twitter link). The 23-year-old is off to a decent start to his season with three points in six games while logging nearly 18 minutes a night. If he doesn’t play, Ridly Greig will likely move back to his natural position down the middle.
- Still with the Senators, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch suggests that Ottawa might need to make a move to shore up their goaltending depth with Mads Sogaard being injured last weekend. If they do look to do that, he feels they could once again turn to veteran Dustin Tokarski. Ottawa brought in the 35-year-old on a training camp tryout that ended without a contract but Tokarski hasn’t signed anywhere since. He spent last season with AHL Rochester, posting a 3.32 GAA and a .890 SV% in 24 games and is a veteran of more than 400 appearances at that level over 14 seasons.
East Notes: Jarry, Blue Jackets, Ekman-Larsson
Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry will be a healthy scratch for a second straight game tonight when the Pens take on the Calgary Flames. Jarry sat out Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets and hasn’t played since he gave up three goals on five shots last Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres.
The Penguins are currently carrying three NHL goaltenders on their road trip through Western Canada and have been reportedly trying to get extra work in for Jarry in practice as he tries to steady his game and move on from the struggles that plagued him since late last season.
In other Eastern Conference notes:
- Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell isn’t in a hurry to add to his roster via trade despite a rash of injuries (as per James Murphy of Responsible Gambler). The Blue Jackets will be without key contributors Boone Jenner, Erik Gudbranson and Kent Johnson for quite a while, but as Waddell puts it, the team knows where they are at, and they know that acquiring short-term pieces doesn’t make sense at this stage of their rebuild. The Blue Jackets have been turning over their roster for five years now and appear unwilling to rush themselves back into the playoff picture by sacrificing the future. The Blue Jackets have several young players on their NHL roster who have performed well in the early going and have a decent pipeline of prospects on the way to the NHL.
- The NHL Department of Player Safety has announced that Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been fined $5000 for running interference on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jake Guentzel in last night’s contest. On the play, Ekman-Larsson was the puck carrier and threw a reverse hit on an unsuspecting Guentzel knocking him to the ice. Guentzel remained down for a brief moment before getting back to his feet. OEL received a minor penalty on the play for interference. The fine is the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement and the money from it will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
Penguins Make Tristan Jarry A Healthy Scratch
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.
East Notes: Woll, Bunting, Jarry
Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll revealed to the media that he has been dealing with groin tightness (as per Nick Barden of The Hockey News). The issue has kept him out of regular-season action, but Woll feels as though he should be back sooner rather than later.
It’s possible that the issue could have occurred during training camp in early October, but Woll didn’t get into the specifics regarding where and when the groin issue began to surface. During the moment in question on October 3rd, Woll slid across his crease to make a save and looked to be in discomfort as he moved back to his feet.
The Maple Leafs are unlikely to rush Woll as Anthony Stolarz has been terrific this season thus far.
In other Eastern Conference notes:
- Michelle Crechiolo of Pens Inside Scoop tweeted the Pittsburgh Penguins line rushes yesterday, which appeared to show forward Michael Bunting as a healthy scratch. Bunting was moved off the second line in the Penguins loss to the Hurricanes on Friday night and he was also moved off the second power-play unit. Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports tweeted that Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan was asked on Friday by reporters about Bunting’s performance this season and replied, “I think our expectation is higher.” Bunting has struggled this season, with just a single assist in six games. However, his underlying numbers remain strong and could be an indicator of bad luck rather than bad play.
- Josh Yohe of The Athletic writes that Pittsburgh Penguins general manager doesn’t appear keen on placing goaltender Tristan Jarry on waivers as a way to address the team’s goaltending predicament, not yet anyway. Jarry has struggled dating back to last year when he didn’t start the Penguins’ final 13 regular season games and is arguably third in Pittsburgh’s current goaltending ranks. The Penguins are carrying three goaltenders on the roster and are bringing Jarry, Joel Blomqvist, and Alex Nedeljkovic on their road trip through Western Canada. Jarry currently has a .836 save percentage and a 5.47 goals-against average in three games but is owed $5.375MM this season and for an additional three years after that, making him nearly unmovable.
East Notes: Penguins, Hughes, Pesce, Ullmark
There were some expectations that Joel Blomqvist‘s days with the Pittsburgh Penguins were numbered with the organization recalling Alex Nedeljkovic earlier today. We now know that isn’t the case as Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports reports the team will carry both along with Tristan Jarry through the team’s upcoming four-game road trip.
Blomqvist has played his way into an extended stay with the club after securing a 2-2-0 record through four games with a .908 save percentage compared to a 1-1-0 record and .836 SV% from Jarry. It’s already been suggested there’s an open competition between the pipes to increase their chances of winning each game. There appears to be a pathway for Blomqvist to become the everyday starter for the Penguins if he continues to play well despite only being 23 years old.
Rorabaugh also mentions that forwards Blake Lizotte, Matthew Nieto, and Vasily Ponomarev skated this morning but will not travel with the team for their road trip. Each of the trio has been nursing injuries to open the 2024-25 campaign with the latter likely headed to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton once he’s medically cleared to return.
Other East notes:
- The New Jersey Devils are eagerly awaiting the return of defensemen Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce to their active roster. Team reporter Amanda Stein shared that both defensemen skated with the team this morning but aren’t expected back sooner than anticipated. It’s a positive step in the right direction for both players but don’t tell New Jersey they’re supposed to be missing them. The team currently leads the Eastern Conference in points with 10 after a 5-2-0 start through their first seven games.
- The strain afflicting Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark has been more severe than expected. It’s supposed to last much longer as TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reports he is close to a return despite potent caution from the team. The likely scenario is that the organization was concerned Ullmark may reaggravate the strain or develop a worse injury altogether if he returned sooner, so the slow return may prove beneficial in the long run.
Penguins Not Set On A Starting Goaltender Moving Forward
Josh Yohe wrote in The Athletic (Subscription Required) about some early-season observations with the Pittsburgh Penguins. After three games of the 2024-25 regular season, the biggest takeaway is that the Penguins are allowing Joel Blomqvist to become the starting netminder moving forward.
Consistent goaltending has been difficult to find in Pittsburgh over the last couple of years. The team didn’t foresee this being an issue when they committed to Tristan Jarry after the 2022-23 season with a five-year, $26.88MM contract. In the four years before that deal, Jarry had earned a 103-52-17 record with the Penguins from 2020 to 2023 with a .915 save percentage and a 2.62 goals-against average.
The contract didn’t look half bad for Pittsburgh in the first few months of the 2023-24 NHL season with Jarry putting up a .916 SV% by the end of the calendar year. Once the calendar flipped over to 2024; however, his performance went off the rails. Jarry finished the regular season on a run of 8-14-3 with a .891 SV% and lost the starting job to Alex Nedeljkovic down the stretch.
They brought back Nedeljkovic on an affordable two-year, $5MM contract but a preseason injury put the organization in a position to call up Blomqvist from their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Pittsburgh opted to start Jarry for their regular season opener and he quickly disappointed by allowing six goals on 40 shots in a blowout loss.
Pittsburgh pivoted to Blomqvist for their next game, this time against the Detroit Red Wings, where he won the first NHL start of his young career. The Uusikaarlepyy, Finland native stopped 29 of 32 shots against Detroit, and head coach Mike Sullivan stuck with him for their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He posted a repeat performance, stopping 29 of 32 shots, this time in a loss.
Yohe notes in his article that a contract similar to Jarry’s indicates the team will afford him more mistakes than usual but that will not be the case. The team is holding an open competition for the starting job and will likely ride the hot hand for much of the season.
Penguins Notes: Jarry, Karlsson, Power Play
Rob Rossi of The Athletic tweeted that Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry missed practice today due to a medical appointment. Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also tweeted about Jarry’s appointment saying that Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan wouldn’t go into detail about the nature of Jarry’s appointment but did tell the media that Jarry should be back on the ice tomorrow.
Jarry hopes to have a bounce-back season as he enters the second year of his five-year contract. He reportedly showed up in terrific shape for training camp according to Sullivan and is likely hoping to have a better second half of the season after fading down the stretch in each of the previous two years. Jarry lost the net late last season and didn’t start in the Penguins’ final 13 games to conclude the regular season.
In other Penguins notes:
- Penguins’ defenseman Erik Karlsson remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury (as per Rossi of The Athletic). Karlsson skated before practice today, and the team didn’t provide an update on the status of the 34-year-old. Karlsson has been skating on his own for the past few days as he tries to recover and neither he nor the team appear worried about his health status going forward. Karlsson had an uneven first season with Pittsburgh last year, posting 11 goals and 45 assists in 82 games, and will be counted on heavily to try and get the Penguins back to the postseason for the first time since 2022.
- Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now writes that the Penguins have begun work on overhauling the power play that cost them a playoff spot last season. Pittsburgh finished with an abysmal 15.3% success rate with the man advantage last season, placing them 30th in the NHL. The team brought in assistant coach David Quinn during the offseason to make changes to the unit, and it appears that work has started. The Penguins have eliminated the firm bumper position and are instead using that forward in the slot to create traffic in front of the net, as well as puck support. The team will be hoping to create more chaos around the crease this season, something they weren’t able to do much of last season.
Snapshots: Jarry, Gagner, PHPA
The Penguins weren’t believed to be opposed to moving on from Tristan Jarry back at the draft, suggests Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Last season was a rough one for the 29-year-old as he posted a 2.91 GAA and a .903 SV% in 51 games, the worst full-season numbers of his career. In the process, he lost the starting job down the stretch to Alex Nedeljkovic, who Pittsburgh wound up re-signing. Jarry still has four years remaining on his contract with a $5.375MM cap charge, a price tag that is certainly on the high side for the type of performance he had last season. While there was some speculation that we could see some underachieving starters trade places this summer, most of those moves didn’t materialize so Jarry will go into Pittsburgh’s camp next month looking to reclaim the starting job.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Unrestricted free agent forward Sam Gagner has yet to sign somewhere for the upcoming season but it isn’t from a lack of interest in continuing on. Postmedia’s Kurt Leavins relays that the 35-year-old is hoping to suit up somewhere in 2024-25. Gagner had to go the PTO route last season with Edmonton, eventually landing a two-way deal that saw him spend 15 games with AHL Bakersfield and 28 more with the Oilers. He did record ten points with the big club despite barely averaging ten minutes a night. At this point, a guaranteed deal seems unlikely but another PTO could come his way in the coming weeks.
- The PHPA recently announced the hiring of Brian Ramsey as its new Executive Director. He replaces Larry Landon who retired from the role last month. Ramsey spent the previous nine years as the Executive Director of the Canadian Football League Players’ Association. He will be busy in the coming months as the CBA for the ECHL expires on June 30th while the CBA for the AHL ends two months later on August 31st, 2025.