Analysis: Jarry Might Not Get What He Wants; What Practice Showed

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry is back with the NHL squad, seemingly back in a good place with the level of his game. However, after he and coach Mike Sullivan spoke with reporters Sunday, an important question arose.

Will the Penguins be willing or able to provide Jarry with something he practically pleaded for, a chance to play the majority of the games for stretches?

After his first practice since spending the maximum two weeks on a conditioning loan to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, Jarry repeatedly brought up the fact that he got a heavy workload during what apparently was a productive assignment.

“It was nice to get down there and play some games, play some games consecutively. I thought I played pretty well,” Jarry said.

There are goalies, primarily successful backups and sometimes youngsters, who have an enviable ability to sometimes sit for days between starts and still be at their best. Penguins veteran Alex Nedeljkovic and rookie Joel Blomqvist seem to fit that category. Jarry sounded Sunday as if he is not one of those type of goalies.

It looks as if for at least the short term, the Penguins will keep all three goalies at the NHL level, and Sullivan made it pretty clear the team won’t simply hand Jarry the role of being the go-to guy.

“As far as the three-goalie scenario, I think at the end of the day, that will eventually play itself out,” Sullivan said. “In the short term, we feel like we have three capable guys. I think (Blomqvist) has played extremely well. I think (Nedeljkovic) has played solid also. And (Jarry) obviously has a body of work here that we’re all well aware of.

“We’ll put together a game plan where we keep these guys all in the mix. … At the end of the day, performance is always going to be the dictator. There will be opportunity for those that play well. There will be opportunity for guys to earn their way to consecutive games.”

In other words, it sounds as if Sullivan plans to essentially ride the hot hand.

Where Will Jarry Fit in?

That leaves little to no margin for error for Jarry when he gets his shot – and he might not get that shot as often as he wants or needs to be at his best. Sort of a Catch-22.

Jarry’s final game with WBS was Friday. There’s no guarantee he will play Monday when the Dallas Stars visit. At practice Sunday, Jarry and Nedeljkovic traded turns in one net, with Blomqvist getting the other net for all of the session.

So what if one of the other two goes on a run under Sullivan’s plan? That wouldn’t be ideal for Jarry, according to his explanation for why things went well with WBS.

“I think it was just getting to play,” he said. “The first couple games up here didn’t go the way I wanted, so it was just going there, trying to refine my game a little bit and being able to play those games consecutively and work those things out.”

Jarry, 29 and a two-time All-Star who in the 2023 offseason signed a five-year contract with a salary cap hit of $5.375 million, was 1-1-0 with a 5.47 goals-against average and .836 save percentage and even with the eye test was struggling before going to WBS. His most recent NHL start was Oct. 16 when gave up three goals on five shots against Buffalo and was pulled.

In five AHL games, he was 4-1-0 with a 2.16 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.

“He played extremely well,” Sullivan said of the conditioning loan. “I think it was everything that we had hoped for when (Jarry) went down there to get some games. … He embraced the process. Now it’s our challenge to re-engage him, and that’s what we intend on doing.”

That might be difficult, however, if one of the other goalies gets a deserved stretch where he plays most or all of the games.

The Penguins have Friday-Saturday back-to-back games this week and in each of the following three weeks, which would normally mean a game each for two of the goalies, but it’s unknown how that might affect Jarry’s playing time.

“Obviously, you have to find a rhythm with three goalies,” Jarry said. “That’s something that’s part of it. We have three goalies right now. It’s something that the three of us will have to work out. All three of us will have to find a rhythm to play well.”

Jarry Remains Loyal

Jarry, a Penguins second-round pick in the 2013 draft, has not proven himself in the playoffs for various reasons. Combine that with the slow start to this season, and there have been scorn and calls to try to trade him coming from fans on social media.

Yet he remains loyal to and bonded with the Penguins.

“It’s everything — being able to pull (on) a Penguins jersey every game, I think it means a lot,” Jarry said. “It’s something that you grow up wanting to do, and being able to do it for the Penguins has been special to me throughout playing my career here and throughout my life. It’s something that I’ll always cherish, being able to pull that jersey (on). I think it means a lot to everyone in this (locker) room.”

Jarry worked with Penguins president of hockey operations/general manager Kyle Dubas to come up with the plan to send him back to Pittsburgh in the middle of the team’s trip through western Canada for individual work, then spend the two weeks with WBS.

“Kyle and I talked about it,” Jarry said. “It’s something that we talked a little bit about before, and we thought it would be a good idea just for me to be able go down there and play some games consecutively, with having three goalies here. And I think it really helped me.”

If he had to swallow his pride, Jarry didn’t let on. Not that it was ideal.

“It’s never easy when you have to kind of pick your family up and move to a different place and play some games,” he said. “It’s all part of the challenge. It’s what you sign up for as a hockey player, and, obviously there’s a lot of unpredictability to the hockey game. So I think it’s just being able to pick your game up and play it anywhere.”

But will he be able to play often enough to maintain a high enough level to continue to get starts?

“I want to come back here, and I want to play well. That’s my goal, and that’s what I want to do,” Jarry said. “I want to help this team as much as possible. Whenever I’m in the net, I think giving them a chance to win and helping this team get in a good place.

“I think it’s just having a strong mind, a strong mental game. That’s all you can really do. Obviously, the start of the season didn’t go the way I wanted, and I went down to Wilkes and was able to play really well. Those games will help the confidence and winning a couple games helps your confidence. Just being able to do that and kind of refine your game I think will help a lot, and, hopefully, it translates up here.”