Breaking: Penguins Send Jarry Home to Work on Form

While the Pittsburgh Penguins practiced Thursday in Edmonton, goaltender Tristan Jarry not only wasn’t on the ice; he was no longer with the team. Jarry has been sent back to Pittsburgh.

Coach Mike Sullivan announced after practice that Jarry returned to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, a day off for the team during their road trip through western Canada, and will be working with one of the franchise’s goaltending coaches, Jon Elkin, “getting some individual time.”

Jarry has struggled this season, and Sullivan said sending Jarry home to work individually with Elkin “is just part of the process that we put in place here over the next little while to help Tristan get to his very best.”

Sullivan said that had been planned since the start of the Penguins’ road trip. The team began the trip carrying three goaltenders. Since Alex Nedeljkovic returned from injury Sunday at Winnipeg, he and rookie Joel Blomqvist have handled the goaltending duties.

Jarry, who has four years remaining on a contract with a $5.375 million salary cap hit, was a Penguins second-round draft pick in 2013. A former All-Star, he is 1-1-0 in three games this season with a 5.47 goals-against average and an .836 save percentage.

“We look at it as our responsibility,” Sullivan said of the club trying to get Jarry back on track. “He’s a high-quality goaltender. He’s a high-quality person. This guy’s been an important part of our organization for a number of years now, and he’s played a lot of solid goaltending for us.

“The first couple of starts that he’s had haven’t been his best, and I’m probably stating the obvious when I say that, but it’s our responsibility to help the players through some of the struggles that players inevitably go through. Tristan’s no different than other guys. Everybody goes through some challenges. It’s our job as a coaching staff and hockey operations group to try to do everything we can to help our players be at their very best, and this is just the process that we’ve put in place.

“We’ve spoken to Tristan about it, and he’s bought in to it. We’ll go from there.”