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Should Penguins Hold Off On Giving Jarry New Contract?

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pittsburgh penguins, tristan jarry

The Pittsburgh Penguins wouldn’t have to try hard to justify re-signing Tristan Jarry before training camp opens in about three weeks.

In fact, a strong case for doing just that was made in this space a few weeks ago.

Jarry, after all, is only 27, is coming off an all-star season in 2021-22 and projects as the most attractive goalie on the market next summer if he’s allowed to reach unrestricted free agency.

He demonstrated his grit and desire to compete when, after being sidelined for weeks by a serious foot injury, he was adamant about returning for Game 7 of the Penguins’ opening-round playoff series against the New York Rangers in May.

Jarry might not have been at his very best in that game — he allowed four goals on 30 shots — but he was good enough to give his team a chance to win, which is all that reasonably could have been expected of him.

So, getting a deal done with him as quickly as possible is the obvious way to go, right?

Well, yeah, it is … assuming the Pittsburgh Penguins are convinced that Jarry has exorcised the postseason demons that emerged during the final two games of their Round 1 series with the New York Islanders in 2021.

Which they had better be, if they’re inclined to make a long-term, big-money commitment to him.

Even those who believe the Penguins’ window to seriously contend for another Stanley Cup hasn’t closed acknowledge that the team’s best-case scenario is to be a significant force in the playoffs for just a few more seasons.

If they truly expect (or even hope) to challenge for a championship, having exceptional goaltending must be a major part of the equation, and there’s nothing in Jarry’s limited playoff history to prove he can provide it.

Now, the eight-game sample size is too small to allow any definitive conclusions to be drawn, but Jarry’s personal numbers are, to be charitable, underwhelming: He is 2-6, with a 3.00 goals-against average and .891 save percentage.

In fairness, the circumstances under which Jarry has played have, at times, been less than ideal. He made his playoff debut in Game 4 of the qualifying round against Montreal in 2020, and allowed just one goal in what became a 2-0 defeat, and faced the Rangers in Game 7 two years later after a lengthy absence.

Most of his playoff work came against the Islanders in 2021, when he played pretty well at the start, but flamed out as the series progressed.

Jarry turned aside 38 shots during a victory in Game 2 and 30 more as the Penguins won Game 3, but things soured after that.

New York scored on 12 of 78 shots against him in the final three games, including five on 24 shots in the series finale at Nassau Coliseum. And Jarry’s mind-numbing giveaway that led to Josh Bailey’s game-winner in double-overtime of Game 5 permanently tilted the series in the Islanders’ favor.

Although Jarry’s play was the most important variable in a series the Pittsburgh Penguins were quite capable of winning, Ron Hextall and the rest of management resisted any temptation there might have been to part ways with him, insisting that Jarry would rebound.

And he did.

During the regular season.

Whether he would have during the playoffs — which is what really matters for a team trying to defy steep odds to win a Cup — is an unanswered question, thanks to the injury that limited him to 64-plus minutes of work against the Rangers.

Yes, he played pretty well that night, so the Penguins can be encouraged by that.

Then again, Jarry had been very good during Game 4 against the Canadiens in his playoff debut, but that didn’t portend how he would perform in the latter stages of the Islanders series the following season.

If the Penguins give Jarry a new contract in coming weeks or months, it will be a tangible statement of their confidence in him.

But if they don’t — if they want proof that he can provide the kind of goaltending they will need to succeed in a high-stakes setting — it will be completely understandable.

Maybe even prudent.

Jarry’s asking price surely would go up — perhaps by a lot — if he contributes to an extended playoff run next spring, and that could be an issue for a team that routinely is snug to the salary-cap ceiling.

But the price of giving a lot of money and term to a goaltender who, for whatever reason, does his best work during the regular season could be even higher.

It’s not unreasonable — or totally unfounded — for the Pittsburgh Penguins to have faith in Jarry as a goalie who can help them perform to their potential during the playoffs.

But it wouldn’t be unfair for them to ask to see a little more evidence of that before committing to him for the final chapters of this era in franchise history.