When it comes to the Pittsburgh Penguins, everyone thinks about what a great offense they have.
It is hard not to when the team has Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Erik Karlsson, Lars Eller, Rickard Rakell, and others. This team knows how to create offense and put pucks in the net, two things that should not be a problem for this hockey club this season.
The team’s main problem is their goaltending. As of this writing (Saturday, October 19), the team is 31st in the league in goals allowed, as they have given up 25 goals in six games.
The main culprit between the pipes has been starting goaltender Tristan Jarry. Jarry, a two-time All-Star, is certainly not playing like one, and his play is a reason for both the team and its management to be concerned.
For starters, Jarry’s statistics to start the season are eye-opening in a bad way. In three games this season (as of Saturday, October 19), Jarry, 29, is 1-1 with a 5.47 goals-against average and a .836 save percentage.
According to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, Jarry has also done the following this season:
- Has allowed 12 goals in fewer than seven periods.
- Has allowed the opposition to score on their first shot of the game in two of his three starts.
- Has been pulled early in all three of his starts
Another problem is that Jarry looks lost between the pipes. He is fighting the puck, not controlling his rebounds, getting caught out of position, giving up goals that he should stop, not allowing his team to get into games, and struggling to play with any kind of confidence.
What is also not helping Jarry is that the team’s play in front of him has been terrible. They are chasing the puck around in the defensive zone, not getting their sticks in lanes to break up plays, not letting Jarry see the puck clearly, and in some cases, are leaving him out to dry.
When you put all of these three things together, you have a goaltender who is playing extremely poorly. What’s more is that things look worse than they already are because back on July 1, 2023, the Penguins signed Jarry to a five-year contract extension at $5.375 million per year.
This is alarming for a few reasons. The first is that his numbers have been going in the wrong direction over the last few seasons:
- 2022-23: 24-13-0-7 with a 2.90 goals-against average, a .909 save percentage, and two shutouts
- 2023-24: 19-25-0-5 with a 2.91 goals-against average, a .903 save percentage, and six shutouts
- 2024-25: 1-1 with a 5.47 goals-against average and a .836 save percentage
Another reason this is alarming is that Jarry has shown no signs of turning things around. As Yohe pointed out in his article, Jarry’s poor play is a trend that has continued into this season:
- He has been pulled in three of his past six starts at home.
- He has been pulled in four of his last 17 starts.
- His save percentage in his last 17 games is .867.
- He lost his starting job last season to Alex Nedeljkovic.
Lastly, the Penguins have not accomplished much with him as their starting goaltender. They have yet to win a playoff series with him between the pipes, and despite having a large contract, he does not look like the goaltender they should be going with.
Sunday afternoon, October 20, marks the start of the team’s Western Canada road trip, and according to reports, the Penguins will be bringing three goalies with them. They will have Jarry, Nedeljkovic, who is getting ready to return from an injury, and current backup goaltender Joel Blomqvist, who has played well in four appearances (2-2 with a 3.16 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage).
There is no doubt that Jarry needs some fixing to get his game back on track. The question is whether or not the Penguins will have the patience to allow that to happen or if they will look to Nedeljkovic and Blomqvist to give them the goaltending that is needed to win in the NHL, something that Jarry simply is simply not doing.
