Penguins Have Goalie Decisions To Make This Offseason
The Pittsburgh Penguins and their goalies will have an offseason worth keeping a close eye on.
PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins took a risk with their goaltending heading into the 2023-24 season. In his first season as Penguins president and general manager, Kyle Dubas extended Tristan Jarry to a five-year contract and signed Alex Nedeljkovic on a one-year deal.
Both Jarry and Nedeljkovic were coming off disappointing seasons by their standards and were looking at 2023-24 as a time to rehabilitate their careers. For a good chunk of the season, they succeeded and kept the Penguins afloat.
As the trade deadline approached, the Penguins were rumored to be looking for a trade involving one of their goalies. While neither Jarry nor Nedeljkovic were dealt, the Penguins may have had something in the works at one point.
According to Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast, the Penguins and another team were in talks about a deal involving Jarry.
“Around the deadline, Pittsburgh was looking to move one of their goalies,” Friedman said. “There were some rumors earlier in the year that Pittsburgh had something going with another team on Jarry. It was denied to me, but I had other people telling me there is more there than I knew or could uncover.”
While the rumor was shot down, Friedman noted that anything could still be possible with Jarry. Given out Nedeljkovic has played down the stretch, it’s going to once again be an interesting summer for the Penguins and the goalie position.
Nedeljkovic has taken over as the Penguins starter with nine straight starts, securing at least a standings point in each one. It’s likely Jarry won’t touch the ice for the rest of the season as the Penguins hurdle to a possible playoff berth.
Friedman wondered how the Penguins could let Nedeljkovic walk this offseason, considering the kind of work he has put together recently.
“I do think there were teams that called Pittsburgh about him at the deadline,” Friedman said. “But now, especially if they make the playoffs, how can you let this guy walk?”
A simple solution is to run it back next year with Jarry and Nedeljkovic as the one-two punch again. The main issue, however, has been the growth of prospect netminder Joel Blomqvist. The Penguins have liked what they’ve seen from him and expect him to play at the NHL level next year.
One of Jarry or Nedeljkovic is likely hitting the road this summer. If Friedman’s rumor was based on any sort of truth, Jarry may be the name on the chopping block.
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