Casey DeSmith Making Case To Be Penguins' Starter
The Pittsburgh Penguins might be better off with Casey DeSmith rather than Tristan Jarry.
Turmoil at the goaltending position is pretty run of the mill for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and with 13 games remaining in their season, it might be time for a change.
Since the start of February, Casey DeSmith has made a pretty convincing case to roll as the Penguins starting goalie.
The disappointing part of that statement is that it’s not due to an outstanding performance, it’s the rapid decline of Tristan Jarry.
Not to say DeSmith has been bad in that time, he’s been pretty good, all things considered.
In his last 12 appearances, DeSmith has gone 6-4-0 with a .919 save percentage.
Ever since returning from injury, Jarry hasn’t been the same goalie and it’s holding the Penguins back in a big way.
In his last 11 starts, Jarry is 4-4-1 with a .863 save percentage and has been pulled four times in that run; he’s given up four or more goals in more than half of those starts.
Head coach Mike Sullivan stated before that Jarry is no longer dealing with an ailment, but is still trying to get back to game speed.
Jarry has been playing regularly for almost a month and there’s not enough runway to just keep hoping he’ll make progress.
DeSmith has had a respectable run, but that doesn’t earn him a starting role, it’s just falling into his lap thanks to Jarry vastly underperforming.
Is there a chance Jarry finds himself and returns to his caliber? Yes, but at this point will it be enough?
When Jarry is on his game, he's near one of the best goalies in the league, this current stretch has been far from good enough.
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