Penguins Have More Questions Than Answers in Net

Change needs to be made for the Pittsburgh Penguins in net.

Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith entered the 2022-23 season with plenty of questions to answer for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The former was in a contract year and hoped to prove to Penguins brass that he could carry this team into the future and toward another Stanley Cup. 

Unfortunately, the Penguins missed the playoffs and are on the precipice of a new management team with more goaltending questions than before the season started.

Much of that uncertainty is due to the nature of Jarry's injuries this season. The 28-year-old netminder was hampered through most of the season with a chronic hip injury which sparks questions about whether his poor performance was due to his ailments. More importantly, it sparks the question, "How much will this hip issue linger throughout Jarry's career?"

Jarry began the season red hot, winning 15 of his first 21 games and saving 92 percent of the shots he faced in that span. Following the Christmas break, Jarry went 9-10-4 and stopped 89.7 percent of the shots he faced while being pulled from a handful of starts. Those games split between his multiple stints on the injured reserve.

With the uncertainty surrounding Jarry, DeSmith did little to calm the nerves of the Penguins faithful. DeSmith's volatility earned him the moniker "coin flip Casey" during the season, referring to his Jekyll and Hyde performance from game to game. He finished the season with a .905 save percentage and 3.17 goals against average and solidified his ceiling as a backup goaltender at the NHL level.

While the level of goaltending left a lot to be desired, the poor defense in front of these two can't go unmentioned. The Penguins finished the season 21st in the league in expected goals allowed per 60 minutes, a drastic drop from their 6th-place finish in 2021-22. The Penguins' defense often hung their goalies out to dry and routinely failed to clear the front of the net.

As contract discussions between the Penguins and Jarry begin, questions about his health, his playoff performance, and his ability to carry the load as a number-one goalie cloud the future of the goaltending position in Pittsburgh. 

The Penguins can't run this tandem back for a fourth season and expect a different result, but with several holes throughout the roster, what will the team be able to afford in the game's most pivotal position?

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