Does it make sense for the Penguins to bring back Tristan Jarry?

New York Times

03-03-2025

PITTSBURGH — Of the many moves he's made since taking control of the Penguins, Kyle Dubas' decision to demote Tristan Jarry remains the most significant. It showed he possessed a hockey boss' greatest asset: willingness to concede a mistake was made.
Placing Jarry on waivers and then sending him to the AHL was the correct call. The time is fast approaching to reverse it.
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After the Penguins' 6-5 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday afternoon, it's fair to question whether bringing back Jarry is the best move Dubas can make between now and the end of another lost season.
That's entirely because Joel Blomqvist, while perhaps not a future franchise goalie, is too young and has too much promise to waste in the role he'll have the rest of this season with the Penguins. He likely won't start on an upcoming three-game trip, and the case for continuing to throw him to the wolves by playing behind these Penguins is increasingly difficult to make.
'Obviously, Joel's a young kid and he's trying to find his way in establishing in this league,' coach Mike Sullivan said after the loss Sunday. 'And it's a hard league. We recognize that we're going to go through some ups and downs.'
Sullivan added Blomqvist is 'no different than any other young kid that's trying to enter the league.'
Technically, that is accurate.
History, though, is fraught with young goalies who were done a disservice by their organizations and thrust into all the trappings of playing in the NHL and stunting their development. Those trappings aren't limited to struggles but also the lack of regular playing time that young goalies are often not afforded.
Blomqvist is experiencing both issues in his second stint this season with the Penguins.
Discussing a very late goal allowed in the second period on Sunday, Blomqvist sounded like a veteran of 250 games in net. It was his 15th game, and the Maple Leafs are about as skilled up front as any team in the Eastern Conference.
Knies timing eh pic.twitter.com/47h44JfRuA
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) March 2, 2025
'Things not gonna always go your way but you need to reset a bit and stay the course,' he said.
That's a professional answer. But there are levels to professional hockey, and Blomqvist isn't ready to excel at the highest level.
That's fine. He shouldn't be ready — not yet.
Cap space permitting, Dubas could recall Jarry after the NHL's trade deadline expires Friday. That move would likely be accompanied by one that returns Blomqvist to the AHL, where he can play a lot — and in meaningful games — for a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton affiliate that could make noise in the Calder Cup playoffs.
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These moves should benefit the Penguins' short- and long-term objectives.
Jarry remains under contract for the next three seasons. The salary cap is set to increase substantially during those years, thus providing Dubas the option to retain a percentage of Jarry's annual hit in any potential trade.
Stranger things have happened than another general manager viewing Jarry as part of a potential goaltending solution in a different environment — especially if the cost isn't $5.375 million against the cap. However, it's difficult to envision any GM going in that direction without scouting Jarry's work against NHL competition.
Recalling Jarry and having him split starts with Alex Nedeljkovic after the trade deadline would at least provide Jarry a small sample size to entice potential suitors for an offseason trade. Or, perhaps more likely, Jarry uses those starts to build momentum to begin next season with the Penguins and play his way into a trade for a team that encounters in-season goaltending needs.
Either scenario would qualify as a win for Dubas.
He cannot lose a valuable development opportunity for Blomqvist, whose early season success with the Penguins has become a distant memory amid struggles since he replaced Jarry in mid-January.
It's fair to cut Blomqvist some slack. He's 23, and Sunday marked only his 12th start in the NHL. He made 27 saves.
It was a poor performance. Blomqvist has mostly struggled since his recall in January. But the Penguins have been in a free fall for months and are prone to surrendering quality scoring chances, and young goalies come with growing pains.
Still, how much good will it do for Blomqvist to play a handful more games with this roster, from which Dubas will try to subtract before the trade deadline, instead of sharpening his skill in meaningful games in the AHL before the offseason?
Don't think too hard. The answer to that question is none at all.
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Goaltending in the NHL is perhaps the most precarious position in major team sports. Goalies tend to mature slower and have later and shorter primes, and there's often a fine line between being elite and expendable.
Goaltenders with better bona fides than Blomqvist have slid along that line only to fall over it.
Remember Matt Murray? A little less than eight years ago, he was a two-time Stanley Cup goalie for the Penguins. Last week, he played in his 100th AHL game for the Maple Leafs affiliate.
Murray was one of the AHL's historically prodigious goalies when he joined the Penguins during the 2015-16 season. He wasn't expected to carry a big load. Once he took the blue paint because of Marc-Andre Fleury's injury, Murray played big, was calm in the crease and exuded defiant confidence. He was exactly what a well-constructed roster needed for Cup runs.
Murray was not as well suited to hold up during the grind of NHL regular seasons, especially when he was not part of one of the NHL's deepest, most talented rosters. While that was disappointing and threw cold water on any dreams the Penguins had to turn consecutive Cup wins in 2016 and 2017 into a modern dynasty, those title wins were enough to make up for the bummer that became Murray's endgame in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins are about to miss out on a third consecutive postseason. Despite a roster that includes four likely future Hall of Famers and a coach held in high regard, the franchise is not built to win now.
Even if everything goes excellent to a ridiculous degree — like landing a top-three pick in the upcoming NHL Draft and lucking into potential generational prospect Gavin McKenna, the presumed No. 1 pick in 2026 — the Penguins might not be ready to compete for a championship within the next three seasons. And even if they are ready, Blomqvist would benefit from having this postseason run with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
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There might not be another run for him in the minors. It's entirely possible, if not probable, that goalie prospect Sergei Murashov will have taken the No. 1 spot for the AHL Penguins by this time a year from now. He's only 20 but has shown he's already too good for the ECHL in his first taste of North American professional hockey.
If any goalie in the Penguins system is a shrewd bet to become the next Murray, it's Murashov, not Blomqvist. The Penguins have a long way to go before their roster is ready for a young goalie to arrive and play a pivotal role in ascending to a playoff berth, let alone the Cup.
Jarry's failure to live up to the franchise goalie contract he was given by Dubas two years ago has placed the Penguins in a terrible position. He's not the guy or the next guy. By playing his way into a demotion, he helped sink a couple of seasons and is now limiting the best developmental opportunities for potential successors.
Jarry needs a fresh start. The Penguins need to be rid of him.
Neither is likely to happen and coincide with a quick franchise return to prominence without him finishing this season in the NHL.