Penguins, Tristan Jarry agree to 5-year contract with $5.375M AAV: Does it make sense?

Goaltender Tristan Jarry is re-signing with the Pittsburgh Penguins on a five-year deal that carries an average annual value of $5.375 million, the team announced Saturday. Here’s what you need to know:

The deal runs through to the 2027-28 season.
Jarry posted a .909 save percentage and 2.90 goals against average in 47 starts for the Penguins last season.
The 28-year-old has spent his entire seven-year career with the Penguins, who selected him in the second round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
The Penguins also signed goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic on a one-year, $1.5 million contract.

The Penguins have agreed to terms with goaltender Tristan Jarry on a five-year contract.

The deal begins in the 2023.24 season and runs through the 2027.28 campaign, carrying an average annual value of $5.375 million.

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) July 1, 2023

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

Behind the deal

Upon taking over the Penguins’ hockey operations department, Kyle Dubas needed to evaluate Jarry before committing to any decision. By the time the NHL Draft arrived, Dubas had assessed he wanted to keep Jarry — but there was concern within the Penguins that Jarry, 28, would command a better deal on the open market as an unrestricted free agent.

Still, Dubas and Jarry’s agent, Craig Oster, kept talking throughout the past week, including Friday into Saturday. There was mutual interest to get a deal done, but the sides had to agree on term — and Jarry’s camp wanted to see how the open market played out.

As available goalies were signed, it became clearer that something was likely up between the Penguins and Jarry. Three hours into free agency, Jarry and the Penguins finally found the numbers that would keep him in Pittsburgh. — Rossi

Bringing back Jarry a calculated risk

The Penguins are taking a calculated risk. Jarry probably was the most talented goaltender on the market, but his performance in recent seasons has been unpredictable and he still has never won a playoff series at the age of 28. This strikes me as a longer contract than the Penguins wanted to agree to, but the goaltender market is not good and Dubas apparently decided this was his best option. Still, this is a much longer deal than I would have guessed the Penguins would have ever given him.

I have a hard time agreeing with the decision to bring back Jarry and Casey DeSmith. The duo has proven unable to stay healthy, especially during the most important times of the season. I have no issue with DeSmith as a backup, but only if the starter is someone more reliable than Jarry. Therefore, the addition of Nedeljkovic is sensible. — Yohe

GO DEEPER

NHL contract grades: Penguins pay premium on long-term Tristan Jarry deal

Which side won?

The Penguins and Jarry had a stare-down, and it’s hard to say which side won.

If Jarry stays healthy — he hasn’t, dating to the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs — he’s a two-time All-Star goalie with top-10 bona fides. At 28, again if healthy, his best years are ahead of him. So, if he’s able to play, he’ll probably play well enough for the Penguins to gladly count $5.375 million against future salary caps, which should increase by more than $1 million, as has been the case recently for such goaltending production.

But if Jarry isn’t healthy, or if he never proves himself a big-game goalie in the NHL — he’s 2-6 in playoff games — the Penguins have essentially saddled Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang’s final seasons with a goalie that isn’t reliable, let alone Cup-caliber.

Maybe the Penguins had no choice given the paltry goaltending options. And it’s true that Dubas did do a deep dive on Jarry before committing to this deal. But it’s a big bet on an unproven commodity. At least, though, the Penguins know that commodity; they wouldn’t have with another goalie. — Rossi

Backstory

After a 15-5-4 start to 2022-23, Jarry missed time with multiple injuries. He was sidelined for seven consecutive games after exiting the Winter Classic against Boston with a lower-body injury, but returned for two starts beginning Jan. 20. He stopped 67 of 70 shots in those games, which were the last he played until Feb. 20 because of an upper-body injury.

When speaking to reporters after Pittsburgh’s final regular-season game in April, Jarry did not identify specifics of his injuries but conceded they were bothersome “every day.”

“I was playing with a lot of injuries,” Jarry said. “Playing through a lot. It was tough. Tough to get practice in. Tough to get consistent game play in. It was a tough season for me.”

Required reading

(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)