When the Pittsburgh Penguins announced they planned to carry three goaltenders on their current trip out West, many assumed there would be some sort of rotation with them.
Well, it seems that is not the case.
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With two games remaining, goaltender Tristan Jarry was sent back to Pittsburgh to work one-on-one with goaltending director Jon Elkin. Head coach Mike Sullivan once again emphasized that this move is part of a larger process to get Jarry back to where they need him, which is at his best.
“His first few starts weren’t his best,” Sullivan said. “I’m probably stating the obvious when I say that. But it’s our responsibility to help players through some of the struggles they inevitably go through in this league, and Tristan is no different.”
Rookie Joel Blomqvist was the other half of the Penguins goaltending tandem – along with Jarry – to start the season. Jarry struggled in the first game of the season against New York Rangers and was pulled in the first period against the Buffalo Sabers a week later.
Blomqvist got most of the playing time until Alex Nedeljkovic was activated from injured reserve and back from his conditioning stint in the AHLwhich occurred just before the start of the turn west from Pittsburgh to Winnipeg on Sunday.
Since then, Nedeljkovic has started both matches and Blomqvist serves as his replacement. With back-to-back games looming against Edmonton and Vancouver on Friday and Saturday, each goalie will likely start before the road trip ends.
But after the road trip – which begins Tuesday at home against the Minnesota Wild – it’s unclear what the team will do regarding its roster.
Forwards Blake Lizotte and Vasily Ponomarev are skating alone in Pittsburgh and appear to be making progress toward a return. As it stands, the Penguins roster is at full strength with 23 players, and it doesn’t make much sense for them to keep three goaltenders for an extended period of time.
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The logical answer would be to send Blomqvist back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS), Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate. But if the rookie continues to perform well, the Penguins will have some tough decisions to make with their goalies.
At some point, Jarry will have to spring into action. The best-case scenario for him and the Penguins is that he strings together a string of strong starts, proving to Pittsburgh that he’s still their guy – or prove to a commercial suitor that his services are worth the remaining four years on a contract that pays him $5.375 million per year.
But for now, Sullivan and the Penguins are focused on Jarry’s progress and making sure they can help him come back strong in front of the post. And they will re-evaluate once they feel they have done what they can to achieve it.
“It’s our job as a coach and a hockey operations group to try to do everything we can to help our players be at their best,” Sullivan said. “It’s just a process that we’ve put in place. We’ve talked to Tristan about it. He’s bought into it and we’ll go from there.”
Related: 5 Teams That Should Consider Trading for Penguins Goaltender Tristan Jarry
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