Penguins A to Z: Can Tristan Jarry rebound from a playoff meltdown?

With the Penguins in the midst of their offseason, the Tribune-Review is looking at all 48 players currently under NHL contracts to the organization in alphabetical order, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

Tristan Jarry

Position: Goaltender

Catches: Left

Age: 26

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 194 pounds

2020-21 NHL statistics: 39 games, 25-9-3 record, 2.75 goals-against average, .909 save percentage, two shutouts

Contract: First year of a three-year contract with a salary cap hit of $3.5 million. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2023.

Acquired: Second-round draft pick (No. 44 overall), June 30, 2013

2020-21 season: Tristan Jarry’s 2020-21 campaign began much like it ended.

That’s to say there were a lot of questions, externally at least, if he was up to the task of being the Penguins’ top goaltender.

After he allowed nine goals on 33 shots in the Penguins’ first two games — each defeats — and was temporarily replaced by backup Casey DeSmith as the team’s starter for a handful of games, there was plenty of doubt if Jarry was ready for his moment.

Taking advantage of the downtime to focus on some weak points to his game, Jarry — who missed two games in early April due to an undisclosed injury — slowly but surely showed he was capable of being the Penguins’ top netminder during a regular season full of challenges.

Whatever momentum Jarry established in the regular season fizzled out during the postseason, however.

In six games during a first-round loss to the New York Islanders, Jarry had a 2-4 record along with an unimpressive 3.18 goals against average and an unacceptable .888 save percentage.

His lowest moment — not just of the season but perhaps his career — came during the second overtime of Game 5 on May 24. Jarry, an otherwise reliably dynamic puckhandler, forced a poor pass up the middle of the ice right to Islanders forward Josh Bailey who walked in for a goal ensuring a 3-2 victory at PPG Paints Arena.

Things didn’t get any better two nights later when Jarry surrendered three separate leads as the Penguins fell 5-3 in a series-determining road loss.

The future: Given the nature of his position and how he stumbled so badly when it mattered most in the playoffs, no other player on the roster is under more scrutiny this offseason than Jarry.

Penguins management has given Jarry a pretty rousing endorsement after his playoff flameout and indicated there is comfort moving forward with him as the top goaltender.

That said, current general manager Ron Hextall tends to keep things closer to the vest than his predecessor, Jim Rutherford, who wasn’t afraid to outright announce his intentions before carrying them out.

In other words, if Hextall is going to make any kind of change with the goaltending — whether that be outright replacing Jarry or adding another goaltender who can pose a greater challenge to the top job than DeSmith — he will likely not broadcast it beforehand.

As far as next month’s expansion draft is concerned, Jarry should be the goaltender the Penguins protect.

The notion of Jarry rebounding from his postseason meltdown isn’t ridiculous. Former Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury fixed his game after what was arguably an even lower nadir during the 2013 postseason. Ditto Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy who bounced back from a first-round sweep in 2019 to win the Stanley Cup in 2020.

Is Jarry as talented as Fleury or Vasilevskiy? No. But Jarry has the talent to be a No. 1 goaltender.

A few days after his team was eliminated from the playoffs last month, Jarry vowed to “be better next year.”

He needs to if the Penguins are to be Stanley Cup contenders.

Follow the Penguins all season long.