As the NHL prepares for a new season expected to start in mid-January, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 48 individuals under NHL contract with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to high-profile trade acquisition Jason Zucker.

Tristan Jarry

Position: Goaltender

Catches: Left

Age: 25

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 194 pounds

2019-20 NHL statistics: 33 games, 20-12-1 record, 2.43 goals-against average, .921 save percentage, three 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

Last season: The Penguins weren’t quite sure to do with Jarry entering last season. With the ascension of Casey DeSmith in 2018-19 as the backup, management explored trade options during the 2019 offseason but never found a satisfactory offer in return.

So once the 2019 training camp opened, Jarry and DeSmith were thrust into an open competition for the backup role.

By most measures, neither surged ahead of the other during the preseason. That left management, facing a salary cap crunch, to keep Jarry on the NHL roster simply because he had a smaller average annual value of $675,000 than DeSmith ($1.25 million), who was sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

In the first month and a half of the regular season, Jarry was used sparingly as Matt Murray’s backup. Typically, Jarry only played in the second portion games in sequences on back-to-back days.

By mid-November, Murray began to struggle and the coaching staff turned to Jarry, essentially installing him as the starter for most of December. Jarry was so tuned in throughout December, he even set a franchise record for the longest shutout sequence (177 minutes, 55 seconds).

In January, Murray had leveled off his game and settled into a platoon with Jarry with neither starting three consecutive games for several weeks. An injury to Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo led to Jarry getting invited to the NHL’s All-Star game event, becoming only the third goaltender in franchise history to receive that honor.

Before the NHL’s season came to a halt in mid-march because of the coronavirus pandemic, Jarry was mired in a slump, having lost four consecutive games while posting a 4.53 goals-against average as well as a .845 save percentage prior to the hiatus.

When the NHL resumed play in August for a postseason tournament, Murray was in net for the Penguins to open their preliminary-round series against the Canadiens but only lasted three games before Jarry was inserted into an elimination game. During Game 4 of the series, Jarry made 20 saves on 21 shots in his postseason debut, but the Penguins’ season came to an end with a 2-0 loss.

The future: When the Penguins drafted Jarry in 2013, they traded up twice to be in position to take him in the second round. With longtime goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury approaching his 30s at that time, former general manager Ray Shero and staff thought Jarry could be the franchise’s goaltender of the future.

Those plans might have taken seven-plus years to manifest, and they involve a different general manager in Jim Rutherford and a different incumbent goaltender in Murray, but they’re on the verge of finally being realized.

A fastidious student of his craft, Jarry plays a technically proficient game and offers the additional benefit of being a slick puckhandler, an attribute that makes life easier on defensemen retrieving pucks.

Once this campaign opens, Jarry won’t have the luxury of being in a true platoon as he did last season, although the condensed nature of the schedule likely will force the coaching staff to turn to DeSmith quite a bit.

Regardless, Jarry’s time finally has arrived.

Follow the Penguins all season long.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)