In the aftermath of his team’s wretched six-game loss to the New York Islanders during the first round of the playoffs in May — a ruinous result that starting goaltender Tristan Jarry was largely responsible for — Penguins general manager Ron Hextall was resolute in stating his faith with what he had in net.

“If you’re going to be a goaltender in this league for a long time, you’re going to have your ups and downs as pretty much every guy does,” Hextall, a former goaltender, said during his season-ending news conference June 2. “You learn from it, and you get better. We’re confident that Tristan is going to get better.”

Less than two months later, there’s little to indicate Hextall’s optimistic assessment has wavered.

On Wednesday, the opening day of the NHL’s free-agent signing period, the Penguins added a goaltender but not one who figures to be a threat to the starting role anytime soon. Prospect Filip Lindberg signed a two-year entry-level deal with the club that carries a salary cap hit of $925,000.

Elsewhere throughout the league, big names — including some past their primes — such as Philipp Grubauer, Braden Holtby and Frederik Andersen changed teams.

Hextall and the Penguins? The status quo was maintained. At least for now.

They very well could make some other roster maneuvers before their 2021-22 season opens Oct. 12. But Hextall offered little to suggest that would be the case when he spoke with media Wednesday.

(Jarry and backup Casey DeSmith) did a good job for us last year,” Hextall said via video conference. “And we anticipate them both being back.”

When pressed further about potentially making any further alterations to the position, Hextall was ambiguous.

“Anywhere we think we can upgrade and we can make it work (salary) cap-wise, we’ll certainly look at it,” Hextall said. “Whatever position it might be.”

The one position where the Penguins made any substantial additions was in the forward ranks.

Their most prominent signing was bottom-six forward Brock McGinn, formerly of the Carolina Hurricanes. He was signed to a four-year contract with a salary cap hit of $2.75 million.

McGinn, 27, appeared in 37 games last season and scored 13 points (eight goals, five assists). During the postseason, he played in 11 games and scored four points (three goals, one assist).

After the loss of forward Brandon Tanev to the Seattle Kraken through the expansion draft last week, the left-handed McGinn (6-foot, 187 pounds) will be counted on to replace a lot of the attributes the rambunctious Tanev provided on and off the ice.

“He plays a real inside game,” Hextall said. “He’s got really good energy. A physical player. Plays the same way every night. We just really valued the player. But we also valued the intangibles that he brings on a nightly basis and some of the stuff that he’s going to bring into our locker room.

“Brock is an inside player that scores goals around the net, blocks shots and does all the things that you need to do to win games.”

The team also brought back forward Dominik Simon, signing him to a one-year, two-way contract with a salary cap hit of $750,000, the league minimum.

A fifth-round pick (No. 137 overall) of the Penguins in 2015, Simon spent the first five seasons of his NHL career in Pittsburgh before joining the Calgary Flames as an unrestricted free agent last offseason.

Additionally, utility forward Evan Rodrigues was re-signed to a one-year deal worth $1 million.

Capable of playing all three forward positions, Rodrigues appeared in 35 games last season and scored 14 points (seven goals, seven assists).

Notes:

• According to Cap Friendly, the Penguins now have $3,696,795 of room under the NHL’s salary cap of $81.5 million.

“We don’t have a lot of cap space,” Hextall said. “We would like to tweak some things, and we’re going to continue to monitor the free-agent market to see what’s out there and see if we find any fits that are upgrades for us.”

• Hextall indicated DeSmith is making progress as he recovers from offseason surgery for a core muscle injury.

“Casey’s back on the ice,” Hextall said. “So he’s doing well. We certainly anticipate him being at training camp. Those guys did a good job for us last year, and we anticipate them both being back.”

• After one season with the Penguins, defenseman Cody Ceci joined the Edmonton Oilers, signing a four-year contract with a salary cap hit of $3.25 million.

Penguins management was happy with Ceci, who reinvigorated his career by manning the right side of the second defensive pairing for most of the season. In 53 games, Ceci scored 17 points (four goals, 13 assists), second most among the Penguins’ defensemen.

“We wanted to re-sign Cody, but (the contact he signed with Edmonton was high),” Hextall said. “And there was no real way for us at this point to make that fit.”

• Third-line forward Frederick Gaudreau joined the Minnesota Wild, signing a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $1.2 million.

• Reserve goaltender Maxime Lagace joined the Tampa Bay Lightning, signing a one-year, two-way contract. Financial terms were not revealed.

•The addition of Lindberg boosts a shallow pool of prospects.

Lindberg, 22, was one of the top goaltenders at the collegiate level last season, leading Massachusetts to the NCAA championship. In 15 games, Lindberg had a 10-1-4 record, a 1.24 goals-against average and five shutouts.

A native of Espoo, Finland, Lindberg (6-foot-1, 194 pounds), was a seventh-round draft pick (197th overall) of the Wild in 2019 but never signed with that franchise.

He figures to compete with mid-level prospect Alex D’Orio for the starting job with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League next season.

“We’re extremely excited to add (Lindberg) to the organization, Hextall said. “Whenever you can get a good, young goaltender, you’re, obviously, excited. But we’ve got the two young kids (2020 draft picks Joel Blomqvist and Calle Clang). Now, we have a couple of guys that are older (Lindberg and D’Orio). And, obviously, we have (Jarry and DeSmith). I like the (addition) to our system. We’re excited to see him play this year. I would anticipate him certainly starting in the minors. But he showed a lot of promise last year and won the national championship. An exciting day for us in terms of signing Filip.”

• Hextall long has expressed a desire to add some toughness to the forward ranks and had a potential signing fall through Wednesday.

“We’ve looked around,” Hextall said. “We tried hard today. We had a guy (that agreed to) a two-way contract that went somewhere else. We’ve tried hard, and we’ll continue to look for that.”

• The team signed journeyman Taylor Fedun to a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000. The 33-year-old Fedun (6-foot-1, 200 pounds) was limited to two games last season with the Texas Stars, AHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars, and did not record a point.

A right-handed shot, Fedun figures to boost the starboard side of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s blue line following the retirement of Zach Trotman and the departure of Jon Lizotte, who signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Minnesota Wild.

• New contracts for restricted free agent forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Radim Zohorna appear to be on the verge of being agreed to.

“Zohorna, I would expect to get done in the next little while,” Hextall said. “It’s not a real difficult one. Just kind of put it off until after free agency here. I anticipate getting something done with Zach in the near future, hopefully, as well. He’s got arbitration rights. Hopefully, we’ll get something done before that.”

• With forwards Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust and defenseman Kris Letang entering the final year of their current contracts, they are eligible to sign contract extensions.

“We’ll get to those in August here,” Hextall said. “Figure out a plan, and we’ll get to those. I would anticipate in the next little while here.”

• The team hired Nick Pryor as director as amateur scouting. He is the son of director of player personnel Chris Pryor.

Nick Pryor, 30, previously served as an amateur scout with the Philadelphia Flyers.

• According to Hextall, amateur scout Al Santilli has left the organization. He had served as a scout in various capacities with the team since 2011 and was a member of the franchise’s Stanley Cup championship teams in 2016 and 2017.

Follow the Penguins all season long.

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