4 Offseason Landing Spots for Penguins Goalie Tristan Jarry amid NHL Trade Rumors

At this point, the Pittsburgh Penguins are likely prepared to roll into the 2024-25 season with the same goalie duo they used during the 2023-24 season. Tristan Jarry remains under contract for four more seasons, while the Penguins re-signed backup Alex Nedeljkovic earlier in the offseason.

But it only takes one phone call for that plan to change, and it would make a lot of sense for the Penguins to seek out that phone call in the form of a Jarry trade.

Injuries and inconsistency have limited Jarry's availability and production in big moments. The Penguins could probably find better ways to use the $5.375 million in salary-cap space that his contract takes up, especially when one of their top prospects is goalie Joel Blomqvist.

With Juuse Saros re-signed in Nashville and several other goalies (Jacob Markstrom, Logan Thompson) already changing teams this offseason, there aren't many options available in the free-agent market or trade market. Teams still looking to make a change or look for an upgrade in goal could circle back to Jarry.

With all of that in mind, let's take a look at few teams that might be a match if the Penguins were willing to move him before the start of the season.

After finishing as the NHL's worst team a year ago and landing Macklin Celebrini with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft, the Sharks are in the process of trying to build back up.

They have already made some significant additions this offseason with Tyler Toffoli, Alexander Wennberg and Jake Walman joining the roster, all of whom should be strong veteran additions. However, goalie still looks to be a glaring short- and long-term weakness.

The Sharks have former New Jersey Devils goalies Mackenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanecek on their roster, but neither are intriguing options going into the season. Both are pending unrestricted free agents after this season, so the Sharks eventually need to address that position anyway.

Despite all of his flaws, Jarry would be a significant upgrade over both players. The Sharks still have more than $14 million in salary-cap space this offseason and could easily take on Jarry's contract.

The Blackhawks are in an almost identical situation as the Sharks, only they are a year ahead with their timeline.

Their new franchise player (Connor Bedard) already has one year of NHL experience, and they made their own significant additions this offseason with the signings of Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi.

On the surface, the Blackhawks might not have a pressing need to acquire another goalie. They have veterans Petr Mrázek and Laurent Brossoit under contract for the next two years, both of whom are coming off better-than-league-average performances in 2023-24. Mrázek had a .907 save percentage in Chicago, while Brossoit had a .927 mark as Connor Hellebuyck's backup in Winnipeg.

As strong as those numbers were, it seems like a stretch to assume both are capable of repeating those performances.

New city, new name and new ownership. All of that has helped raise expectations for the Utah Hockey Club going into the 2024-25 season, and they spent most of the offseason overhauling their defense with the additions of Mikhail Sergachev, John Marino and Ian Cole.

Combined with a promising and solid group of forwards—with a potential star in Logan Cooley at the top—this team might be able to make some noise in the Western Conference playoff race, provided it can get some decent goaltending. That might be an issue with its current duo.

Connor Ingram got off to a great start last season, but he rapidly regressed in the second half. Meanwhile, Karel Vejmelka has yet to finish with a save percentage higher than .900 in any of his three NHL seasons.

Utah could use a significant upgrade at goalie, and it still has nearly $10 million in salary-cap space to play with this offseason even after all of its other additions.

Jarry might not be a star or a top-tier goalie, but he would almost certainly be an upgrade over what Utah has right now. He could at least give Utah a fighting chance on most nights, especially behind a dramatically improved defense.

Goaltending has been a constant question mark for the Oilers throughout much of the Connor McDavid and Leon Draisiatl era. They have struggled to find any sort of consistent solution at the position.

Stuart Skinner had his moments during the Oilers' run to the Stanley Cup Final this season, but he also had moments where he looked like a liability and put the team in a tough spot.

Both Skinner and Jarry seem like the type of goalies who would be best served if they shared the net in a platoon situation and did not have to be the unquestioned No. 1 starter. Skinner is inconsistent, while Jarry tends to wear down later in the year when he's asked to be the full-time starter.

Putting both of them together and letting them share the net might help bring out the best in both of them without overexposing either of them.

Salary-cap space would be an issue for the Oilers, but there are always ways around that in the form of retained salary, sending another contract back the other way, or even getting another team involved.