CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — In a bombshell announcement Wednesday, the Penguins said they will place goaltender Tristan Jarry on waivers.
If he clears waivers — team sources said they would be “very surprised” if any NHL claimed Jarry and his hefty salary — the plan is for the struggling goaltender to be sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Penguins’ American Hockey League affiliate.
Jarry signed a five-year contract on July 1, 2023, that pays him more than $5 million annually. He has been a disaster for the Penguins this season and already spent one stint in Wilkes-Barre early this season.
Though Jarry showed slight signs of improvement after being sent down to Wilkes-Barre, he’s never been the goaltender the Penguins need him to be.
Jarry is a two-time NHL All-Star, but, throughout his career, his splits in the second half of the season have dropped substantially. His career playoff record as Penguins goaltender is 2-6, and his blunder in Game 5 of the 2021 postseason against the Islanders — a turnover that directly led to New York’s winning goal in overtime — will always be remembered as the moment his Penguins career began to decline.
Jarry’s numbers are especially gruesome this season: He has a 3.31 goals against average and an .886 save percentage.
The Penguins have grown frustrated with Jarry’s play this season, which came to a boiling point during their recent 1-3-1 homestand when Jarry went 0-2-1 and was on the ice for two third-period meltdowns. The Penguins dominated their past two games against Tampa Bay and Seattle but lost, largely because Jarry allowed three goals on 17 shots in each of those games.
Jarry, 29, has three years remaining on his contract after this season. An NHL team has 24 hours to claim him. If that happened, it would be Christmas in January for the Penguins, who’d be relieved of having to pay him for the next three and a half seasons. The odds of that, however, are minimal at best.
The Penguins will get slightly more than $1 million in salary cap relief if Jarry heads to Wilkes-Barre after clearing waivers.
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