Jim Rutherford basically admits Penguins will trade a goalie

With two capable goaltenders and not a lot of cap space to operate in, Penguins GM Jim Rutherford has admitted he’ll be trading one.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, surely earlier than they expected for the third year in a row. General manager Jim Rutherford has some decisions to spearhead, and he has acknowledged to Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription required) that he will have to trade one of his goaltenders.

“We know that there’s a very, very good chance that we’re going to have to move one of them,” Rutherford told The Athletic’s Josh Yohe regarding goaltenders Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry.

“There is already interest. And it looks like we’re going to have to move one of them.”

Murray and Jarry split time nearly evenly in goal for the Penguins this season. Murray made 38 regular season starts, to 31 for Jarry, while Murray started three of four qualifying round games against Montreal. Jarry was slightly better during the regular season, with a .921 save percentage and a 2.43 goals against average (to a .899 save percentage and a 2.87 GAA for Murray). Murray is 26 years old, and Jarry is 25.

Despite Murray’s accomplishments, management like favors Jarry

Murray and Jarry are both restricted free agents this offseason. According to CapFriendly, the Penguins will have just $12.4 million in cap space with six pending restricted free agents beyond the two goalies and three notable unrestricted free agents to consider bringing back. The looming expansion draft of the Seattle Kraken in 2021 only allows teams to protect one goaltender, so it makes no sense to retain both Murray and Jarry with requisite contracts in line with their value this offseason.

The Penguins have been similarly down the expansion draft road before. They left goaltender Marc-Andre’ Fleury unprotected for the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, after he waived a no-move clause. They also sent a second-round pick to Vegas as a push for them to take Fleury off their hands. Trading off Murray or Jarry and going with the cheaper in-house backup (Casey DeSmith) next season is the obvious course now, and Rutherford has confirmed it.