Penguins mercifully end tenure with Tristan Jarry as contract aged poorly

One of the first major moves made by Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas was to ink Tristan Jarry to a five-year, $26.88 million extension in July of 2023. At the time of the deal, there was little to dislike. It might've been a slight overpay, but the Penguins didn't have a better alternative to pursue, and despite his lackluster playoff showings, he was still stout in the regular season.

Unfortunately, not a lot has gone right for Jarry since signing the deal. He wasn't awful in the 2023-24 season, but his .903 save percentage was a career-low in seasons that saw him play more than two games, and the 2.91 goals he allowed per game were more than he ever had surrendered. His play has only taken a massive step in the wrong direction this season.

It got so bad for Pittsburgh, in fact, to the point where the team opted to place him onto waivers, ending his nine-year tenure in the organization entirely. Based on how things have gone this season, an argument could be made that the Pens should've done this even sooner than they did.

Penguins waive Tristan Jarry, likely ending his tenure in Pittsburgh

The 2024-25 season has been a rocky one for Pittsburgh, to say the least, and Tuesday's game proved to be the breaking point with Jarry. The Penguins held a 2-1 lead at home heading into the third period against a Seattle Kraken team that is toward the bottom of the Western Conference playoff picture, but proceeded to lose the game thanks in large part to Jarry who allowed a pair of goals in a 50-second span to flip the contest. Jarry wound up surrendering three goals on just 17 shots.

Unfortunately, this kind of lackluster showing had become par for the course for Jarry this season. The 29-year-old now has a .886 save percentage and has surrendered 3.32 goals per game in 21 appearances (20 starts) this season. He has -9.5 goals saved above expected, making him the third-worst goaltender among the 36 netminders with at least 20 appearances per MoneyPuck.

This tweet pretty much sums up the Jarry experience in the 2024-25 season. He was putting Pittsburgh in an early hole just about every time he was between the pipes, and, as we saw on Tuesday, even when he plays well early in games, he could implode at any moment.

At this point, the Penguins were in an impossible spot with Jarry. He was too expensive to trade even if the team was willing to retain money, and wasn't playing close to well enough to warrant giving any playing time with the team fighting for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. With the fact that this deal was already a sunk cost in mind, the Penguins opted to cut their losses, allowing the goaltender to get a fresh start elsewhere and rolling with the duo of Alex Nedeljkovic and Joel Blomqvist for the time being.

This was a disapointing, but necessary way for Jarry's tenure to end. The Penguins were stuck paying him regardless, and he was actively costing them games on the ice. It's better for both sides to just start fresh.