NHL Starter Surprisingly Placed on Waivers, per Elliotte Friedman
On Wednesday afternoon it was reported by NHL Analyst and Insider Elliotte Friedman that Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry was placed on waivers in a surprise move.
Though they enjoyed a degree of dominance the last decade and a half, the Pittsburgh Penguins are currently in a bit of a lull. With an aging roster, scarce farm system to pull from, and a lot of bloated deals; the days of the Sidney Crosby dynasty are slowly slipping away.
A lot of the question marks have surrounded the team's goaltending. Names like Marc-Andre Fleury, Matt Murray, and Casey DeSmith have held down the fort for the Penguins but recently it's a much different story with their current crop of netminders.
Which is why it was a bit surprising the team wanted to lose out on a starter, but they decided to cut ties with a long-time name. As reported by Elliotte Friedman on X, Pittsburgh has waived Tristan Jarry.
Tristan Jarry's Rollercoaster Career Led To His Waiver Assignment
It's not the first time that Jarry has been the center of some headlines in Pittsburgh. Earlier this season, he was the cause of (no joke), Kyle Dubas' grandmother's frustration and ire toward her grandson's decision to extend the goaltender.
In a season that should be celebrated given that both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have had historic seasons, there's a lot of turmoil and drama in Pittsburgh.
Besides the goaltender drama, the team is wildly inconsistent, their head coach is on the hottest of hot seats, and Malkin recently had his home broken into, the proverbial negative cherry on top.
The Penguins this season are 18-19-8 and sit last in the league in goals against, signaling that their goaltending is the key factor in the team's downfall this season.
In 2024-25, Jarry registered an 8-7-4 record with a 3.32 GAA and .886 SV%.
For his career he has a 144-92-29 record with a 2.74 GAA and .910 SV% along with 19 shutouts.
It will now be up to Alex Nedeljkovic and Joel Blomqvist to take over between the pipes for the Penguins where it's presumed the former will get the majority of starts given his veteran status.
Nedeljkovic has a 7-7-4 record with a 3.40 GAA and .885 SV%. Blomqvist is in his rookie season and has a 3-5-0 record to go along with a 3.60 GAA and .904 SV%.
