Once again, the Pittsburgh Penguins face goaltending questions heading into a season.
They still have Tristan Jarry on the roster even though he was sent down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton twice last season. It seemed the Penguins had given up on him after placing him on waivers during the season, when he was struggling, but due to Joel Blomqvist's struggles in the second half, the Penguins called Jarry back up for most of March and all of April.
To Jarry's credit, he played well in his final 14 appearances, despite the Penguins being out of the playoff race. He finished March with a .907 save percentage and April with an .898 save percentage. He had a save percentage of .900 or better in nine of his 14 games down the stretch. Yes, the games had low stakes, but he still played well.
He's going to be the starter to open the season, but that won't inspire a lot of confidence in the fanbase since he's had countless chances to be the number one guy and has failed. The Penguins are rebuilding, so they're not in a rush to get rid of him. Now, if a team expressed interest in Jarry, the Penguins would have no problem moving on from him due to his inconsistencies and because he makes $5.375 million per season.
While Jarry will be the starter to open the year, he may have a quick leash if Arturs Silovs or Joel Blomqvist push him. Silovs is a slight favorite to get the backup job right now after how great he was during the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs. He was the MVP of the Calder Cup Playoffs and helped the Abbotsford Canucks win the AHL title, finishing with a 16-7 record, 2.01 goals-against average, and a .931 save percentage.
The Penguins traded for him on July 13 for forward Chase Stillman and a fourth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. Silovs didn't have a path to the NHL for the 2025-26 season due to Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen being locked up long-term by the Vancouver Canucks, so the Penguins pounced on that opportunity. They also wanted to get deeper at the position after trading Alex Nedeljkovic to the San Jose Sharks. Nedeljkovic had been Jarry's backup for the previous two seasons before getting moved.
The Penguins appreciate how Silovs elevates his game in big moments, as seen when he helped the Canucks get within a game of the Western Conference Final in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He played in 10 games, finishing with a 2.91 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage. Some may scoff at those numbers, but seven of those came against the Edmonton Oilers, who eventually got to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Florida Panthers.
Silovs has also played extremely well for Team Latvia on the international stage. In 2023, he helped Latvia win its first-ever Bronze Medal at the IIHF World Championships. He finished the tournament with seven wins and a .921 save percentage before he was named the tournament MVP.
He has the ability to make this a 1A-1B or a complete starter situation if he's playing well and if Jarry falters. However, if Jarry is at least average, he could get around 60% of the starts while Silovs or Blomqvist would get the other 40% of the starts.
Do The Penguins Need To Make A Trade Before Training Camp?The date is Aug. 21, and the Pittsburgh Penguins still have not traded Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, or Erik Karlsson.
Speaking of Blomqvist, he's still going to get the chance to win the backup job during training camp after struggling from mid-January until early-March last season. He was below .900 in terms of save percentage during those six weeks and was giving up too many goals to his blocker side. NHL shooters were consistently targeting that area whenever he was in the net, which quickly became an issue.
The jury is still out on whether he can be a consistent NHL goaltender. He has the talent and is young, but needs to string together some solid stretches in the league.
Say what you want about the Penguins heading into this year, but they're not running the same goalie tandem back. No veteran is blocking either of these two young goalies for the backup job, and it's going to make for a fun competition during camp.
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