BLOG: Jarry a 'better goalie' for second chance to play in Edmonton

TORONTO, ON – “It’s going to be special.”

Goaltender Tristan Jarry is looking forward to the opportunity to join what the Oilers have been building over two straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final, while returning to the place he put down roots after winning a Memorial Cup in 2014 with the Edmonton Oil Kings.

The 30-year-old woke up on Friday still a member of the Penguins before being called to the rink by Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas and told that he’d been traded to the Oilers, where the excitement inevitably hit him that he’d be going back to the city where it all started for him.

Just one day later, following a five-hour drive up from Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon, Jarry was speaking for the first time as a member of the Oilers to the media at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto to talk about his excitement ahead of his first start on Saturday against the Leafs.

“Honestly, I had no clue what was really happening,” Jarry said. “But obviously, when I heard, I was very excited.”

“It's an opportunity, and I'm fully embracing it. I think it's going to be a fun challenge. I think being at the pinnacle of the sport is where you always want to be. To have that opportunity on this team and be able to do that, it's going to be special.”

Since leaving the Oil Kings in 2014 as a WHL & Memorial Cup champion, Jarry has been a summer resident of Edmonton with his wife, Hannah and son, Bennett, after he decided to buy a house about 15 minutes outside of the city.

“Just my time playing there with the Oil Kings. I enjoyed it so much,” he said. “I had a lot of friends there, and I kind of grew up there a little bit, so when I had the opportunity to buy a home, that was kind of where I decided to set roots.”

Jarry skated regularly with the likes of Connor McDavid in Edmonton during the summer, but the two are now teammates after having the chance to suit up alongside other greats such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang over nine seasons with the Penguins.

It will be a surreal and emotional experience being reunited with them upon his return to Pittsburgh this coming week when the Oilers continue their five-game road trip at PPG Paints on Tuesday, but he’s excited to begin a new chapter in Blue & Orange.

“It's special being able to play with Sid, Geno, Tanger, Karl, all those guys,” Jarry said. “They're special players. They're all Hall of Famers, and it'll be cool to say that I was able to play a long time in my career with them. They're great friends and consider all of them family now, and those were very tough goodbyes.”

“It's obviously going to be a lot of emotion. It's still very fresh, and it'll be weird to put on a different jersey in that rink.”

Originally a second-round pick of the Penguins, Jarry joined the Oilers with a 9-3-1 record, a 2.66 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage in 14 games (13 starts) this season.

The Surrey, BC product has rediscovered his game after being placed on waivers and spending some time in the AHL last season, turning things around from posting a 3.12 GAA and .893 save percentage with the Penguins over 36 appearances (35 starts) in 2024-25.

After facing a crossroads in his career, Jarry believes he’s in a good spot to take on this opportunity with the Oilers, having learned from last season’s struggles to become the best version of himself as a netminder.

‘Just learning from the mistakes I had last year, whether it was the beginning of the year, not playing very well, to kind of finding my game at the end,” he said. “Obviously, there were some bumps along the way, going down on a conditioning stint, going down on waivers, and I think there was a choice to be made there, whether I wanted to pack it in and call it or if I wanted to learn from that experience.

"Learning from that experience has made me a stronger person and a better goalie, and I think just having those experiences will be better for me down the road."