Tristan Jarry Talks Returning to Pittsburgh

When Evgeni Malkin walked onto the team plane for their flight to Denver that kicked off a three-game road trip, he got a huge smile on his face when he saw Tristan Jarry.

The goaltender had just returned to Pittsburgh after getting called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, where rookie Joel Blomqvist was re-assigned following a loss to Toronto on Sunday.

Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said they felt that was the best course of action for Blomqvist’s growth and development at this point in time, which means Jarry is back in the mix with Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future. He spoke after Thursday’s practice in Vegas for the first time since rejoining the group.

“I want to be here. This is where I signed, and this is where I intend to be,” said Jarry, a 2013 second-round pick who inked a five-year contract extension in the summer of 2023.

“I was drafted here, and I came up through the minors and worked my way up to Pittsburgh, and that was my goal – to be a Penguin the whole time. It’s something where I had a little bump in the road, and going down to Wilkes, I think will help my game.”

Jarry, a two-time NHL All-Star, had first reported to WBS for a two-week conditioning stint in November following a difficult start to the season. As detailed here, the Penguins hoped it would serve as a reset, and Jarry did do well – winning four of five games against good competition.

After the 14 days were up, Penguins President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas said they committed to giving Jarry “some good runway” in Pittsburgh. But for whatever reason, the inconsistency continued.

So, Jarry went back to WBS in January, this time with no timeline. As Dubas said then, “The job is now to go and earn his way back up. It's solely circumstantial with this.”

Jarry has now appeared in 12 total games there, posting a 6-5-1 record, a 2.67 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage, using the time to reflect and work on having his game come together. Jarry feels like he was starting to play better before getting the call-up, and hopes to continue that momentum.

“Obviously, it's not something that you want to happen, and that's on me,” Jarry said of how he approached the situation. “I wasn't playing well enough for this team, and I wasn't giving them a chance to win. I think just going down there, it gave me that chance to work on things. It gave me the chance to better my game and just be a better goalie. I think just going down there and being with them and winning some games, it was good.”

NOTE: New acquisitions Luke Schenn and Tommy Novak (full trade details here) were not at today’s skate, Pittsburgh's last practice before the trade deadline hits on Friday at 3 PM Eastern, but Mike Sullivan provided some insight into what they could bring to the group.

Sullivan said he’s heard so many great things about Schenn, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with Tampa Bay who’s skated in 1,057 NHL games, when it comes to his character and the type of teammate he is. Particularly from Dubas, who was Toronto’s GM during Schenn’s second stint with the Maple Leafs. Both Sullivan and Dubas see Schenn as someone who can help

“I think he commands a lot of respect around the league for the body of work that he's put together in this league,” Sullivan said. “We think he's a guy that's going to bring a certain dimension to our blue line. He's going to bring a hardness, a level of physicality. He's going to make us harder at the netfront, his shot-blocking capabilities should make our penalty kill better.

“I think his character and his leadership with some of the young people that we have in our organization on the blue line or otherwise, his influence there, it will be difficult to quantify. Those are the types of guys that are important when you're trying to reshape this team, and you've got an infusion of young players.”

As for Novak, Sullivan said he anticipates the 27-year-old lining up at center.

“We're excited about getting to know his game a little bit more closely. But obviously, our Hockey Operations group is really excited about this guy,” Sullivan said. “He's a younger player. He has good size. He's had a couple of pretty good years in Nashville. Maybe a little bit of a down year this year, but prior to that, he's played pretty well. So, he's a guy that we're going to explore where we think he might best fit.”