Is there a market for Tristan Jarry after goalie trades?

Is it worth it for the Pittsburgh Penguins to explore it?

Goaltending remains a big question mark for the Pittsburgh Penguins going into the 2024 offseason, and that is a big concern given the commitment that team still has with returning starter Tristan Jarry.

He is signed for four more years at $5.3 million per season, and that is a bit of a concern given the inconsisent play he has demonstrated throughout his career and the fact he pretty much lost his starting job over the final month of the 2023-24 season when the Penguins were playing some of their most important games.

Given all of that, and the Penguins’ ongoing salary cap concerns, it has been worth wondering if the Penguins could — or should — consider trading him this offseason. Wednesday’s roster moves around the NHL briefly brought that thought process back after watching two goalies get moved in very different types of trades.

First, we saw the Calgary Flames send Jacob Markstrom to the New Jersey Devils for a rather uninspiring return of defenseman Kevin Bahl (nothing impressive), and a top-10 protected 2025 first-round draft pick.

For the Devils, it gives them a hopeful goalie upgrade to solve one of their biggest Achilles heels from this past season without having to give up any of their best trade assets this offseason. They also got him at a reduced salary with Calgary being willing to eat 30 percent of his remaining contract.

For the Flames, it continues their ongoing rebuild and opens up a spot for Dustin Wolf to take on a bigger role in the NHL, even if the return never really produces anything meaningful (odds are, it will not).

A couple of hours later we saw a different type of trade when the Washington Capitals sent Darcy Kuemper to the Los Angeles Kings for Pierre-Luc Dubois. It was a one-for-one deal that saw two teams deal with bad contracts they quickly came to regret. While I actually like Dubois more than most and think it is a worthy gamble for a center-needy Capitals team, and Kuemper might bounce back playing behind the Kings’ strong defensive play the desperation of both teams to get out from contracts while they could was the primary motivation for this deal.

The trade market for goalies is always softer than people expect and they never seem to go for as much as you might think.

Wednesday kind of reinforced that belief on my end because none of those returns would really excite me for Jarry. And I am not sure the Penguins could or would do better in any type of deal, while also not really upgrading the position. Or being in a position to upgrade the position.

Even though Markstrom and Jarry have had very similar career numbers on a per season basis, and even though Markstrom is older, I feel like he has shown more consistency at times in his career and also has a better contract. The Devils are only committed to two years and are getting him for just a little over $4 million per year.

And even then the Flames still didn’t get that much back in return.

They also have a player in their farm system (Wolf) that is ready to step in and take on a bigger role at the NHL level. The Penguins don’t really have that ... at least not yet.

Trading for a low-level defenseman and a likely late first-round pick a year away doesn’t really move the needle much for me.

Nor does taking on another ugly contract in return in a salary swap deal.

The other issue at play is that two of the most goalie-needy teams (New Jersey and Los Angeles) have now filled their spot, while Boston’s Linus Ullmark and Nashville’s Juuse Saros (both better than Jarry) remain available for the remaining goalie-needy teams. Why would somebody take on Jarry for $5 million when they could pay a similar price in terms of money and get a significantly better goalie?

A Jarry trade would also leave the Penguins in the difficult situation of needing to find a goalie of their own.

Could they then swing a trade for Ullmark or Saros? Not likely. And I’d have to spend resources on such a move when they have so many other needs.

The free agent market is painfully thin with goalies, and I am not exactly sold on the idea of re-signing Alex Nedeljkovic or believing that Joel Blomqvist is ready.

As inconsistent and unreliable as Jarry can be at times (especially in big situations) I still think the most prudent move is to find a platoon partner or backup that can play 30-35 games at a reasonably high level, share the net with him, and help try to keep him fresh so he does not wear down in the second half of seasons again.

I just don’t see the trade market being anything special (or existent) and I do not know what the better, realistic options actually are.