Mark Madden: All bets are off with Arturs Silovs now in Penguins' goaltending rotation

The Penguins’ goaltending situation seemed easy to read after Alex Nedeljkovic got sent to San Jose:

Tristan Jarry is the starter in Pittsburgh.

The backup is Joel Blomqvist, Filip Larsson or Sergei Murashov.

The other two split netminding duties with the Penguins’ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm club. (Murashov, 21, is the franchise’s top long-term goalie prospect and thus unlikely to be rushed to the NHL.)

But then the Penguins got Arturs Silovs from Vancouver and all bets are off.

Silovs could merely be the backup.

He could challenge Jarry for the No. 1 job this season.

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He might compete with Murashov to anchor the Penguins moving forward.

Silovs is 24. He’s 6-foot-4. He’s streaky, but improving. He makes big saves but can leak in weak goals. He struggles with net-front traffic. His resume is all over the place, but nonetheless impressive.

Silovs led Vancouver’s top farm team at Abbotsford, B.C., to the American Hockey League championship this past season. Silovs was named playoff MVP.

Pressed into duty by injury, Silovs helped the Canucks beat Nashville in a first-round playoff series in 2024, then pushed eventual finalist Edmonton to a seventh game in the second round.

Silovs backstopped Latvia to an unprecedented bronze medal in the 2023 World Championships, grabbing MVP and top goaltender honors. He beat the United States in the third-place game.

What will Silovs do with the Penguins?

It could be a lot. It could be a little.

The Penguins keep adding goaltenders.

Besides Silovs, they drafted Gabriel D’Aigle from Victoriaville of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. The third-round pick is a protege of Penguins great Marc-Andre Fleury.

Perhaps getting more goalies indicates dissatisfaction with somebody among the prospect pool.

Blomqvist wasn’t terrific during his brief time with the Penguins last season: 3.81 goals-against average, .885 save percentage in 15 games. Too many soft goals. Blomqvist looked unaggressive.

That said, you can never have too many goaltenders.

The acquisition of Silovs might reflect hesitancy to plop Jarry back into the starting role after he’s underachieved during his entire career with the Penguins, failing to win a playoff series and doing badly enough to get sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for part of last season. At least make Jarry work for it.

Jarry and Silovs are likely to be the tandem in Pittsburgh.

Murashov is a lock to play at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The immediate futures of Blomqvist and Larsson seem up in the air.

Murashov did time with Wheeling in the ECHL last year. It might be somebody else’s turn.

Murashov is definitely the franchise’s top hope between the pipes. He put up good numbers at both Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (2.64 goals-against average, .913 save percentage) and Wheeling (2.40 goals-against average, .922 save percentage). He started 11-0 in the AHL.

Murashov is athletic and can be spectacular, his style built around explosive pushes.

But for current intrigue, Silovs is the topic. How does he shuffle the Penguins’ goaltending deck?

Silovs has the tools. He needs to construct a toolbox. (Jarry never has.)

Under president of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas, the only thing that’s for sure is that nothing’s for sure.