Penguins A to Z: There aren't many better at his role than Dustin Tokarski
With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2022-23 season coming to an end without any postseason action, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 49 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until next season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Corey Andonovski to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
This series will publish every weekday leading into the NHL Draft on June 28 and 29.
(Note: All contract information courtesy of Cap Friendly.)
Dustin Tokarski
Position: Goaltender
Catches: Left
Age: 33
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 205 pounds
2022-23 NHL statistics: Four games, 1-2-0 record, 3.44 goals against average, .897 save percentage, zero shutouts
2022-23 AHL statistics: 36 games, 12-16-7 record, 2.69 goals against average, .910 save percentage, one shutout.
Contract: Signed to a one-year, two-way contract with a salary cap hit of $ $775,000. Pending unrestricted free agent this offseason.
Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing, July 13, 2022
Last season: The Penguins largely outplayed the New York Rangers in the first round of the 2022 playoffs but still lost in seven games.
And the main reason was the goaltending.
For as charming of a tale third-string goaltender Louis Domingue was with his stories of eating spicy pork and broccoli during a game, he wasn’t effective in net over the course of the six games he played during that series.
That prompted former Penguins general manager Ron Hextall to seek an improvement on the organization’s depth chart, and he signed reliable journeyman Dustin Tokarski.
A veteran who had played for four NHL teams before joining the Penguins (and even a stint with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2019-20), Tokarski was straight out of central casting for what you want out of the third goaltender.
He knew his role, was always prepared and could step into the crease at the NHL level when the occasion called for it, providing the team a chance to win that game.
Assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Oct. 3, Tokarski stayed there for three months and played well for an unremarkable American Hockey League squad.
In his first 18 games of the AHL season, Tokarski posted a 10-12-5 record, a 3.27 goals against average, a .924 save percentage and one shutout.
On Jan. 3, he was summoned to the NHL roster in the wake of starter Tristan Jarry suffering an undisclosed injury during the Winter Classic, a 2-1 road loss to the Boston Bruins the day prior, and that started a back-and-forth existence between Western and Northeastern Pennsylvania.
His first appearance for the NHL club came Jan. 10 when he replaced ineffective backup Casey DeSmith and helped the Penguins come back from a three-goal deficit and claim a 5-4 home win against the Vancouver Canucks. Tokarski made 18 saves on 19 shots in that victory.
He was unable to sustain that success, however. Three nights later, he was blasted by the Winnipeg Jets in a 4-1 home loss in which he had to make 36 saves on 40 shots.
By Jan. 20, Tokarski was returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton but bounced between the NHL and AHL roster six different times as Jarry labored with various ailments.
Back with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for good by March 26, Tokarski did not enjoy the same success he saw in the first three months of the season as the AHL Penguins faded badly down the stretch. In his final six games of 2022-23, he had a 0-5-2 record, a 3.58 goals against average and an .881 save percentage.
The future: The Penguins have some much bigger issues to square away in net than Tokarski given Jarry’s status as a pending unrestricted free agent on Thursday.
Once that gets sorted out, they will address the depth further down the trough. If it’s not Tokarski, it will need to be another sturdy veteran presence as the Penguins’ goaltending prospects such as Joel Blomqvist and Taylor Gauthier are not yet NHL ready.
Tokarski is a perfectly fine third goaltender. He can give his team a chance to win but expecting him to be a regular presence in the crease for any prolonged stretch of time is beyond his capabilities.
The Penguins could find an upgrade on the fairly finite market for veteran third-string goaltenders, but there aren’t many better for that role than Tokarski.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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