Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry faces uncertain future with his next contract
Tristan Jarry owns a plot of land just east of Edmonton that requires a fair amount of upkeep.
And like a lot of people in April, Jarry has to take care of some spring cleaning.
“A lot of weeding,” the Penguins’ goaltender said in a video chat with reporters Tuesday. “Cutting the grass. We did a driveway. A lot of pulling the weeds for the driveway and just making sure that it’s flat and making sure there’s no big water buildups.”
Of course, Jarry would prefer to be toiling at his vocation this time of year, but the NHL’s hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic has brought that to a halt for the time being.
In between pulling Canada Thistle and Creeping Charlie, Jarry has been working at fine-tuning his game as best he can remotely on his expansive spread as opposed to the limited confines of his apartment in the Pittsburgh area.
“Our strength and conditioning coaches have put together some programs for (fellow goaltenders) Matt (Murray) and Casey (DeSmith) and I,” Jarry said. “That’s been something that we’ve been doing. Just working on our hand-eye (coordination) and making sure our hips and cores are staying engaged and being prepared for when we do resume.”
One thing Jarry doesn’t appear to be focusing on is his future. At least in a long-term sense.
As a pending restricted free agent, Jarry figured to be a candidate for a pay raise. The 24-year-old is in the final season of a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $675,000, a bargain for a player who was selected as an All-Star this season.
The timing of breaking out as an NHL-er in a contract year could not have been more convenient for Jarry … until, of course, the league shut down because of a worldwide pandemic, potentially losing $1.1 billion as a result.
Jarry professes he’s not worried about it.
“No, the biggest thing for me is staying prepared and making sure that I’m able to do what I can when the season resumes,” Jarry said. “We’re still fighting for a Stanley Cup (championship). That’s our biggest mindset. Moving forward, that’s going to be the mindset from me and everyone on our team, that we want to win the Stanley Cup.”
Presumably Jarry, and his agent, would like to be paid handsomely for his services as well.
Given that the NHL’s salary cap is directly tied to hockey-related revenue from the previous league year, as dictated by the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the player’s association, Jarry and other free agents face something of an uncertain future with regards to their future contracts.
While a few teams have signed pending restricted free agents to contract extensions in recent weeks, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford has said discussions are on hold.
“I haven’t been doing any negotiations with our NHL players because we don’t know what the cap is going to be,” Rutherford said last week. “It can just take one or two contracts that put a team in a tough spot. Until we know what the cap is going to be for next year, I don’t think there will be a lot of negotiations going on.”
Where that leaves Jarry and his peers is anyone’s guess.
Here’s a look at the Penguins’ pending free agents (excluding rookie forwards Anthony Angello and Sam Lafferty):
Restricted
• Tristan Jarry, goaltender ($675,000) — Drafted under the regime of former general manager Ray Shero in 2013 to be the Penguins’ goaltender of the future, Jarry took the long way to potentially achieving that vision. In replacing Murray as starter for portions of this season, Jarry should get a considerable pay raise. The term of such a deal is probably a bigger question mark than the cap figure affixed to it.
• Jared McCann, center ($1.25 million) — Having been utilized as a left wing and center throughout his time with the Penguins, McCann appeared to be well on his way to his first 20-goal season by the middle of the campaign, but a 22-game drought without a goal, to say nothing of the NHL’s hiatus, has derailed those hopes. McCann has been one of the team’s most versatile and dependable players when injures ravaged the roster. Even with a relative lack of offensive production, McCann’s diverse skillset would figure to earn him a tidy pay raise under normal circumstances.
• Matt Murray, goaltender ($3.75 million) — There are few goaltenders in the NHL with Murray’s resume. Namely, two Stanley Cup rings. But for all the success he’s enjoyed earlier in his carer, Murray has followed that up with some underwhelming performances — in part because of injuries. Considering goaltenders of similar ages with less postseason success such as the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Andre Vasilevskiy ($9.5 million) and the Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyk ($6,166,666) recently have signed hefty contract extensions, it’s not unreasonable for Murray to pursue a similar deal. It’s also not unreasonable for the Penguins to consider other options such as Jarry.
• Juuso Riikola, defenseman ($850,000) — An intriguing player when the Penguins signed him out of Finland in 2018, Riikola never fully has gained the trust of the coaches, who have made him a healthy scratch more often than not. A proverbial change of scenery, even potentially a return to Europe, may be best for all concerned parties.
• Evan Rodrigues, center ($2 million) — Capable of playing all three forward positions, Rodrigues has been used in a variety of roles, including the penalty kill, since the Penguins acquired him in a trade with the Sabres on Feb. 24. A player like that is always useful. But is he worth $2 million (or more)?
• Dominik Simon, center ($750,000) — As aggravating his mere presence can be for some fans, few players on the roster have earned the trust of the coaching staff more than Simon. That level of comfort may earn Simon a slight pay raise as well as some term on his next contract with the Penguins.
Unrestricted
• Patrick Marleau, center ($700,000) — It might be more apt to ask if Marleau will be in the NHL next season, whenever that next season actually occurs, than to wonder if he’ll return to the Penguins. An absolute rental when the Penguins acquired him via trade Feb. 24, Marleau is one of the oldest players in the NHL at 40. He initially came back for a “final” season with the San Jose Sharks by signing a two-way contract last offseason. As a full-time resident of San Jose, it’s doubtful he will return to the Penguins under any circumstances.
• Justin Schultz, defenseman ($5.5 million) — If having a career year during a contract year during a pandemic represents poor timing, what does having an awful injury-filled year under that same scenario represent? However you label it, Schultz’s forgettable 2019-20 campaign likely will bring his otherwise successful tenure with the Penguins to an end. Add in the emergence of rookie John Marino, and the writing was on the wall for Schultz well before the NHL halted play. As a right-handed defenseman, he won’t lack suitors, even after a down season.
• Conor Sheary, left winger ($3 million) — Sheary’s second act with the Penguins was beginning to pick up steam when the season was halted. With four points in his last five games, Sheary was starting to reestablish the chemistry he enjoyed with Sidney Crosby during his first stint in Pittsburgh. Considering how much trouble the Penguins have had, under various general managers, finding wingers suitable to Crosby’s preferences, retaining Sheary might be a prudent strategy, assuming the price is right.
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.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.