COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Tristan Jarry wants to re-sign with the Penguins.
"Yeah, of course. This is my home," he'd respond when asked if he'd like to be back with the team next season following the season finale against the Blue Jackets here at Nationwide Arena on Thursday. "This is where I’ve been the last eight, nine years — playing in Wilkes, playing here. It’s somewhere I love to be."
But do the Penguins want him back?
They (being the team's new front office) will likely have reservations about a new contract for the soon-to-be 28-year-old, perhaps most prominently because he was injured basically all season, which he offered up Thursday night when asked for an assessment of his performance.
"I was injured most of the year," he said. "It’s kind of tough to gain traction when you’re injured, and that’s how it went."
His 24-13-7 record, .909 save percentage, 2.90 goals against average and middling one goal saved above expected all can attest to that.
And as a matter of fact, he's not anywhere close to healthy right now.
"Yeah, I'm still dealing with a lot."
That couldn't have been more clear in the final month and change of the season. There were moments when he'd labor on the ice in discomfort before getting up, moments when his movement was slow and clunky, and moments when he was allowing goals he really shouldn't have.
It ultimately ended up being an immensely disappointing season from Jarry. Thursday's overtime loss to the Blue Jackets was the 25th time he allowed three or more goals. He started only 47 games. Four of those instances occurred in his final six starts of the season. Two of them were against the Bruins and Devils, but the other two were do-or-die games against teams outwardly tanking for Connor Bedard.
When asked how much his performance was impacted by injuries, specifically in the second half of the season, he said it was something he dealt with every single day.
"I was playing with a lot of injuries, playing through a lot," he said. "It was tough. It was tough to get practices in, tough to get consistent game play in and it was just a tough season altogether for me."
For right or wrong, Jarry played through the pain and doesn't have any regrets about it. Whatever nags him wasn't going to just go away.
"What I’ve been dealing with wasn’t gonna be fixed (by sitting out)," he said. "So, it was either something I played through, or don’t play at all. And I couldn’t just watch. It’s not me. It was tough watching, and every day I wanted to be out there, no matter what."
He did confirm he won't need surgery over the offseason.
Jarry is set to become an unrestricted free agent after a three-year contract that had an annual cap hit of $3.5 million. It's a legitimate wonder if he'd be able to command another three seasons at a raise on his next contract. That's because he's yet to prove himself when it has mattered most.
Sure, he has two All-Star Game appearances under his belt. That legitimately might be the peak of his accomplishments, which isn't nothing, but it's certainly not significant. How about his abominable showing in the 2021 playoffs against the Islanders? Yeah, the series that featured one of the worst single-series performances from a goalie in the stats era, you know the one.
He performed so poorly in that series that a considerable chunk of people genuinely questioned how he could ever recover from it in a Penguins uniform. Quite frankly, he hasn't. Despite turning in the best regular season of his career in 2021-22, he was unavailable for the first round of the playoffs due to a broken foot, only to return in a losing effort for Game 7.
This season, he was a brick wall during the Penguins' most dominant stretch in November and December, but aside from that, he endured inconsistencies and injuries that would leave plenty to be desired of any No. 1 goalie around the league.
He has one comfortably strong regular season under his belt and a whole lot of blah, otherwise. He certainly hasn't proven to be a clutch performer. Unfortunately for the Penguins, he's likely the best goalie hitting the market (assuming he's relatively healthy going forward). Their options will be limited, so unless they want to offer sheet a young stud netminder or ship out assets to acquire one, they might not be left with a choice but to heavily entertain the idea of Jarry returning, no matter how much they might not want to.
They're stuck between a rock and a hard place with their situation between the pipes. Jarry's current injury situation only complicates the matter. But again, even if he is healthy, he's unproven when the stakes are highest.