The Penguins weren’t believed to be opposed to moving on from Tristan Jarry back at the draft, suggests Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Last season was a rough one for the 29-year-old as he posted a 2.91 GAA and a .903 SV% in 51 games, the worst full-season numbers of his career. In the process, he lost the starting job down the stretch to Alex Nedeljkovic, who Pittsburgh wound up re-signing. Jarry still has four years remaining on his contract with a $5.375MM cap charge, a price tag that is certainly on the high side for the type of performance he had last season. While there was some speculation that we could see some underachieving starters trade places this summer, most of those moves didn’t materialize so Jarry will go into Pittsburgh’s camp next month looking to reclaim the starting job.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Unrestricted free agent forward Sam Gagner has yet to sign somewhere for the upcoming season but it isn’t from a lack of interest in continuing on. Postmedia’s Kurt Leavins relays that the 35-year-old is hoping to suit up somewhere in 2024-25. Gagner had to go the PTO route last season with Edmonton, eventually landing a two-way deal that saw him spend 15 games with AHL Bakersfield and 28 more with the Oilers. He did record ten points with the big club despite barely averaging ten minutes a night. At this point, a guaranteed deal seems unlikely but another PTO could come his way in the coming weeks.
- The PHPA recently announced the hiring of Brian Ramsey as its new Executive Director. He replaces Larry Landon who retired from the role last month. Ramsey spent the previous nine years as the Executive Director of the Canadian Football League Players’ Association. He will be busy in the coming months as the CBA for the ECHL expires on June 30th while the CBA for the AHL ends two months later on August 31st, 2025.