The Pittsburgh Penguins have just announced that they have re-signed goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to a two-year contract extension, worth an average annual value of $2.5 million.
Nedeljkovic played 38 games for the Penguins last season, recording a 2.97 goals against average and a .902 save percentage and 1 shutout.
Nedeljkovic started the season planted as the team’s backup. He was supposed to bring more stability after a shaky year by Casey DeSmith, who was traded in the summer.
However, he stepped up big time down the stretch, just as starter Tristan Jarry had collapsed. A surging Nedeljkovic became the guy for the Penguins in the most crucial time of the year, relegating Jarry to a spot on the bench and a baseball cap.
Ned started 11 of the team’s final 12 games, and was able to help the Penguins net at least one point in ten straight games as Pittsburgh made a heroic last ditch run for the playoffs that fell just short.
He became the 11th goalie in team history to record a point streak of 10+ games
Ned had entirely usurped Tristan Jarry as the team’s starter when the games mattered most, and while that was definitely in part to Ned having the hot hand, it was a damning sign for Jarry.
It also showed just how much he fell out of favor after struggling last season; He recorded a .903 save percentage and 2.91 goals against average. To his credit, he did have an NHL-leading 6 shutouts, but none of them came after early February.
Jarry once again experienced a post-trade deadline slump that has haunted him for years. After the deadline this year, Jarry went 1-5-1 with an .873 save percentage.
These struggles for the 29-year old were only compounded by the fact that Jarry was in the first year of a five-year contract extension that counted for $5.375 million against the salary cap. Kyle Dubas, amidst all of his re-working of the roster in his first year in charge, failed to change the starting goalie spot.
Whether he truly believed in Jarry or couldn’t find an option he deemed would be better, he hitched a sizable amount of his early Penguins legacy on the success of Jarry. Now, one year later, it’s off to a rough start.
However, with Nedeljkovic coming to Pittsburgh on a one year deal last year, it was originally believed by many (at least in the media) that Nedeljkovic would walk to free agency. With that thinking, Jarry would remain the starter, and either a Ned-type signing or the promotion of Joel Blomqvist from the AHL would take on the backup job.
Now that Ned is back, for two years, it signifies to me at least that the Penguins are looking to move on from Jarry.
Not only does the role of starter/backup get messy if both of them are still here, but $8 million spent in net is not ideal. That situation only works if you have a surefire, star goalie who you know is your starter, a Sergei Bobrovsky, Andrei Vasilevskiy type.
Neither Jarry nor Ned are on that level, and that much money for a 1A, 1B scenario is not a sustainable method for the Penguins. So, if Ned has re-signed, that means Jarry is going to be traded, right?
A trade with his cap hit will be difficult, but not impossible. There are some really good teams in the NHL right now who have a weakness in net, so the chances that Dubas could swing a trade with them are definitely not 0%.
This year’s goaltending free agency class is also rather weak, meaning that a goaltender-needy team might be far more willing to make a deal.
In that scenario, Ned would become the starter, and either a free agent signee or Blomqvist slots in underneath.
Nedeljkovic has starter’s experience before, so the role is not new to him. His time as a starter in Detroit was far from good, but if he can play like he did as a Penguin, that’s more than fine for the price tag.
As for the backup, I would prefer the Penguins give Blomqvist a shot. A second round pick by the Penguins in 2020, Blomqvist just finished his first full season of North American hockey, playing for the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
In 45 games for the WBS Pens, Blomqvist posted a .921 save percentage and a 2.16 goals against average. That followed up two amazing seasons with Kärpät in Liiga.
Blomqvist is definitely deserving of a chance, especially considering that backup options on the market will be limited, and prices will be inflated.
If Ned-Blomqvist is the tandem, that’s a goalie duo that counts for under $4 million against the salary cap, which means perhaps the Penguins could allocate some of that money to acquiring a top six winner and/or helping out those goalies on the back end.
But whatever the case is there, Alex Nedeljkovic still being here for 2024-25 makes it a lot more likely that Tristan Jarry will not be.
(Featured photo by Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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