Should the Edmonton Oilers trade for Tristan Jarry to help fix goaltending?
The Edmonton Oilers still need to address their goaltending, but their options are limited.
With training camp set to open in about two months, the Oilers are trending to have both Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard return as their NHL tandem for the third-straight season. That is despite lacklustre performances in the past three playoff runs and a litany of controversy inside the crease.
The obvious choices like John Gibson and Jake Allen are already off the board, and the Oilers may have to delve into some cheaper, less established options. However, there is one interesting goaltender who has some connections to Edmonton and is looking for a change of scenery.
Could the Oilers swing a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins to bring in Tristan Jarry? And if they can, should they?
Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek recently speculated on this possibility in a blog post earlier this week. In it, he connected the Oilers to Jarry following Pittsburgh’s acquisition of ArtÅ«rs Å ilovs from the Vancouver Canucks.
“With theĀ Pittsburgh PenguinsĀ acquiring Calder Cup MVP netminderĀ Arturs Silovs in a trade with the Vancouver CanucksĀ and Joel Blomqvist poised for a significant role next season, we start to wonder whereĀ Tristan Jarry will end up and how much the Pens will have to pay to move him,” Marek wrote.
“Could this be a deal for theĀ Edmonton Oilers?”
There doesn’t appear to be much of a spot for Jarry on the Penguins going into the 2025-26 NHL season. Blomqvist is expected to take the next step in his development, and Silovs should be on the NHL roster as he requires waivers next season.
It’s not ideal for the Penguins to have a guy like Jarry, who carries a $5.3-million cap hit, playing in the AHL next season. It’s been tough sledding for the 30-year-old as he bounced between the NHL and AHL last year, but he still has a rather solid track record throughout his career.
The former Edmonton Oil Kings goaltender has posted save percentages of .909 in four of his last six seasons and only started to see a fall once the Penguins started to transition into a rebuild. You could say that he may be able to rebound on a much more defensively responsible team like the Oilers.
There should be a bit of a concern about Jarry’s dismal -4.65 GSAx from last season, which ranked slightly below Skinner and slightly above Pickard.
Jarry is also a pretty good buy-low candidate, as his trade value has most likely fallen to an all-time low after a disappointing season. The big issue is the hefty cap hit attached to him and the Oilers’ lack of cap space.
Even with 50 per cent of his salary retained, Jarry would still carry a cap hit of $2.6 million. Edmonton currently has under $500,000 in remaining cap space. Moving Adam Henrique would open up enough space, but that would require that he waive his no-movement clause, which feels unlikely for a lowly team like the Penguins.
A combination of moves involving trading out Mattias Janmark and Calvin Pickard may be the easiest way to open up enough space for Jarry at 50 per cent retained.
Trading for Jarry is a risky move for the Oilers if they decide to go that route. There is no guarantee he can rebound into the bonafide starting goalie he once was, but if there was ever a time for the Oilers to take a leap of faith on a goalie, it’d be now.