PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Healthy, refreshed and with a clear mind, Pens goalie Tristan Jarry enters the 2023-24 season with high team aspirations.
He also enters a rich man, signing a five-year, $26.875 million contract in the offseason.
"It's hard playing with that burden on your shoulders with a lot of unknowns," Jarry admitted Friday. "To have that done and over with is nice. You can just focus on playing."
Last year he was coming off an injury late in the '21-'22 season, following an impressive 34 wins, 2.42 goals-against-average and .919 save percentage. He got off to a hot start, then five bad games from late-October to mid-November. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, really good, then the first injury. He returned for two games to only then miss the next month-he was never the same and the final numbers were a 2.90 GAA and .909 save percentage.
"When Tristan has been healthy, he's played some pretty solid hockey for us for long stretches of time," said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan. "We are going to try to manage workloads there to set him up for success. We believe he's a very capable guy."
Being very capable is not a ringing endorsement, but that might be enough when considering the expected, or at least hoped for, offense of this team. It's what really has Jarry excited for the season. He's not setting any personal goals, if so he's not sharing them.
It's about getting back to where the franchise has flourished.
"With the changes that we made over the summer, I think we are going to have a pretty good team," Jarry said. "It's more about team success than anything. I don't think personal success really does much for you. You go for team success at the end of the year. You are all going for the same thing. It's not so much about points or saves or whatever you want to go for. At the end of the year our goal is the same, we all want to win the Stanley Cup."
"I've seen him mature a lot," Sullivan said. "I think he's established his work ethic, daily habits. I think he's learned how to be a better pro. I think that's an important aspect of any player's development and I think that will serve him well."
"We are hungrier," Jarry said. "Obviously last year didn't turn out the way that we wanted. It was a shame. I wasn't healthy. That was a big thing for me, getting healthy, getting back to where I wanted to be and a level I wanted to play at."
"You see with management and ownership, obviously we weren't happy. There were a lot of changes, there were a lot of team changes. I think we are going to be better for it."
While not a new player, Jarry is a big part of it. They had a decision to make in net and that new management, and old coach, thought Jarry was their best option. He may not have set personal goals, but there are obvious expectations put on him. If Jarry mets them, maybe this team can contend again. If not, another long stretch of Spring without hockey.
