PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Tristan Jarry said as he cleaned out his locker on Friday, he would have to take the mentality when he was younger about trying to come here and win a job. Pens GM Kyle Dubas put Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic on notice about jobs in 2025-26.
“The message that we gave to the (NHL level) goalies, that they have been through this in their career,” Dubas said Monday. “They are going to be competing for their spots in camp.”
They way he made it sound is that 23-year-old Joel Blomqvist, who struggled during his 15-game opportunity in the NHL this season and Sergei Murashov, who had an amazing mid-to-late season run in the ECHL and AHL, will get a ‘robust’ opportunity in camp. It doesn’t appear to be a tertiary competition either.
Blomqvist will lead the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins playoff run starting on Wednesday. The 21-year-old Murashov was sent back down to Wheeling so he could be the lead in the Nailers playoff series. They are both on stage with the chance to impress because the Pens weren’t happy with the NHL net-minding. Dubas called it a ‘massive’ opportunity in the playoffs for both.
“I think just flat-out, the performance needs to be better,” Dubas said during his final media gathering of the season of Jarry and Nedeljkovic.
It’s not that Dubas is blind to the brutal defense in front of his goalies. He recognized it and conceded it impacted their play, but no matter. Both situations need to be rectified and one goalie is easier to change than a group of defensemen and forwards.
“There were stretches — I was especially proud of how Tristan handed the end of the year. Ned as well. Ned didn't play a whole lot down the stretch, but in the three games he played, he gave us a chance, won two of them. And Tristan, it's not easy to go through what he went through. I was the one delivering those messages to him. For him to come in at the end, I thought he played well.”
“Now he needs to stack it, because it's going to be a different pressure (at the) beginning of the year again. Can he take what he's done here and then continue to stack it going into next year, and double that pressure with the fact that there's two young guys that are going to be pushing.”
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“That was the message we gave to Tristan and Ned. So this isn't going to come as any surprise. Those guys are going to be given every opportunity to win jobs, as well."
It’s likely both, just because of having NHL contracts, will start with the competition tilted in their favor. It’s more about the message. Both also have to know with what Dubas said they could be at least discussed in trades. Jarry responded reasonably well after being put on waivers. He’s being challenged again. How will he respond in September?