Kyle Dubas has added some serious depth to the Penguins' entire organization through the moves he's made since taking over as president of hockey operations this offseason.
It should lead to some interesting competition at the NHL level, and the trickle-down effect should make for deep, strong groups in both Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Wheeling in the minors.
That's perhaps best true in goal, where the Penguins now have six netminders under NHL contracts, in addition to a seventh goaltender on an AHL contract to round out the group. That's not even including Russian prospect Sergei Murashov, who is coming off of an outstanding season and will remain in Russia next year.
Dubas was clear on the opening day of free agency last month that stocking up on goaltending depth was a priority of his, and something he sees as essential to do in today's game. He didn't divulge too much when it came to his vision for the depth chart itself, saying that the plan was to "let everyone come in here in training camp and let it fly."
"If you look around the league -- I think that this was a great example here last year -- but I think it's something that's becoming more regular in the league," Dubas said of the goaltending depth. "I mean, there's a lot of injuries in the position. I think the demands of the position, the way that it's changed, the way the goaltenders play, it makes it more demanding. There are very few goalies that go through the year without an injury. And if you don't have the depth there built up and you don't have a system in place, you can really leave yourself shorthanded."
It's not just injury insurance, either. The depth ensures a competitive environment throughout the system.
"I think the competition is an important thing for the group as well, in addition to pushing Tristan (Jarry) and showing that we have suitable people there," Dubas said. "I think regardless of what the contract status of the players is, we need to build that competition up and also protect our depth and give our team the best chance to win every night."
What exactly do the Penguins have in goal in the system, and where will everybody start the season? Let's take a look at where all seven might land, starting from the bottom and working our way up the depth chart.
WHEELING NAILERS
Potential tandem: Taylor Gauthier, Garret Sparks
Trying to put together a potential lineup for Wilkes-Barre is hard this summer. With the number of depth signings the Penguins have made on both AHL and NHL contracts in every position, some good players will end up in the ECHL, and that's the case in goal.
Gauthier, 22, was one of the undrafted free agent signings the Penguins made in the spring of 2022, and this past season was his first year as a professional. He started his rookie year in Wheeling, a casualty of the depth at the time with Dustin Tokarski and Filip Lindberg up in Wilkes-Barre.
Gauthier played behind a young, largely inexperienced, sub-.500 Nailers team. Given the circumstances, he put up decent numbers with a 3.09 goals-against average and an .896 save percentage in 16 games.
When Filip Lindberg's season ended early in Wilkes-Barre due to injuries, an opportunity opened up for Gauthier. Gauthier performed well in his 20 games down the stretch, despite playing on a weak Wilkes-Barre team that finished 29th in the league's standings. Gauthier's 2.71 goals-against average was sixth in the league among rookie goaltenders with at least 1,000 minutes played, and his .907 save percentage ranked eighth among the same group. Within the team, Gauthier's performance wasn't too far off from that of the veteran Tokarski, who posted a 2.69 goals-against average and .910 save percentage.
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"He had a great season for us," coach J.D. Forrest said of Gauthier at the Penguins' development camp last month. "He exceeded my personal expectations for him. He did get some opportunity due to injuries and different circumstances and he was really able to take advantage of it. He's just got to continue to work on his pace and progress. His lateral quickness is astonishing. He's a big body (6 foot 2, 208 pounds) and he walks around with a bit of a swagger."
Forrest also acknowledged that Gauthier's fitness level improved, which should allow him to better maintain his level of explosiveness in those lateral moves over the course of a full game.
In an ideal world, Gauthier would be able to continue where he left off in the AHL, but there are only so many spots available. Because of that, ending up in the ECHL as a young goaltender isn't that bad to have happen. Wheeling has developed more NHL talent than any team in ECHL history, including 61 players. Of those 61, 16 have been goaltenders, including Casey DeSmith, who got his start as the Nailers' third goalie one year.
With two years left on his entry-level deal, Gauthier isn't short on opportunity to work his way up again in the future.
Ideally, a young second-year pro like Gauthier would have a veteran to share the net with, and it looks like he'll have that in Sparks.
Sparks was signed by Wilkes-Barre to a one-year AHL contract this offseason, and he's a pretty good pickup for an AHL-contracted goaltender who seems destined for the ECHL. Sparks, 30, has 40 games of NHL experience under his belt, including two games with the Kings as recently as the 2021-22 season. The biggest chunk of those games came back in 2018-19, when he played 20 games as the Maple Leafs' backup goaltender.
Sparks is coming off of a down year. He was injured for a large part of the second half of the 2021-22 season and then spent most of last year in the ECHL with the Orlando Solar Bears, where he recorded a 3.45 goals-against average and an .887 save percentage in 14 games.
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Sparks also earned three games in the AHL on loan to the Springfield Thunderbirds, where he recorded a 2.38 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage.
If Gauthier can handle the bulk of the starts for Wheeling, with Sparks backing him up and serving as a mentor figure, the Nailers' goaltending situation is in pretty good shape.
WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON PENGUINS
Potential tandem: Magnus Hellberg, Joel Blomqvist
On July 1, the Penguins only had five goaltenders under NHL contracts, and Dubas mentioned the desire to add one more veteran depth piece to the mix. That ended up being Hellberg, who signed a one-year, two-way deal worth $785,000 at the NHL level the following day.
If there's one thing the 32-year-old Swede does well, it's filling the net. At 6 foot 6 and 220 pounds, Hellberg is tied with Radim Zohorna for the biggest player in the Penguins' system.
Hellberg's certainly earned the "journeyman" label throughout his career. After getting his start playing professionally in Sweden, he made the move to North America in 2012. He played the next five years primarily in the AHL with the Predators' and Rangers' affiliates, and appeared in four NHL games. He then moved to the KHL for five years before returning to North America full-time last season.
Hellberg signed with the Kraken last summer but was claimed off waivers after training camp by Ottawa. He played in one game for the Senators, recording a 2.00 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage, before being placed on waivers again. He was reclaimed by Seattle, where he served a backup role for a little under two weeks. Before he was able to get into a game, Seattle put Hellberg on waivers again and he was claimed by the Red Wings. The lack of playing time over a month into the season allowed the Red Wings to first send Hellberg to the AHL on a conditioning assignment for four games, then Hellberg battled with Alex Nedeljkovic for the backup job behind Ville Husso for the remainder of the season.
Hellberg appeared in 17 games for the Red Wings, recording a 3.29 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage. It's tough to put too much weight into those numbers. All three Red Wings goaltenders had sub-.900 save percentages and goals-against averages above 3.00. Hellberg's save percentage ranked second among the three behind Husso, and his goals-against average ranked third.
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Playing so infrequently in a No. 2 or No. 3 role was a new experience for Hellberg.
"I've been a starter almost my whole career," Hellberg told reporters in Detroit. "And now I'm in a position where I don't play as much, but you've just got to find a way. There's no excuses."
Hellberg might not be the clear No. 1 in Wilkes-Barre either, because he'll likely have one of the Penguins' top prospects as his partner in net.
When I spoke with Blomqvist after his season ended in Finland, he wasn't sure where he'd be playing this year. He wanted to come over to North America, but it wasn't a necessity yet. The Penguins had his rights for one more year, and it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to let him stay with Karpat in the top Finnish league. He missed two large chunks of last season due to two separate concussions, and it robbed him of what should have been his first full year as a starter over there.
Blomqvist signed his entry-level deal shortly after, and both Dubas and director of player development Tom Kostopoulos have since made it clear: Blomqvist is coming over. It's time.
"It was a tough season for him, he went through a couple of injuries," Kostopoulos said. "But I think he's in a good spot. He looks great off the ice and on the ice. He did really well on the fitness testing and I thought he played great in the scrimmages here. So he's in a good spot. We all think it's time for him to come over. He's ready."
Blomqvist had the opportunity to join Wilkes-Barre late last season after his Finnish season ended, and he got the start in one game. Wilkes-Barre was already out of postseason contention, and Forrest was dressing a younger, inexperienced lineup to just get players like Blomqvist some valuable experience. Blomqvist stopped 23 of 27 shots in the game, and Forrest liked what he saw from his future netminder.
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"We like his hockey sense for a goaltender," Forrest said at development camp. "He's able to read plays and get there. He made some incredible backdoor saves for us. You know, let up a lot of Grade As on him that game that he played in Hartford. But he's big (6 foot 2, 183 pounds) in the net. He can react quick to some plays that you think he's out, and all of a sudden he's got a foot on it or stick on it. He's got a nice, calm demeanor, where he doesn't seem to get rattled at all. It feels real confident with him in the net that if you lets one in, you don't think there's going to be any type of falling off a cliff with it. You just think that he'll probably stop the next one. His mentality is strong."
That calmness in net is a trait frequently praised by those who coach Blomqvist.
"He's just a special guy," Penguins goaltending development coach Kain Tisi said of Blomqvist before last season. "You see what he's done in Finland. It's been incredible. His skillset as a goalie is, I think, elite. We value that very much. He's got a calm demeanor. If you've ever had a chance to talk to him, he's an amazing kid -- young man, I should say. But he's just got a phenomenal skillset, talent."
If Blomqvist and Hellberg are to make up Wilkes-Barre's tandem, something close to a 50-50 split in the starts would be reasonable to expect. Blomqvist never got that full year as a starter in Finland due to his concussions last season, and Hellberg certainly didn't sign with Pittsburgh to get backup minutes in the minors after playing in the NHL last season.
Given Hellberg's recent experience, he could be the first man up if a goaltender is recalled to Pittsburgh due to injury. But if Blomqvist exceeds expectations for a rookie goaltender and has a strong year, he might be able to inch his way into the conversation for that role by the end of the year.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Potential tandem: Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic, ... and Casey DeSmith?
Jarry, obviously, is the No. 1 goaltender. He has a lot to prove after an injury-riddled 2022-23 season.
"It obviously limited me," Jarry said in a media availability last month. "Whenever you do anything when you're not feeling 100%, it's tough. It's tough to go out and be your best when you have things that are bothering you every day. It's very frustrating, I was very frustrated a lot of times this season when I wasn't performing and wasn't playing up to the standards that I want to. There were points where I was playing well and then there was points where I wasn't, and I think that that's what frustrated me the most. I just couldn't get consistency with what was going on."
Jarry, 28, is adamant that his injuries are behind him. The Penguins have to be pretty confident that that's the case too after giving him a a five-year deal that runs through the 2027-28 season and carries a $5.375 million cap hit this summer.
The question with Jarry will be whether he's able to bounce back from last season and stay healthy.
After Jarry, things get a little interesting. Who is the No. 2?
DeSmith, 31, has one year left on his contract that carries a $1.8 million cap hit. Nedeljkovic, 27, was signed to a one-year deal that carries a $1.5 million cap hit this summer.
DeSmith is coming off of a year in which he played a career-high 38 games, and set career lows in both goals-against average (3.17) and save percentage (.905). Nedeljkovic struggled backing up Husso last season with Detroit, and nearly lost his job to Hellberg. He cleared waivers in January and played 26 game with the Grand Rapids Griffins, recording a 2.71 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. Through 15 NHL games, his 3.53 goals-against average with Detroit was the worst among the team's three goaltenders, and his .895 save percentage was second-best.
Are the Penguins really going to carry three goaltenders on the NHL roster? It's looking like that's a luxury that the Penguins just can't afford.
Obviously, so much remains up in the air with the roster as possibilities for trades remain over the next two months, including a pretty big possibility in Erik Karlsson. But with the way things currently stand, it's looking like a pretty tight cap situation already. There's no knowing what the Penguins' cap situation actually is right now with their actual anticipated roster, and so we can only work with projected rosters and the resulting cap figures. PuckPedia's current projection for a 22-man roster has the Penguins carrying 13 forwards, six defensemen (with Mark Friedman, Ty Smith, Chad Ruhwedel all in the minors) and three goaltenders, a roster that would have them $1.64 million over the cap.
No matter how you shuffle those depth pieces, it's clear that something still has to be done to get cap-compliant. One move that makes sense could be moving out DeSmith.
The Penguins could try to put DeSmith on waivers, but there's a pretty good chance he'd get claimed. He's got a reasonable cap hit and is a serviceable backup. Heck, Hellberg got claimed twice last year. DeSmith probably would get claimed, too. If he somehow passed through waivers unclaimed and was sent down to Wilkes-Barre, then that would only clear a little over $1.1 million in cap space, not the full value of his one-way contract.
One possibility could be a trade. DeSmith alone wouldn't garner much of a return, maybe a pick or a prospect. But if the Penguins are going to make a larger deal -- like one for a Norris Trophy-winning defenseman, for example -- then maybe DeSmith could find himself as a piece there. Maybe that doesn't mean DeSmith goes directly to San Jose. Maybe if the Penguins get a third team involved in a trade to retain salary or take on a tough contract, an affordable backup goalie could be the sweetener needed to make that happen.
The Penguins' goaltending depth chart remains a work in progress. But it's without a doubt better than it was last year.
