LAS VEGAS -- Kyle Dubas before Day 1 of the draft on Friday in Las Vegas that he would expect the Penguins to be active "really at all positions, aside from in net" when free agency opens.
The Penguins have $7.875 million tied up in goal at the NHL level between Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic after Nedeljkovic re-signed a two-year deal that carries a $2.5 million average annual value earlier this month. They've got a trio of younger goaltenders in Joel Blomqvist, Filip Larsson and Taylor Gauthier who will presumably all start in the minor leagues and be pushing for spots as the year goes on.
Dubas and Mike Sullivan are content and confident in the group they have,
"I'm comfortable with the (cap devoted to goaltending)" Dubas said. "Because I think they're certainly in the top half of the league. And for a lot of the year, they were near the top five."
Dubas added that for much of the year, the players in front of the goaltenders weren't doing them many favors.
"Then we got it back on track," Duba said. "And Tristan got sick, and Ned took the ball and ran with it. I just thought as well that with the goaltending market, the way that it was, knowing Ned wanted to come back, that also gives us some breathing room with Joel."
Dubas made sure to clarify that he doesn't think any of the positions they have in goal are "locked in," and internal competition will dictate playing time.
"I expect all five of the goalies that we have signed to push, and nothing is going to be given to anybody," Dubas said. "That was the message to Ned when he signed. It was a good finish to the year. Obviously, he provided a lot to our team, but now let's continue to push here in the offseason. So in regards to the money, I think in the end, we'll probably end up around 10th in the league in that spend in net depending on who comes in and out. But all told, I'd rather have the goalies in the barn than be chasing them on Monday (when free agency opens). Not a fun place to be."
Sullivan reiterated his confidence in Jarry specifically, saying he thinks that Jarry is "a starting goaltender in the NHL."
"Tristan is a high-quality goaltender," Sullivan continued. "The tandem of those two guys last year for a significant part of the year was pretty solid. I think when you look at a snapshot in time, for example right at the end when we're pushing to make the playoffs, I ultimately made a decision with the help of our coaching staff to go with the guy at the time we thought gave us the best chance to win. We went with the hot hand."
That decision to go with Nedeljkovic down the stretch, he said, doesn't mean that the coaching staff thinks any less of Jarry. That philosophy of riding the hot hand will continue into the coming season.
"He's a high-quality goaltender and he played a lot of good hockey for us last year," Sullivan said of Jarry. "At the end of the day, we're in a business where performance dictates opportunity. Nobody is entitled to the position that they're in on, in any respect in any team in the league."
