5 Questions For The Pens To Answer During Their Otherwise-Meaningless Stretch Run

There aren't MANY reasons to watch the Pens these days, but here's a few!

I’ve stopped writing nightly recaps of games because the Pens’ individual games don’t matter much at this point in the season, but that doesn’t mean there’s no reason to watch Penguins games. Even if this season is shot and the Pens don’t appear to be calling up their top prospects quite yet, the Pens’ home stretch still offers a couple storylines that are truly fascinating mildly interesting occurring!

Five questions for the Pens to ponder down the stretch:

1. Is Tristan Jarry Playable Again?

Guess which goalie leads the Pens in Save Percentage? That’s right: for the second straight year, somehow, it’s Tristan Jarry. Even after everything he’s been through this season, his .895 SV% edges out Alex Nedeljkovic’s .891 and Joel Blomqvist’s .885.

Since his latest recall from the AHL, Jarry is 4-1 in 5 starts with a .928 SV% (the league average is .901.) It’s a small sample, and we know Jarry is perpetually one bad start away from shattering into a million pieces Humpty Dumpty style, but him just being “playable” (as patronizing as that sounds) is a legitimately big development as long as it keeps up.

I still don’t think there’s any chance they move his contract this offseason. I know “it only takes one GM,” but if you were one GM, would you take it? The Ducks have been trying to trade John Gibson for like eleven years. No one wants long, expensive goalie contracts unless they’re signing them themselves.

BUT — I do think there might be some creative way to deal Jarry, whether it’s for another team’s problem contract at another position, or for a differently-structured bad contract. Something like, Jarry for Philipp Grubauer, who’s a worse player and has a worse cap hit but it expires one year sooner. Either way, Jarry remaining at “actual NHL goalie” level is the essential first step to any of these discussions.

2. Can Crosby Break The Points-Per-Game Season Record?

It’s no Ovechkin Chase, but if Crosby finishes this season at over a point per game, it’ll be the 20th season of his career accomplishing that feat, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record of 19 consecutive points per game seasons.

Crosby’s sitting on 74 points in 68 games, so it’s almost certainly going to happen. But still, it’ll be a nice little bonus milestone in a stretch of mostly meaningless end-of-season numbers.

3. Which Free Agents Should The Pens Bring Back?

The Penguins have six minor free agents they’ll have to make decisions on this offseason: RW Philip Tomasino, LW Connor Dewar, RW Emil Bemstrom, D P.O. Joseph, and D Conor Timmins are restricted free agents, and D Matt Grzelcyk is an unrestricted free agent. This year-end stretch should give them all one last extended look to make their case for their next contracts.

Tomasino is a no-brainer to give a qualifying offer to; he only makes $825k, so the Pens could retain his rights for a qualifying offer of $866,250. I imagine both sides would then be eager to sign a one year deal for right around that amount, something similar to Nick Robertson’s $875k or Arthur Kaliyev’s $825k.*

*[Note: I was reminded after publishing that Tomasino was actually an RFA last year too, so he’ll have arbitration rights this season. Pens should still qualify him, but they’ll have to negotiate an actual short-term deal with him that’ll be more than the Robertson deal]

Dewar has been on a fun little 3-goal hot streak lately after not scoring in 31 games with Toronto this season, but he’s still a 25-year-old generic forward. I don’t think the Pens will qualify him at $1.18 mil, but they’ll likely try to bring him back on a cheaper deal to have another bottom-6 option in the mix. Timmins is probably worth qualifying at $1.1 million; you could live with a #3 RD at that cap hit, and if the plan is to deal Karlsson this offseason, the Pens will need NHL bodies on D.

P.O. Joseph and Emil Bemstrom are easy decisions to not qualify this offseason. The Pens didn’t qualify either last year either, but re-signed Bemstrom cheaper and ended up getting Joseph back from St. Louis for free. But if they come back, it’ll be later in free agency as AHL tweener depth guys.

Grzelcyk has sure racked up the assists this year, but I think letting him walk is a pretty easy decision. The Pens already re-signed Ryan Shea and will have Ryan Graves, Sebastian Aho, and Vladislav Kolyachonok (still signed at just $775k) under contract at LD next year, before potentially adding Owen Pickering back to the mix. If they add a left D, it’ll have to be someone more interesting than Grzelcyk.

4. Who Else Can Impact Their Future Trade Values?

I don’t think the rest of the league will be paying much attention to the Pens down the stretch, but if any of their potential future trade chips can tack on some extra points or have a signature moment (Karlsson hat trick? Rakell finishes top 10 in goals? Dewar pulls the Lemieux five goals five different ways?) future trade partners might take note.

Jarry is the main guy to watch in this category, but any number-padding that anyone does down the stretch (Nedeljkovic? Hayes? Acciari?) can’t hurt.

5. Where Will The Pens’ Draft Picks End Up?

The Penguins aren’t going to crack the bottom two spots in the NHL standings, but right now, they could finish anywhere from 3rd-to-last to 10th-to-last, depending on how much suddenly-great goaltending and ridiculous puck luck they keep getting. Most likely, they’ll end up between the 4th and 9th pick slots, subject to whether anyone else around them also goes on a random hot streak (or an insane tank plummet.) Real draft sickos can scoreboard-watch the Pens along with the Sabres, Kraken, Flyers, Ducks, and Bruins in a fun race to the bottom!

If rooting for the Pens to lose isn’t your thing (and, honestly, it’s only a half-step less embarrassing than tuning into a 10:30 Ducks game and cheering when Anaheim earns a loser point), one thing that’s even more fun is getting to root for a New York Rangers collapse. The Pens have the Rangers’ 1st round pick, unless New York finishes with a top-13 pick and opts to give up their 2026 1st rounder instead. If the Rangers keep losing, the Pens will get a higher pick, or they’ll get an unprotected 1st next year in a stronger draft with an outside shot at a getting extra lottery balls for Gavin McKenna. Either way, the Rangers losing is good. And not just in the normal way!