There has been no shortage of rumblings about a potential Tristan Jarry trade to the Edmonton Oilers and for good reason. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Oilers were having talks about Tristan Jarry. They have now officially come together to complete the trade. Pittsburgh will be sending their former second-round pick to Edmonton this morning.
While Tristan Jarry has played well thus far in the 2025-26 season there are probably not going to be many Penguins fans disappointed by this news. Jarry’s tenure with the Penguins was marred by injury and poorly timed subpar play. His inconsistent play and spotty availability was the backdrop to a great era of hockey coming apart at the seams.
HIs tenure wasn’t without stretches of quality play. He made two all star games and in those two seasons he was a .919 and .921 goaltender, objectively really good. The issue being the most recent of those seasons was in 2021-22.
Dubas did a good job
While Kyle Dubas made a huge mistake signing Jarry to the contract he is currently on, he did a nice job getting out from under it. Last season Jarry was placed on waivers, cleared, and then spent time in the AHL. He had negative value. Nobody wanted him for free. Today, Dubas was able to trade away his contract without retaining salary. An unthinkable task not too long ago.
Additionally, Dubas was able to add a 2029 second round, Brett Kulak, and Stuart Skinner so let’s break down the return.
Far in the future draft pick
The Penguins getting a second round pick for Tristan Jarry looks pretty good on the surface, but there is a big caveat, it isn’t until 2029. This feels forever from now and it kinda is.
That said, I don’t mind it being this far in the future. In four years the Penguins will, hopefully, be close to contending and buying at trade deadlines. This is an extra piece that will feel like a bonus at a future trade deadline. I also think the likelihood of its value being higher in 2029 than 2026 is very good.
Who knows what the Oilers look like in 2029. Will Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl even be with the team at that point? It is certainly possible the Oilers window is closed and they are sellers at that point. If they are lower in the standings the draft pick will be closer to the top of the round.
More defensive depth
It is no secret that the Penguins depth on the left side of their defense is organizationally weak. Parker Wotherspoon and Ryan Shea were thrust into top four duty on the left side and have done an OK job. The team could still benefit from improving depth on that side. Enter, Brett Kulak.
Kulak has spend his entire NHL career in Canada. He started his NHL career in Calgary, then Montreal, and most recently with Edmonton. He was in a bottom pairing role with Edmonton on the left side at the time of the trade. I would describe his strengths as more defensive than offensive.
He is a competent bottom pairing player and can help on the PK. He is also a pending unrestricted free agent. It is worth noting that Dubas did not take on any term with any players in this deal on top of not retaining any of Jarry’s salary.
Kulak could potentially battle with Ryan Graves for ice time on the left side of the pairing or he could bounce over to the right side, which he did at times as an Oiler. The Penguins have been using Connor Clifton and Matt Dumba on the right side after Harrison Brunicke’s health scratches commenced. Neither player has taken the role for themselves and this morning it appears Dumba’s time with the Penguins is coming to an end.
The Dumba trade was about the draft pick compensation and not his on-ice contributions. Dubas and the Penguins got what they needed out of the trade.
With Kulak, the Penguins have a player on an expiring contract who they can use at the trade deadline to acquire more assets. So while Kulak was included as a salary dump for Edmonton, the Penguins can still get further value from him at a later date.
What to do with Stuart Skinner?
The final part of the trade was PIttsburgh taking on Stuart Skinner’s 2.5M cap hit, which is expiring at the end of the season. Acquiring Skinner was the cost of doing business. The Oilers needed to shed salary to take on Jarry’s full cap hit. With Skinner’s contract expiring and the Penguins nowhere near the cap ceiling this was an easy contract to absorb for PIttsburgh.
Skinner has had a rough go of things in the spotlight for Edmonton. There is a reasonable argument to be had that if the Oilers had gotten competent goaltending in each of the past two seasons Connor McDavid would be a Stanley Cup champion and not on the cusp of maybe leaving the team.
I think Skinner will play some for the Penguins, but I do not believe the Penguins targeted him because they want to hand the net over to him. The Penguins moved Jarry because they could get out of his contract for free and they believe Sergei Murashov is ready for the NHL. He and Arturs Silovs will be given the benefit of the doubt in earning starts.
If you’re wondering how Murashov has been doing down in WB/S since going back, he’s been great
This from my colleague, Mike Fink
Sergei Murashov’s 34-save shutout on Dec. 10 was another reminder in a season that’s had plenty of them. The season where a .943 save percentage (SV%) and a 1.56 goals-against average is confirmation. Murashov is an NHL-caliber goaltender and a rising star in the net.
“He’s come down here with a big motivation. There’s a real battle here,” MacDonald noted. Murashov is not only trying to win a competition with the NHL goaltenders but must outplay Joel Blomqvist, who is having a great season in his own right for the AHL team. Murashov is winning that battle, and it’s why he’s a short call-up away from returning to the next level.
When Murashov was asked how his time in the NHL helped him, he confirmed that his preparation works there just like it does in Wilkes-Barre. “It’s all about the preparation. The work that I do works at any level.” The top goaltending prospect is ready to be a starter and possibly an elite one in the NHL at 21 years old, yet he must wait for his opportunity.
Murashov is passing all the tests in the AHL and now with Tristan Jarry heading to Edmonton the Penguins could easily choose to promote him back to Pittsburgh. They might slow play it and give Skinner some starts, but it would be very surprising if Murashov spent the rest of the season in the AHL. His .943 save percentage and 1.56 goals against average lead the AHL at the moment.
All in all, Kyle Dubas orchestrated another shrewd trade to help the future of the Penguins. He acquired some bonus assets while trading away a player that was not in their future plans.
Moving forward, the Penguins now have even more salary cap space to work with as they work towards building the team back into contending status. They are projected to have 53M in cap space next year. Evgeni Malkin and Anthony Mantha are the only notable UFA’s with Ville Koivunen the only notable RFA.
It will be very interesting to see what direction Kyle Dubas goes in moving forward. Today, he took another positive step towards the Penguins getting better.
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