2024-25 Penguins’ Lineup Project: Starting goaltender

Does Tristan Jarry or Alex Nedeljkovic get the start for this October’s season opener?

Our mission to decide the 2024-25 Penguins lineup through reader vote is almost complete.

The forward and defensive lineups are set now that you have voted in former New York Islander Sebastian Aho as the team’s depth defenseman.

Now, it’s time to make arguably the most important lineup decision of the upcoming season.

First, here’s a look at the reader-voted lineup so far:

Drew O’Connor - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Anthony Beauvillier - Kevin Hayes - Valtteri Puustinen
Blake Lizotte - Lars Eller - Noel Acciari
Jesse Puljujarvi

Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson
Matt Grzelcyk / Kris Letang
Ryan Graves / Jack St. Ivany
Sebastian Aho

Goalie 1
Goalie 2

Now it’s time to decide: Who should be the starting goaltender when the Penguins begin the 2024-25 season on Oct. 9 against the New York Rangers?

You know the story: Tristan Jarry spent most of the 2023-24 season as the team’s undisputed starter in another campaign marked by stellar outings (he recorded a career-high six shutouts) as well as stretches of inconsistency. Then Jarry came down with an illness at the beginning of April, and Alex Nedeljkovic grabbed the job and never handed it back.

Nedeljkovic started the last 13 games of the season. He was at times a key part of the reason the Penguins threatened to make the playoffs. He also showed signs of wear down the stretch, and was pulled in favor of Jarry in one of his final appearances of the campaign.

Still, Nedeljovbic’s strong performances late in the season when the Penguins needed them the most was enough to earn him a two-year, $2.5 million AAV extension this summer.

The Penguins signed Jarry last offseason with the expectation that he would be the starting goaltender for the critical final years of the Sidney Crosby era.

The 29-year-old netminder is signed at a cap hit of $5.375 million through the 2027-28 season. He also has recorded five straight seasons with at least 30 starts, while Nedeljkovic has only topped the mark twice (including the 2023-24 campaign.)

But after Nedeljkovic’s run at the end of the season, Kyle Dubas has indicated that starting position is no longer guaranteed.

“I expect all five of the goalies that we have signed to push, and nothing is going to be given to anybody,” Dubas said in June, per DK Pittsburgh Sports’ Taylor Haase. “That was the message to Ned when he signed.”

The Penguins have multiple options going forward. They can return to Jarry as starter, and consider a short leash if he struggles early in the season. They could deploy both goaltenders in a tandem. They could let Nedeljkovic resume the role he took over at the end of last season and enter the campaign as a starter. If either goaltender wins out as an undisputed first-string netminder, the Penguins could seek a trade for the other and hope Joel Blomqvist is ready to make the jump to the NHL as backup.

Whatever their long-term decision, the Penguins will need to figure out who should be starting by October. For now, it’s time for you to have your say. Should Tristan Jarry or Alex Nedeljkovic get the nod in the season opener?