Arturs Silovs—Not Tristan Jarry—May Be the Goalie On His Way Out Of Pittsburg: Insider

Arturs Silovs, Pittsburgh Penguins goalie

The Pittsburgh Penguins suddenly have themselves a whack of goaltending depth. We know which backstop the Pens would ideally like to ship out of town, Tristan Jarry. But sometimes, the best laid plans don't come to fruition.

According to Penguins insider, Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now, it just might be another netminder that would make the most sense to trade. He notes that with young Sergei Murashov off to an excellent start to his career thus far, GM Kyle Dubas might want to look to deal from his depth.

As of Saturday, five potential playoff teams had team save percentages below .885... There are teams that need goalies. The interesting thing is the Penguins have not one, but two expendable goalies.
One thing that Dubas should consider is making Arturs Silovs available. Understandably, that’s less than ideal, but if the Penguins are to clear space, one of Silovs or Tristan Jarry needs to vacate a spot, and Jarry’s desirability is still dubious, especially after another lower-body injury.

Why Silovs has more trade value than Jarry

Jarry was off to a decent start this season in seven games, but his rough go of it last year, plus, most notably, the three years (including this one) at a $5.375 million cap hit, make him a difficult sell.

Silovs was acquired by the Penguins this past summer from the Vancouver Canucks to boost their goaltending depth after he was named the Calder Cup Playoff MVP. He has more than answered the bell. Despite being pulled in his last start after a rough opening 21 minutes, Silovs has posted a .908 save percentage in his 11 starts, with a 2.74 goals against average. As Kingerski notes, "Silovs hasn’t done anything to lower his value, but has raised it. Jarry would not fetch such a return."

The return we're talking about would, ideally, need to be something better than the 4th-rounder they gave up to get Silovs. And with the way he's played, and the need for goalie depth for contending teams around the league, it certainly seems possible.

Granted, Silovs' 11 games this season represent a career-high in his brief NHL career, but the 24-year-old showed what he was made of when he was thrust into the starter's role for the Vancouver Canucks in the 2024 playoffs when Thatcher Demko went down to injury. Silovs started 10 straight games, and held his own with a valiant performance in a seven-game defeat to the Conference Champion Edmonton Oilers in the second round.

Given that playoff experience, those contending teams looking for another goalie would be remiss if they didn't give Dubas a call on Silovs' availability.