Pittsburgh Penguins: Grading the Goalies

Marc-Andre Fleury will probably be the Penguins’ starting goaltender for a long time coming.  But could any of the other goalies in the system ever surpass him – and should we expect that?

Marc-Andre Fleury has been a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins his entire career. The former first-overall draft pick is considered one of the core players in the organization, and both his play and contract reiterate that.

Fleury is 31 years old and has a contract lasting through the 2018-2019 season, with a no move clause and limited no trade clause. It seems crazy to think that the Penguins wouldn’t move to re-sign him when that contract expires.

But “The Flower” is not a robot, as many exasperated fans are quick to tell you after years of early exits from the playoffs. Then again, no goalie is.

How do the Penguins sit, as far as their depth in goal goes? Here’s a look at five goalies in the system right now, their play, and their value to the Penguins.

Marc-Andre Fleury: A-

Marc-Andre Fleury has significantly boosted his grade in the time since the 2013-2014 playoffs. He went to a sport psychologist after the Penguins were bounced that year, and it’s obvious how much that has helped.

On the other hand, years of completely imploding in the playoffs are hard to ignore. We could sit here thinking about the “what ifs” all day, but there’s certainly been a few years the Penguins could have made it closer to the Cup if not for Fleury.

He also has a slightly terrifying habit of leaving his crease to play the puck… not always well. He’s very active in trying to help out his defensemen and aggressively take away chances, but sometimes those gambles are executed pretty poorly.

I distinctly remember one such incident when they played the Columbus Blue Jackets in the playoffs a few seasons ago. Fleury went behind the net to play the puck… while the Pens were holding a one-goal lead… with about a minute and a half left in the game… with all the players down in the Penguins’ own zone.

He misplayed the puck; Brandon Dubinsky snatched it up and scored on a mostly-empty net to take the game to overtime, which the Jackets then won.

(I remember this so well because I was at that game, sitting in a suite next to all the young Jackets prospects, and I screamed when that happened and might have given the unsuspecting Alexander Wennberg a minor heart attack. My apologies for that, Alex.)

Still, Flower is our goalie right now. The Penguins had a pretty rough start this season, and he was the main reason that they weren’t completely blown out game after game.

When he missed several games due to a concussion, it was pretty clear how much the team missed his consistent play. There was no longer someone behind them ready and able to bail out their mistakes.

Fleury’s current save percentage is .922. That’s fairly middle-of-the-road, but recent games where he’s let in four or five goals are to blame for that. As long as the team can help him out at the other end, it’s fine.

Other games in the past weeks have been tighter, going to shootouts or overtime. He’s come in clutch a number of times again.

If the Penguins manage to make the playoffs, all eyes will be on Fleury to see if he’ll mirror his stellar play earlier this season, or if he’ll regress to his traditional playoff issues.

Jeff Zatkoff: B-/C+

Jeff Zatkoff has, for the most part, been a reliable enough backup goalie. He’s not a guy who will ever steal a starting job, but he’s a solid second-in-line.

In fact, it seems almost every game where he’s in net he stuns everyone with another highlight-reel save. Flashes of absolute brilliance are heartening marks on his record.

His save percentage this season is .923, putting him equal with Fleury for all intents and purposes. Obviously, he’s played far fewer games – 12 to Fleury’s 41 – usually against lesser teams, so that stat should be taken with a grain of salt, but it’s still pretty good.

This is a contract season for Zatkoff. When it ends, he’s an unrestricted free agent. So what will the Pens do with him?

He certainly doesn’t seem to be an integral piece of the team going forward. When the Penguins signed Thomas Greiss to a one-year contract for the 2014-2015 season, Zatkoff was sent down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and wasn’t even the starter there.

Mostly likely, it will depend on the market for available goalies in the offseason. Unless the Pens’ front office is really sold on him going forward, I doubt they’d re-sign him prior to the end of the season.

Instead, they’ll wait for the offseason and see who’s going to be available. One route they could take is to trade for a backup who’s under (a manageable) contract for a few more seasons, and whose play is a consistent upgrade on Zatkoff’s.

If they think they have a good shot at signing a free-agent goaltender or are comfortable with letting Matt Murray play up on the big squad all next year then they’ll probably let Zatkoff walk. With his contract almost up anyway, he’s hardly trade bait.

Matt Murray: A

We haven’t really seen that much of Matt Murray in Pittsburgh yet, but once he got into the swing of things in the short time he was there, he was pretty impressive.

Working in tandem with Zatkoff to hold down the fort when Fleury was out with a concussion, he had a couple shaky starts but pretty quickly showed why he was the best goalie in the American Hockey League last season.

In the four games he played with the big club, he posted a .938 save percentage. Though he matched up against Carolina, Toronto, Columbus, and Minnesota – none particularly formidable – he let in only 7 goals.

Given the circumstances, that isn’t too shabby. 

Murray stands 6’4″, a few inches taller than both Fleury and Zatkoff, which is rarely a bad thing. It seems that goalies are increasingly being built like string beans (Ben Bishop, Tuukka Rask, Jacob Markstrom…) and that extra height can really make a difference.

With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season, Murray went 40-25-10, with a .941 save percentage, and won enough awards and honors to rival even Sidney Crosby‘s trophy case.

A short list of those: AHL All-Rookie Team, AHL First All-Star Team, the Dudley “Red” Garrett Memorial Trophy for the top rookie in the AHL, the Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award for the fewest goals against average (shared with Zatkoff), and the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Award for outstanding AHL goaltender.

Yowza. I’d be pretty comfortable with a guy with that resume being our backup. When he actually gets more experience in the NHL, he’ll be outstanding.

Tristan Jarry: C+

Tristan Jarry was highly touted as a draft pick a few years ago, and joined the ranks of professional hockey with the Baby Pens at the end of the 2014-2015 season.

As a backup to Murray, he’s been decent, posting a .929 save percentage over 16 games. It’s pretty evident that Murray’s in no danger of losing his throne as starter this season, though, even with that pretty percentage.

During his time in the WHL, Jarry was named to the WHL First All-Star Team in the East, and helped his team, the Edmonton Oil Kings, to a Memorial Cup championship in 2014.

Given how outstanding he was in the WHL and how young his professional career is, Jarry has potential. The only reason this grade isn’t higher is that we haven’t really had a chance to see much of that yet.

Maybe down the road, if and when Murray moves up to Pittsburgh, Jarry will take over as starter in Wilkes/Barre-Scranton. He’ll be able to develop his game even further and get more consistent higher-level experience than he’s had so far.

He definitely has a chance to move up the totem pole, but probably not any time soon. Still, he’s a great goalie to have in the pipeline.

Franky Palazzese: A for Effort

I’m sorry Franky, I did try to find a picture of you… just, none really exist.

Franky Palazzese is the starting goaltender for the Wheeling Nailers, in his second pro season (he played for the Penguins’ ECHL affiliate last season, too).

Quick disclosure: I worked for the Cincinnati Cyclones ECHL team last season, and they’re major rivals with Wheeling. On principle, I’m not a big fan of Palazzese… but that’s only because the one time we faced him at home, he beat us and no one was very happy.

Regardless, Palazzese is good enough for an ECHL-level goaltender. I hesitate to speculate on anything about his future, because I learned first-hand how volatile and unpredictable the ECHL is.

In 28 games with Wheeling this year, he’s posted a .905 save percentage. Given that he’s got more experience in the Pittsburgh system than either of his counterparts, Casey DeSmith and Brian Foster, he would probably be the one to get called up to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton if that was required.

Former ECHL goaltenders like Scott Darling, Mackenzie Skapski and Garret Sparks have impressed in the NHL when called upon, so it’s not totally out of the realm of possibilities for Palazzese to eventually make it.

Of course, if that happened, the front office would probably be in full-on panic mode and trade for a rental goalie instead.

The final report card

So there you have it: a look at five goalies in the Pittsburgh system.

I find it highly unlikely any of the latter four will ever usurp Fleury’s role on the team, at least before he retires. If Murray sticks around long enough, he definitely has the talent to start; however, that just might be a waiting game.

Really, the Penguins have a bunch of options, each plausible at some level.

So what do you think the Pens should do in regard to their goalies? Let Zatkoff walk? See who’s available in free agency that would provide an upgrade on him? Give Murray a chance to prove himself? Make a deadline-day trade?

Play GM for a minute and let us know what you would do in the comments!

Bonus! Where are they now? (Updated Feb. 7, 2019)

Marc-Andre Fleury is the starting goaltender of the Vegas Golden Knights, who picked him up when he was left unprotected in the 2017 expansion draft. While the front office made it sound like a tough decision regarding who to leave unprotected, the answer all along was Fleury, now 34. Since then, he led the upstart Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in their first year of existence, ultimately falling to his old rivals - the Washington Capitals. Regardless, he picked up a new contract in July of 2018, earning him the starter's spot in Vegas through the 2021-22 season.

Matt Murray was handed the reins during the Penguins' 2015-16 Cup run when Fleury was injured, and capitalized on the opportunity. The Pens won cups in both 2016 and 2017, led definitively by Murray. But without Fleury there for support, he's had a little more trouble. Plagued by injuries in the seasons since, he's shared his net more often than not and even struggled where he wouldn't have before. Still, I stand by my analysis that he'll be a goalie for the ages in the NHL - once he shores up that glove-side-high target. He'll be an RFA at the end of the 2019-20 season, but the Pens can't afford to let him go unless they make a big splash in the trade market before that time.

Since the original article was published, Jeff Zatkoff signed in Los Angeles and was ultimately traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets, immediately being sent to their AHL affiliate and ending the year without a contract renewal. Zatkoff is currently playing for the Traubing Tigers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. That's enough said about that.

Tristant Jarry has largely been surpassed by Casey DeSmith, who's shared duties with Matt Murray this season. He's been good and received a three-year contract extension recently, but that's perhaps put the nail in Jarry's coffin. Jarry continues to be a bubble player who has frequently been recalled during Murray's rash of injuries, and has played two games this season.

Who is Franky Palazzese? I forgot he existed.

Original story at PensLabyrinth.com