Jarry relishing totally unforeseen All-Star debut
ST. LOUIS — As Tristan Jarry, a white NHL All-Star jersey pulled over his dress shirt, climbed onto his podium inside the palatial Stifel Theatre
Thursday and glanced out at the rows of reporters waiting to pepper All-Stars with questions, the young goalie acknowledged that, yeah, this all happened pretty fast.
“It’s exciting. It’s not something I really thought of at the beginning of the season. But I’m glad to be here,” Jarry said. “It will be an exciting weekend.”
Four months ago, Jarry even didn’t know where he would be playing this season. It could have been Pittsburgh, where he was competing with Casey DeSmith for the backup gig. It could have been another year in WilkesBarre/Scranton. It could have been a fresh start with a new organization after a preseason trade.
The Penguins, who had been
open to dealing Jarry, kept him around to start the season. He played sparingly at first but made the most of the action he did get. When Matt Mdiudrraayd’sopulabyleslippapedd,sJtaarcrky through the door.
Since the start of December, Jarry is 11-4-1 with a .929 save percentage. During that stingy stretch, he set a franchise record for the longest shutout streak. Two weeks ago, he was added to the AllpSltaacremGaenmte. as an injury re
Thus, there he was Thursday, under the bright lights at All-Star media day.
“I guess [all this will set in] once the time comes to go on the ice. That will be the biggest thing,” Jarry said.
“Just having my parents here and being able to share that with them and having my whole family to be able to watch, I think that’s an unforgettable moment, something we’ll cherish as a family together.”
Jarry will strap on his pads Friday for the skills competition at Enterprise Center and Saturday will play in the AllStar Game at the home of the St. Louis Blues. He had to be on his toes Thursday, too, up on the stage at Stifel Theatre.
In a 16-minute span, he was asked close to 40 questions from local and national reporters. They ranged from his relationships with Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray to how he stayed busy on long bus trips during junior hockey. Much of the conversation, though, centered on his rapid ascension this season.
“I think Pittsburgh’s done an amazing job with me in my development, letting me know
where my career was at and the spectrum I was on,” the 24year-old said. “The big thing was just trusting them and trusting that they knew what they were doing. Just coming up from junior, I’ve always had to wait a little bit.”
Jarry had to take a backseat to Murray when he arrived in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2015-16. He watched Murray get promoted to Pittsburgh and quickly win two Cup titles. Jarry made his NHL debut in 2017 but played in just 29 games at the NHL level over three years before starting this season as Murray’s backup.
His practice habits and ingame focus improved during his time in the American Hockey League. He turned a corner last season, when he posted a .915 save percentage while playing 47 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
“Being able to play every night in the American League, that really helped me grow. It helped me work on the things that I needed to develop,” he said.
And after three years of shuffling from Pittsburgh to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and back, Jarry showed this seasNoHnLtfhroamt hneowbeolno.ngs in the
“It’s funny. Me and Joseph [Blandisi] were actually counting our transactions the other day,” he said. “It was funny to go through that and just see how many transactions you had and how many uncertainties, I guess, you’ve hthaadt owvee’rrethaebyleeatros.joIkt’se faubnonuyt that, as many as we’ve had.”
Uncertainty awaits Jarry after the All-Star festivities in St. Louis.
In the short term, he must hold off Murray, whom he considers one of his best friends, to be the guy between the pipes for the Penguins during the playoffs. Beyond this season, Jarry and Murray are restricted free agents. Jarry said Thursday that the Penguins haven’t approached him about a new deal. It seems unlikely that both young goalies are back in Pittsburgh next season.
But Jarry didn’t appear to be worried about any of that Thursday. Instead, he said he is embracing the advice given to him by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang before he headed to the first All-Star Game of his NHL career.
“[They told me to] just to enjoy it,” Jarry said. “You don’t know when it’s going to come or how often it’s going to come. Just enjoy it as much as you can.”