The Edmonton Oilers enter 2026-27 with another major question mark in net, and Tristan Jarry sits right in the middle of it.
He arrived last December in a trade that sent Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak, and a 2029 second-round pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins, with Samuel Poulin coming back the other way. The move was a costly one for general manager Stan Bowman, especially given Jarry’s inconsistency and the fact that he had been on waivers the season before.
Edmonton gave up a starting goalie with a $2.6 million cap hit and took on a netminder with two more seasons left at $5.375 million. The result, as it stands now, is a difficult contract and a roster spot that still feels unsettled.
The on-ice return has not helped the case. In 19 games, including 16 starts, since the trade, Jarry has put up a 3.86 goals-against average and an .858 save percentage.
He also got hurt in his third game with the Oilers and missed the next 11. When he came back, he never fully settled in, eventually losing the crease to Connor Ingram.
His playoff involvement was limited to one start.
Now the setup is different again. Edmonton has Devon Levi and Frederik Andersen in the mix, forming a three-goalie situation with Jarry.
Andersen, though, will miss most of October because of an injury he sustained in the Stanley Cup Final, which puts the early-season workload on Jarry and Levi. That opening stretch matters a lot for Jarry.
He has a chance to grab the starter’s role from the younger Levi, but he also has to prove he belongs in the conversation at all.
The downside is easy to see. If Jarry keeps slipping, he could end up on waivers once Andersen is back, or he could be stuck waiting for an injury just to get into the lineup.
That would leave the Oilers in a tough spot. They cannot afford a repeat of last season’s numbers.
Before the trade, Jarry had been sitting at a respectable .909 save percentage with Pittsburgh, then things fell apart after he landed in Edmonton. He looked fine through his first three games with the team before the injury, but the break clearly interrupted whatever rhythm he had.
There is still a path to something better. Edmonton does not need him to turn into a .930 goalie.
That is not the ask. A season in the range of .906 to .910 would already be a meaningful step forward, especially since Jarry owns a career .907 save percentage.
What the Oilers really need is consistency. Last season, he had only four starts with a save percentage of .900 or better, which amounted to just 25 percent of his starts.
That has to improve. The offense cannot keep masking the problems in goal.
In a perfect world for Edmonton, the trade market would open up and Jarry would move on. Right now, though, there is no real line of teams waiting to absorb that salary and term.
His value has dropped sharply, even after the hefty package Bowman paid to get him. For the Oilers, this is where the damage from that deal still lingers.
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