Hextall confident Jarry will bounce back; updates DeSmith's status after surgery

Tristan Jarry, who was pegged to be Pittsburgh's next starting goaltender, would likely want a complete do-over on the 2020-21 playoffs. After a decent regular season, Jarry took a lot of the blame for the Penguins early exit from the playoffs after recording a 3.18 goals against average and a .888 save percentage in six games. Speaking with reporters Thursday, Pens GM Ron Hextall said he's 100 percent confident Jarry can turn it around.

"When you're a goaltender, and I lived it, there's disappointments that you have to get over and you have to bounce back from," Hextall said. "He's still a young goalie that's learning and I believe he's going to learn a lot from last year. I really like what Andy is going to bring to the table here. I feel strongly that Tristan is going to bounce back and be a very good goaltender for us throughout the entire year."

The Andy he's referring to is Andy Chiodo, who was appointed the Penguins' goaltending coach this week after the firing of Mike Buckley, who had been in the position since 2017.

Meanwhile, Hextall gave an update on Jarry's fellow netminder Casey DeSmith, who missed last year's playoffs with an injury. DeSmith has undergone successful bilateral core muscle injury repair surgery and is back on the ice.

"I actually watched him for a few minutes yesterday. He looked terrific," Hextall said. "I chatted with him briefly and everything is going very well. I anticipate him being 100% long before training camp."

Source: NHL.com

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