Pittsburgh Back Up Goalie - Not Yet Decided

[chuckcouples]

Has anyone else noticed that Casey Desmith has NOT been sent to the minors?

There is still talk in Pittsburgh that Casey Desmith will be the back up in Pittsburgh this season. From an article in The Athletic:

"Instead of losing DeSmith for nothing, the Penguins now can move forward with him as the longer-term backup for Murray. DeSmith signed a three-year contract this past January.

The Penguins continue to believe DeSmith is better suited to backing up at the NHL level than Jarry, who has lacked consistency since becoming a pro.

Rutherford made it clear during the summer that either DeSmith or Jarry was available in a trade. A serious market never materialized for either goalie, though both a team and league source confirmed only Jarry drew interest. The lacks of offers for DeSmith convinced Rutherford he might be able to get DeSmith through waivers if necessary, the sources said."

It sounds like Pittsburgh took a chance at putting DeSmith through waivers to give them 30 more days to work out a trade involving Jarry. I think the Pens are hoping a goalie gets hurt in the first couple weeks of the season so the demand for Jarry increases.

[Pengwin7]

I've thought he played better than Jarry whenever I caught them.
They are over the cap with him... but I feel like we'll see Jack Johnson get demoted down to WBS instead.
May have been sneaky tact by PIT to appear to be moving DeSmith down simply because of cap situ... when they could've demoted JJ the whole time.
IDK?
Can't say I fully have an understanding of who PIT prefers to roster.

If capfriendly is correct, PIT is showing $84.2m and 26 players.
They'd have to move $2.7m down with 3 players to get to $81.5m.
So they either move FOUR guys at $700k... and run with 22 players...
Or they move TWO skaters at $700k-ish... and DeSmith...
Or they move JJ down to AHL... and keep DeSmith...

I'm waiting to see!
I want a 23-man roster, PIT!!!

[ericdaoust]

Capfriendly has Desmith being demoted to minors

[pmorrow]

Capfriendly has Desmith being demoted to minors

https://www.nhl.com/penguins/roster

This as well shows Jarry as the backup.

[rataylor22]

https://triblive.com/sports/penguins...pening-roster/

In case you need a third source DeSmith has been demoted

[chuckcouples]

You will notice the time stamp on all of those transactions is after I posted. I am still thinking that Desmith gets the start in at least one, if not 2, of their 3 October back to backs.

[rataylor22]

Are the Penguins trying to find a trade for Jarry? Probably. Are they probably attempting to use him as the sweetener in a Johnson trade? That sounds plausible. Are the three separate posts showing DeSmith was demoted relevant to your first post saying he hadn't yet? Sure, new information completely changes the premise of your original post.

- - - Updated - - -

Will DeSmith play in October? Nobody could really say, the ultimate answer is it probably depends how Jarry performs in his first start, barring a trade.

[hockeyrobot]

They'll both be playing by the end of the month when Murray is out for 3 months.

[ericdaoust]

They'll both be playing by the end of the month when Murray is out for 3 months.

Dude, stop making sense!

[stevegamer]

They'll both be playing by the end of the month when Murray is out for 3 months.

I nicknamed him Matt " lose your week" Murray last year due to the number of weeks he got hurt and missed enough starts for me to miss the minimum.