Welcome To The Burgh: Alex Nedeljkovic

Welcome To The Burgh: Alex Nedeljkovic

On July 1, the Pittsburgh Penguins signed goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to a one-year $1.5 million dollar deal. At the time, the Penguins had three goaltenders in Tristan Jarry, Casey DeSmith, and now Nedeljkovic.

Nedeljkovic Earns Backup Role

A month and five days later, the Penguins made a blockbuster trade acquiring superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson. In that trade, the Penguins sent DeSmith to the Montreal Canadiens. DeSmith leaves the Penguins after spending his entire five year career with them as the backup netminder.

Now, Nedeljkovic has the honor to backup Jarry which is a promising job. It is a promising job for two reasons, one of them being Jarry is injury-prone. Throughout his seven year career, he has only played 50 games in his career once which was the 2021-2022 season. That season, Jarry also missed some of the playoff games and was not 100% in the first round loss to the New York Rangers.

The other reason is he gets to compete for a team with a rich history who is hungry to get back to the playoffs and believes they can compete for another Stanley Cup. Also, he gets to be teammates with elite players like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Karlsson, and Jake Guentzel.

Nedeljkovic Redemption Tour

Despite starting his NHL career in the 2016-2017 season, his rookie season is technically the 2020-2021 season due to finally meeting the game requirement. His rookie season was spectacular and promising as he led the league in save percentage at .932 and goals against average at 1.90. He was on the all-rookie team and finished third in Calder voting.

He was then traded to the Detroit Red Wings where his stats dropped tremendously. The main question to be asked is, was this due to a struggling Red Wings team who was not the best defensively or is he a one-year wonder? His goals against average went from 1.90 to 3.31 and then 3.53. Both seasons with the Red Wings he has had a negative goals saved above average.

However, he has the chance to become the player he wants to be and once was. The Penguins are a much better team defensively than the Red Wings. Solid defenseman in Letang, Ryan Graves, and Marcus Pettersson will be playing in front of him making his job easier for him. Also, he will be playing behind and learning from Jarry who when healthy is a top-10 netminder.

This is a low-risk high reward for the Penguins, if  Nedeljkovic can return to his old form the Pens will have found a solid backup goalie and may extend him. Or, he can be a flop, however since he is only on a one-year deal and the Penguins can move on from him easily in the offseason.

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