Not An Overnight Fix

It would be foolish of me to suggest that today's trade made by the Pittsburgh Penguins to acquire Artūrs Šilovs from the Vancouver Canucks solves their goaltending woes that have been witnessed over the last few years, but it's a start. That's not to say that Šilovs can't come into Pittsburgh, win 30 games, and give this team a shot at the playoffs, but I can't see it happening immediately. Šilovs is a good goaltender who likely can win 20-25 games, but the Penguins are a flawed team that needs some help. Putting a solid netminder in between the pipes, however, is a good first step to climbing out of the hole in which the Penguins find themselves.

None of the goaltenders who suited up for the Penguins in 2024-25 had a GAA below 3.00 or a save percentage above .900. That simply will not win a team many games if they're always required to score four goals while holding their opposition to less than 25 shots a night. The Penguins simply aren't built to play that way at this moment, so a change was needed in the blue paint. With Alex Nedeljkovic already having been traded, the options of Tristan Jarry and Joel Blomqvist were needing improvement if the Penguins hoped to return to glory.

The Penguins know that Šilovs can rise to the occasion when needed after watching his run with the Canucks in the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. After both Thatcher Demko and then Casey DeSmith were injured during the first round, Šilovs guided the Canucks to Game Seven against the Edmonton Oilers. The Canucks fell to the Oilers as we know, but Šilovs proved that he was more than capable in stopping NHL pucks as it seemed like he might be a lock for an apartment in Vancouver after that spring's impressive debut.

Šilovs started the season in Vancouver, but was sent back to Abbotsford as there were concerns about "flaws" in Šilovs' netminding. I'd argue that any 23 year-old goaltender has a few of those to iron out, but, yes, he struggled in going 2-6-1 with a 3.65 GAA and an .861 save percentage. Whatever confidence or physical concerns were being seen became more and more apparent in Abbotsford with netminder partner Nikita Tolopilo getting most of the starts in the AHL regular season despite Šilovs' numbers being better at the end of the season. Vancouver called Šilovs up late in the season, but Šilovs knew he was going back for an AHL playoff run.

That's where the big Latvian netminder shone as he recorded 16 wins, five shutouts, and captured the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs MVP in helping the Abbotsford Canucks win the Calder Cup for the first time in their history. What should give Penguins fans some hope is that the Charlotte Checkers were a team loaded with veteran players, and Šilovs showed he could stop them with regular success. Granted, those players weren't named McDavid, Matthews, or Kucherov, but Šilovs bested five teams in the playoffs to win the Calder Cup.

Marc-Andre Fleury went 13-27-6 with a 3.25 GAA and an .898 save percentage in his first full-time NHL year. Tom Barrasso went 25-27-10 with a 4.26 GAA and an .880 save percentage in his first 68 games as a Penguins netminder. Tristan Jarry was 14-6-2 with a 2.77 GAA and a .908 save percentage in his first full NHL season. What I'm saying with these three statistical lines is that how good a goaltender can be or will be shouldn't be derived from any stats lines. We can use them to predict potential outcomes, but did anyone have Barrasso being the Stanley Cup-winning goalie one season after those 68 games?

Artūrs Šilovs has the potential to be a very good goaltender for the Penguins, and that will come down to talent, hard work, and consistent efforts he gives on a daily basis combined with the defensive system and the personnel in front of him making his life easier between the pipes. The Penguins have a rookie head coach, multiple changes to their defensive unit, and a goaltender whose best moments came in both the NHL and AHL playoffs. Clearly, there are question marks all over the place when it comes to how good these Penguins will be, but Šilovs' numbers suggest that he'll be more reliable than both Jarry and Blomqvist were last season.

Maybe Artūrs Šilovs comes in and wins the starter's position. Even if he doesn't, he'll push one or more of the netminders slotted in on Pittsburgh's depth charts to be better. Whatever the results are, the Penguins need better goaltending as a whole, and I believe that Artūrs Šilovs makes them better. Don't get the Stanley Cup parade routes ready by any means, but Šilovs could be one of the foundational pieces on which the Penguins can build for the future.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!