Pittsburgh Penguins hire Jon Elkin to be new director of goaltending

The Pittsburgh Penguins have hired Jon Elkin to be their new director of goaltending. This marks one of the first changes to the teams player development program since Kyle Dubas took over as president of hockey operations. He’s not stranger to working for Dubas-led teams as he previously worked under Dubas for the Toronto Maple Leafs as their head of goaltending evaluation and development since 2021.

It’s hard to say what role Elkin had in the moves the Maple Leafs made to solidify their goaltending in the last few seasons. They traded for Matt Murray, which didn’t work out very well, but also signed Ilya Samsonov, which has paid off so far. Additionally, goalie prospect Joseph Woll seems to be on the right track to becoming an NHL goalie in the near future. The Maple Leafs also made the right decision to let Jack Campbell go in free agency versus signing him to a costly extension like the Edmonton Oilers ended up doing.

Dubas and Elkin have inherited Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic, Joel Blomqvist, Taylor Gauthier, and Magnus Hellberg on the Penguins’ goaltending depth chart. They have their work cut out for them.

Elkin has a long history of working with Dubas as he was a member of the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds during the 2013-14 season, while Dubas was the general manager there. The former Maple Leafs’ general manager likes his guys and will attempt to bring them along with him to every destination he goes, whether that’s the Soo, Toronto, or Pittsburgh.