Another Penguins Player Going to World Championships

Alex Nedeljkovic impressed a lot of people with his play for the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2023-24 season.

He’ll get a chance to do it again as a member of Team USA at the world championships, which begin Friday in Czechia.

It will be the second consecutive world tournament in which a Penguins goaltender participates; Casey DeSmith played for the U.S. last spring, a few months before being sent to Montreal in the Erik Karlsson trade.

Coincidentally enough, whether Nedeljkovic has a future with the Penguins also isn’t clear, since he is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent July 1, and Kyle Dubas, the team’s president of hockey operations and general manager, has given no indication that retaining Nedeljkovic is a priority.

Nedeljovic accepted a one-year, $1.5 million contract as an unrestricted free agent last summer.

He appeared in 38 games, compiling an 18-7-7 record, .902 save percentage and 2.07 goals-against average.

Nedeljkovic supplanted Tristan Jarry as the Pittsburgh Penguins’ go-to goaltender, at least temporarily, during their late-season bid for a playoff berth, starting the final 13 games and going 8-2-3. One of those losses came in a meaningless regular-season finale on Long Island.