Penguins Perspectives: The Pens can have their Jake and keep him too
Welcome to Penguins Perspectives, a weekly column by KDKA-TV Digital Producer Patrick Damp. Each Friday, Patrick will talk about the week that was, the week to come, what to watch for, and more.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to silly season.
It's the time of year when we all log onto CapFriendly, fire up EA Sports NHL, and come up with some fun trades for our favorite teams and see if even the AI general Managers will accept our crazy trades.
Now, this column won't be about who the Penguins should target, we'll do that in a couple of weeks when the playoff picture gets a little clearer.
This one is about a prevailing discussion point that I have seen on social media and even in some articles.
"Jake Guentzel's future in Pittsburgh."
It's been on The Athletic, it's been on ESPN, and even last night's opponent, the Vancouver Canucks, has had local radio hosts wondering - what would it take to get Jake Guentzel and his expiring deal out of Pittsburgh?
First and foremost - the answer is Brock Boeser. They make about the same amount of money, though Boeser has one year left as opposed to Guentzel being a pending UFA, they both are currently hovering around 50 points, and if the Penguins are going to ship out Jake, they need the same amount of talent and production in.
"But, Pat, the Canucks would never!"
That's the point.
There is no trade to be had here with Jake Guentzel for Vancouver. If Jim Rutherford wants Jake, hope and pray that he doesn't get extended and back up the Brinks Truck for him this summer.
However, I don't see a Guentzel trade being had period.
First, there's exactly one world where this could happen and with each passing game it appears less and less likely: should the Penguins fall so far out of playoff contention that Kyle Dubas writes this season off and stockpiles cap space and draft capital for next season, then they'll try to get some value for Jake. They likely also would attempt to bring him back in the offseason via free agency.
Otherwise, Jake Guentzel is playing out his time in Pittsburgh this season.
This doesn't mean he's in the Penguins' long-term plans, in fact, his agent has been quite noncommittal about talks.
"This will get really heated down the stretch," Guentzel's agent, Ben Hankinson, told ESPN's Emily Kaplan last week. "It's going to get interesting."
Right now, the Pens are two points out of a playoff spot and three points out of third in the Metropolitan Divison.
In order to climb up the standings and get back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Guentzel will be a crucial part of that.
So far this season, he leads the Penguins with 45 points and he's got 35 of those points at 5-on-5, good for fourth in the NHL.
He's a very valuable player in this team's success and/or failure.
There's also the captain factor.
Sidney Crosby has never been the type of star to tell management what to do or act as a shadow coach or general manager. That said, he's spent the better part of a decade both training and grooming Guentzel to be his last and best winger.
Some of that comes from Guentzel being a coach's son, he plays the game smarter than most, but he also has a scoring touch that you just can't teach.
While it is extremely unlikely Sidney Crosby would leave the Penguins at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, one way to get him thinking about chasing one more Stanley Cup elsewhere would be to ship out his preferred and most productive winger.
Sure, the Penguins could suddenly begin to bottom out and fall out of the Eastern Conference playoff race, but if the last month has shown us, they're more likely to be climbing the standings than tumbling.
For that to continue, they'll need Jake to ride shotgun.
In this case, the Penguins can have their Jake and keep him, too.