The Jake Guentzel Trade - who did the Penguins get in return?
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Well, it's officially official - Jake Guentzel is no longer a Pittsburgh Penguin.
Late on Thursday night, the Penguins sent Guentzel, along with defenseman Ty Smith, to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for forwards Michael Bunting, Ville Koivunen, Vasily Ponomarev, Cruz Lucius, and conditional 2024 first-round and fifth-round draft picks.
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First, let's start with the draft picks involved.
The Penguins will get the Carolina Hurricanes' 2024 first-round pick should the Hurricanes make the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. Should Carolina fail to reach the Stanley Cup Final, the Penguins will then receive the Philadelphia Flyers' 2024 second-round pick that the Hurricanes acquired in a different deal.
Also, should the Hurricanes fail to reach the final, the Penguins will not get the fifth-round pick.
Who is coming to Pittsburgh?
The NHL-ready player coming back to Pittsburgh is 28-year-old forward Michael Bunting who has ties to President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas.
Dubas was Bunting's general manager in Toronto from 2021 until 2023.
During his time in Toronto, Bunting scored 46 goals, and 66 assists for 112 points, and was a finalist for the NHL's Calder Trophy, which is given to the rookie of the year in the 2021-22 season.
Bunting's style of play matches something the Penguins have been missing for quite some time. He is a player with an edge, recording 183 penalty minutes in two seasons with Toronto, and was also able to knock in some goals while playing alongside elite talents such as Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, and others.
However, he signed a three-year, $4.5 million per season deal with Carolina this past offseason but has not found the same success he did in Toronto.
Through 60 games this season, he's scored 13 goals, and 23 assists, for 36 points.
The Penguins are hoping he can recapture some of the magic he had in Toronto by playing with a truly elite center in one of Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.
What about the prospects, who are they?
Kyle Dubas was able to get the Hurricanes to part with three prospects that the Hurricanes hope will become NHL regular forwards sooner rather than later.
Ville Koivunen is 20 years old and was drafted by the Hurricanes 51st overall (second round) in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
Right now, Koivunen is playing in Finland's top professional league, Liiga, with Karpat. Through 57 games with Karpat, he has scored 21 goals and 34 assists for 55 points, which is good for fifth in the entire league.
As for his time in North America, he has played in 12 AHL games with the independent Chicago Wolves - scoring one goal in the 2022-23 season.
Another piece in the trade is Vasily Ponomarev.
Ponomarev has played in the NHL this season, playing two games with the Hurricanes, scoring a goal and an assist in his NHL debut on January 5.
He also spent time in the AHL between the Tucson Roadrunners and the Chicago Wolves scoring eight goals and 21 assists across 41 games.
Ponomarev was taken 53rd overall by Carolina in the 2020 NHL draft after spending two seasons in the Quebec Major-Junior Hockey League with the Shawinigan Cataractes where he scored 28 goals and 59 assists for 87 points across 90 regular season games.
Finally, the Penguins acquired Cruz Lucius, a 19-year-old currently playing in the NCAA for the Wisconsin Badgers. So far, the 19-year-old forward has scored 12 goals and 19 assists in 32 games this season, and those 12 goals are a career-high for the forward.
His entire NCAA career has seen him score 23 goals, 42 assists, and 65 points in 66 games.
Lucius was drafted in the 4th round, 124th overall by the Hurricanes.
Is this a good deal?
It's always difficult to analyze deals such as this because it involves unknowns. There have been countless cases of players who play well in European leagues, the NCAA, and even the AHL that do not translate to NHL regulars.
While Bunting brings an element the Penguins have sorely lacked for the past few years, he is still at the tail-end of his prime at age 28. That doesn't mean he'll suddenly drop off a cliff and become an anchor on the Penguins roster and salary cap, but 28-30 is usually when players begin their descent.
The one aspect of the deal that does need to be mentioned is that at the conclusion of the NHL season, Jake Guentzel will be an unrestricted free agent and is still among the most consistent goal-scorers both in the regular season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
With a fairly weak UFA market this summer, just like it was with this trading deadline, Guentzel will undoubtedly be the most coveted asset and could command anywhere from $8-$10 million for multiple years. Guentzel and his team did not allow Carolina, or any other team he may have been dealt to, to negotiate an extension with him prior to the trade.
That signals that he likely wants to explore the free agency market come July 1.
The Penguins and Kyle Dubas did what they could with an injured, expiring asset and turned it into what hopefully will be product pieces in the near-to-long-term future.
That said, there is no denying, that for a guy who has consistently scored anywhere between 30-40 goals each of his NHL seasons, the return is quite underwhelming.