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Was Jake Guentzel's trade return enough for the Pittsburgh Penguins?
On Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins traded away two-time 40-goal scorer Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes for Michael Bunting, Ville Koivunen, Cruz Lucius, Vasily Ponomarev, and two conditional draft picks in the upcoming 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
Considering that Guentzel has 466 points, including 219 goals in 503 games and was set to become a free agent on July 1, making $4.5 million, the return for the former Stanley Cup champion was relatively low.
Unfortunately, general manager Kyle Dubas' hands were tied this season as he tried to fix the mess left over by the previous general manager, Ron Hextall, who left him with an aging roster and no cap space.
Although Dubas' first act was to acquire Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson and his $11 million contract, that transaction has been disappointing in the first season. The Swedish defender is on pace to score 50 points less than he did in 2022-23.
After unloading one of their most talented forwards, Pittsburgh has done nothing as of late to increase the chances of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang winning another Stanley Cup again before retiring.
Who are the Penguins' new acquisitions, Bunting, Koivunen, Lucius, and Ponomarev?
As mentioned, Guentzel is a Stanley Cup champion, winning a title in his rookie season as a 22-year-old in 2017. After compiling two 40-goal seasons and a 36-goal campaign, the Penguins traded him, along with defenseman Ty Smith, for four players and two draft picks.
The biggest name in the trade is Bunting, a five-year veteran and a two-time 20-goal scorer with 162 points in 247 games. His best seasons came while he was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2021 to 2023.
Koivunen is a 20-year-old forward prospect from Finland who played just 12 games in the AHL last season, registering one point. Although he is a second-round draft pick (51st overall) from the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, he's stayed home and continues to play professionally in Liiga.
Lucius is a prospect who has played at the University of Wisconsin and scored 65 points in two seasons. At 19, the fourth-round (124th overall) pick from 2022 has yet to play professionally and won't have an opportunity to crack the Penguins' lineup for some time.
The final prospect in the deal is Ponomarev, a 21-year-old Russian who has played two games in the NHL and 116 games in the AHL, where he's tallied 87 points in North America. Considering he's not as inexperienced as the other two prospects, there's a chance that he has a more immediate impact with the Penguins.
Who won the Guentzel trade between the Penguins and Hurricanes?
The Hurricanes rank eighth among the top 10 teams in the NHL, which is quite a significant jump for Guentzel, who previously played on the 24th-ranked Penguins.
Although this is the first transaction of his eight-year professional career, he's back in the hunt for a championship after watching the opportunity slip away in Pittsburgh.
As of this publication, there is no indication of where Guentzel will fit in the Hurricanes' lineup; however, they are the early winners of the trade. Considering they have yet to advance to the Stanley Cup Final with their current roster, their newest player brings valuable playoff experience, plus 58 points in as many postseason games.
Unfortunately, this trade hurts Pittsburgh today and in the foreseeable future. As a team just a few seasons removed from winning back-to-back titles and being contenders, the time has come to tear it down and build it again.
The Guentzel trade will be discussed for years as the prospects grow into NHL regulars. As mentioned, Dubas has his hands full as he carefully tries to reconstruct one of the most dominant lineups in the salary cap era while discussing the sensitive topic regarding Crosby's future.
Even though difficult decisions need to be made, trading away Guentzel for a bottom-six NHL player and some prospects who may never play for the team will be a topic that is dissected for seasons to come.
Considering Guentzel could have walked away as a free agent in July, the Penguins didn't have the cap space to keep him in the lineup despite his valuable contributions over the years.
As Penguins fans should expect, this will be one of many significant moves as the team restores its contending status by the end of the decade.
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