In an announcement coming from the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team has placed forward Jake Guentzel on injured reserve while recalling Jonathan Gruden, Vinnie Hinostroza, and Valtteri Puustinen from their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. In a subsequent announcement, Chris Johnston of TSN reports that Guentzel is expected to be out for around a month, putting his trade deadline candidacy into question.
Ultimately, Guentzel’s injury status will likely not steer any teams away from acquiring his services by March 8th, given that his playoff track record has been so strong since he first entered the league. As a team already on the bubble of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoff race, the absence of Guentzel will almost certainly hurt Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes.
If the Penguins wait until March 8th to trade Guentzel, the acquiring team will only be missing Guentzel for about a week, unless there is an unexpected setback with his current injury. Because he may only miss a few games on a new team, Guentzel’s price tag likely won’t drop by the time the trade deadline rolls around.
In regards to the trio of players recalled in this transaction, Gruden and Hinostroza have both been in the AHL for a month or more. Of the three, Puustinen has been the most successful playing in Pittsburgh this season, scoring one goal and eight points in 21 games serving in a depth role.
Ownership should have let Rutherford make the deals he wanted to make. Nostalgia doesn’t get you anywhere.
And how people in Pittsburgh complain about Mike tomlin but not a word about Mike Sullivan is beyond me
To be fair, the comments sections on the Pens’ Athletic articles call out Sullivan regularly
It’s not just the Athletic! Fire Sully is a common refrain on the internet
TJECK might be referring to Pittsburgh sports media, though
Yes sir
Odds he’s played his last game as a Penguin?
50/50. At this point I think they’ll keep him and try to re-sign him, but it’s truly a toss-up.
If the younger guys play well I could see a “soft sell” and guys like Smith and Rakell get traded, but I think the most likely scenario is that Dubas does very little at all around the deadline. The offseason is the place to make major overhauls, not the deadline.
Sullivan is likely a coaching casualty before seasons end but is it his fault the management team in Pittsburgh decided to stick with aging and slow veterans and hope for the best? The NHL today, Is bigger, Better, Stronger, Faster. I can’t wait to see how the genius Dubas navigates the Pens through a long rebuild.
He’s good at unearthing gems. He’s used to top heavy teams… Cannot really think of a better GM for your team at the moment.
He signed Puljujarvi, His resume is pedestrian, Give Hinostroza 9 minutes a night and he’ll give you 12 goals. Kyle Dufus!
I see you’re trolling again below Pens articles. Same exact comments every time lmao.
Chill, we get it, you hate the Penguins and Dubas. It won’t be a long rebuild.
Good to see the Pens beat the worst team in the league last night to end a three game losing streak. Maybe they could get Jagr and Kessel to get back in the race.
If you’re attacking dubas then you are clueless. The guy was handed a disaster of a team and nearly cleaned house. He still had limited cap space, no tradable assets and a week free agent class to work with. He bet on a defensive 3rd and 4th line because paying for scoring was too much for the cap. Also, players have to want to come here and most probably didn’t want to. Dubas has done everything reasonable to be competitive. You can change coaching if you want, but this debacle is on the players. There is no reason the power play should be this bad and no reason they shouldn’t be competitive with the goal tending they’re getting. This is on the players.
There’s not really anything he can do other than hold on and build the system up from the ground. Try telling Crosby, Letang and Malkin that you’re punting on the playoffs and Dubas would be gone quickly, contract and all.
The hope all along is that they get in and make a Florida-esque run, which isn’t really much of a plan, but as you said, hands are tied.
You mean gems like Matthew Phillips? Lol.
Troll usually means that I’m right or I hurt your feelings. Lol.
The standings say I’m right!
The Penguins don’t have the legs for any kind of run, The writing is on the wall.
The PENS have an actual NHL playoff caliber goalie, which puts them a step up on the Leafs, among others.
Imagine having the oldest team in the league, the worst farm system in the league, and having a roster where you have a grand total of 2 goals scored by any player younger than 25 years old, and you head into the draft without a first round pick.
That is inexusable.
I couldn’t have said it better!
It really isn’t. FSG bought this team to make money. Crosby, malkin, letang and karlsson fill the seats. They are also still playing at a high level and in the case of the first 3, are out playing their respective cap hits. You don’t just punt on all that to jump start a rebuild. Their first round pick this year will be roughly middle of the pack. Statistically, that’s worthless. The day that Crosby starts looking washed is the day the rebuild starts. Everyone is being so melodramatic. They are literally a mediocre power play away from being a playoff team. They are certainly cooked for this year, but they can get something for their expiring contracts and then flip that for help in the off season. They will have a ton of cap space and can make another run at the playoffs. If it fails, who cares, they’ve won 3 cups in the last 15 years. We owe it to Crosby to try.
In all due respect to Crosby, who is one of the greatest players ever, and to what this core of players has accomplished together, you are vastly underestimating how difficult it is to rebuild in this league, and how long it takes. And that’s WITH a ton of draft picks and assets. And a middle of the 1st round pick is so far from useless, either in the chance it gets you a first line player, or the ability to move it for something impactful.
It takes a good 3-5 years from the the first year of carpet bombing the draft with multiple picks in the first and second rounds for consecutive years. Not sure what expiring contracts you are referring to that are going to turn into assets, they have hardly anything of value, especially if they cannot move Guentzel.
I do understand and respect their commitment to Crosby, but the notion that continuing to kick the can down the road to appease him comes without a significant price is absurd. Every year they punt on a rebuild will cost them two years at the back end of it.
They’re looking at a 5-7 year rebuild when the smoke clears.