The Canucks and Golden Knights are among the teams making serious offers for star Penguins winger Jake Guentzel ahead of the trade deadline, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports Monday. The two Pacific Division squads are among at least six “legit suitors” for his services.
Pittsburgh was viewed as a team with uncertain status heading into deadline season a few weeks ago, but three straight losses now have them 10 points out of a playoff spot and hurtling toward seller status. As such, the likelihood of them parting ways with Guentzel this week has skyrocketed, with the team reportedly preferring high-end prospects in return rather than first-round draft picks.
If that’s the case, Vancouver has the much stronger arsenal to deal from. The team recalled 2019 top-10 pick Vasily Podkolzin from AHL Abbotsford over the weekend, and he made his season debut yesterday against the Ducks, speculatively as a showcase for a trade. Offers centered around him, such as 2022 first-round pick Jonathan Lekkerimäki or 2023 first-round pick Tom Willander, are likely to draw the attention of Penguins GM Kyle Dubas.
In comparison, Vegas’ potential offer could center around 2020 late first-round pick Brendan Brisson or 2023 selection David Edstrom, the last pick of the first round, who grades out as a potential high-end third-line center.
Importantly, neither team has the long-term flexibility to ink the pending UFA to an extension. The Golden Knights are averaging less than a $1MM cap hit in space for every open roster spot next season, while the Canucks need to allocate a significant chunk of next season’s spending to their defense – only Quinn Hughes and Noah Juulsen are signed through next season or longer. Guentzel’s $6MM cap hit would also pose an insurmountable salary cap hurdle for Vancouver and Vegas, so the team must retain half of his salary in any potential deal.
Both teams could use the top-line help, however. Canucks star center Elias Pettersson is currently flanked by Nils Höglander and Pius Suter, both of whom are better suited for middle-six roles. Vegas, meanwhile, is still looking to shoulder the loss of captain Mark Stone for the rest of the regular season, and potentially the playoffs, due to a lacerated spleen.
While also injured, Guentzel is nearing a return from an upper-body injury that’s kept him out since mid-February and should be ready to return shortly after the deadline. He has 22 goals and 52 points in 50 games this season, set to eclipse the point-per-game mark for the fourth time in the last five years.
How many “real” prospects is Guentzel gonna fetch. The names mentioned about are not the freshest bunch
Lekeremakki and willander are absolutely real high end prospects and I doubt van would include either.
They would have to in order to land Guentzel. If the Penguins don’t get a good enough offer they’ll hang onto him and be able to offer him the extra year on an extension (he loves Pittsburgh).
Perfect……hopefully he does stay in pitt.
Agreed actually. Although, a part of me wants the Pens to trade him and then pursue him aggressively in free-agency and possibly bring him back. It’s a risk, but it would be a fun story to follow. We’ll see.
Poll on the next Vegas player to hit LTIR lol?
Please not Lekker or Willander. Need those EL contracts to balance the top heavy contracts and OEL buyout costs
Sending Podz to the Penguins is giving me McCann vibes…and he turned out pretty good.
What about 23 yr old Ivan Morozov? The Vegas prospect is better than a pt per game in the KHL and a center to boot. He is also 6’1″ and a right shot! Checks all the boxes! Will he leave Mother Russia?
61st overall and already 23yrs old Ivan Morozov for Guentzel?
The same Morozov who had 17pts in 58 AHL games last year?
Goldobin plays on that team and can’t get an NHL contract….
Not sure the box being checked is the right box
Yeah. Guentzel is a top-line player who still has some good years ahead. The Penguins are insane if they’re NOT asking for first rounders (granted, they’ve been insane for two years running, big surprise), but were I a Pens fan, I’d want to see a lot more than “Oooooh, he was a first round draft pick, and never mind his actual performance.”
Guentzel and Smith to Vegas for two prospects and two decent draft picks.
The Pens were a legit Cup contender in 21-22 (took NY to 7 games with a fourth string goalie), and then Hextall blew up the team and destroyed the roster. It’s really a shame what he did, he basically slammed the window shut before it needed to be.
Lost McCann, Tanev, Marino, Matheson, and Rodrigues for basically nothing while acquiring Granlund, Petry, Ruuta, and signing Carter to an extension. What a terrible GM, but I trust Dubas to clean up his mess and rebuild.
They would have been smoked by the Canes if they had gotten past the Rangers.
Yeah, that extension, gahhh. However well Carter played right that first year and a quarter, it stood to reason that a 37 year old man would cave in sooner rather than later.
I actually don’t think so. That Pens team was HOT and almost beat the Rangers with zero goaltending. Jarry would have been back for the Canes series. I think the Pens would have worked them.
Especially since there were all kinds of signs he was slowing down despite the still decent point output. Hextell was just horrible, nothing else to really say lol.