Hurricanes Acquire Jake Guentzel in Six-Player Blockbuster With Penguins
The Carolina Hurricanes have won the Jake Guentzel sweepstakes, with the 29-year-old winger headed to Raleigh, N.C.
Guentzel, a pending unrestricted free agent, was traded Thursday by the Pittsburgh Penguins alongside defenceman Ty Smith for a package that included Michael Bunting, three prospects and two conditional draft picks.
The prospects that Pittsburgh acquired are forwards Ville Koivunen, Vasily Ponomarev and Cruz Lucius.
They’ll receive a 2024 first-round pick if the Hurricanes advance to this summer’s Stanley Cup Final. Otherwise, that selection will drop to the Philadelphia Flyers’ second-rounder, previously acquired by Carolina.
The Penguins could also receive a 2024 fifth-round selection, although it’s contingent on the Hurricanes winning this year’s Stanley Cup.
Pittsburgh has agreed to retain 25 percent of Guentzel’s $6 million cap hit for the remainder of this season, reducing that figure to $4.5 million.
Guentzel, a third-round selection by the Penguins in 2013, excelled as a home-grown talent across eight seasons with the franchise, scoring 219 goals and 466 points in 503 career games. He helped the club repeat as Stanley Cup champions in 2017, leading the playoffs with 13 goals.
This season, the 5-foot-11 winger has 22 goals and 52 points over 50 contests while skating alongside captain Sidney Crosby, averaging a career-high 20:53 per night.
“The decision to trade Jake Guentzel, with his contract set to expire this offseason, was one of the most difficult decisions that I have had to make in my time in management,” Penguins GM Kyle Dubas said in a statement on Thursday.
“In my first season with the Penguins, it has become quite clear why Jake means so much to his teammates, all Penguins staff and the City of Pittsburgh. Jake’s competitiveness, tenacity and spirit, combined with his talent have produced some of the greatest moments of this era of Penguins hockey. A born and bred Pittsburgh Penguin, Jake has become a pillar in the community and fan favourite for all the right reasons. We cannot thank Jake and his family enough for their contributions to the Penguins since he was drafted in 2013 and wish him our very best.”
Bunting is in the first season of a three-year, $13.5-million contract signed with Carolina last summer. His deal includes a $4.5 million cap hit per season through 2025-26.
The 28-year-old had spent the previous two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, enjoying a breakout 2021-22 campaign that included career-highs in goals (23) and points (63). He followed that up with 23 goals and 49 points last season.
But his offensive production dipped considerably during Bunting’s 60-game stint with the Hurricanes, resulting in just 13 goals and 36 points across 60 games. However, perhaps playing on a line with Crosby or Evgeni Malkin will lead to a return to form.
Koivunen is the main centrepiece among the prospects Pittsburgh acquired in this blockbuster deal. The 20-year-old, a second-round selection in 2021, has exploded in Finland’s top professional league, Liiga, scoring 21 goals and 55 points across 57 contests thus far.
Amidst a disappointing 2023-24 season, the Penguins are poised to miss the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since the early 2000s, causing Dubas to retool his roster ahead of Friday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Michael Miller. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.