A familiar face will be in town to face the Penguins tonight. Sidney Crosby’s best ever winger returns for the first time with his new long term employer in the Tampa Bay Lightning. Guentzel has had a very successful start to his Tampa career and his quality of teammate has definitely not suffered for leaving for leaving the Penguins.
Guentzel has found a home with Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point in a complete souped up top line. His most common defenseman linemate has been Victor Hedman. He’s in a great spot and he is still doing Jake Guentzel things. He has a 5v5 points per 60 of 2.41 and he has seven goals and 17 points in 16 games. It places him on a 36 goal pace which is right about where he always is. He is shooting 15.6% with his career average being 15.2%. If you combine his Carolina and Tampa numbers he has played 33 games away from the Penguins and scored 15 goals and has 42 points. A product of Sidney Crosby? I think not. He has shown great consistency over the years and that consistency has translated to two other locations. He is a gifted player with clever instincts.
It is pretty clear that Guentzel’s trade away from the Penguins was the turning point when the team stopped trying to win in the present. Every move since then hasn’t been focused on truly competing in the 2024-25 season. Here are the significant moves:
Being bribed to take Kevin Hayes contract for a 2nd round pick
Signing Alex Nedeljkovic to a two-year deal.
Signing Anthony Beauvillier to a one-year deal
Signing Blake Lizotte for a two-year deal
Signing Matt Grzcelyk to a one-year deal
Trading for Cody Glass
Trading for Rutger McGroarty
Trading away Lars Eller
The national media can continue to pretend the Penguins are trying to win. We know the true reality of the situation. There will be more trades with a focus on the future in the coming months. The Guentzel trade was the first clear cut sign.
Thanks for reading!
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