What will the Pittsburgh Penguins do with Jake Guentzel?
Jake Guentzel’s name appeared on Frank Seravalli’s ‘Swing Players’ list and could become the No. 1 trade target this trade deadline if the Pittsburgh Penguins decide to sell him. Today on Daily Faceoff Live, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss why the Penguins need to move on from Guentzel now and retain the assets.
Tyler Yaremchuk: One name that keeps popping up is Jake Guentzel. I think without a doubt he’s one guy who pops on your list as the most impactful player; you look at the numbers he’s put up and he’s played with skill in the past like Sidney Crosby. If he shakes loose is he not potentially the most impactful player who could be available at the deadline?
Frank Seravalli: If he shakes loose he rockets to No. 1 on our trade targets. He’s an elite point producer and elite talent, well north of a point per game someone who has a big game and Stanley Cup experience doing so at a young age and winning back-to-back Stanley Cups. You look at where the Penguins are at, they’re in tough to make the playoffs, the metrics and underlying numbers have been good all season they can’t seem to put any consistency together and they’re hanging in. But for an aging team, I’d they fall three or five points off it come March 8, I don’t think Kyle Dubas will have any choice but to move on from Guentzel.
Frank Seravalli: The last thing you want to do is walk into an extension with him and then have a complete rebuild upcoming for a team that has missed the playoffs two years in a row now even with a healthy Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and a 100 point defenseman in Erik Karlsson. If you have all those things and you still aren’t making it then the last thing you want to do with Guentzel is sign him to a contract and have him be the best player on the 31st or 32nd-ranked team in the NHL for a few years on that deal.
Frank Seravalli: They have to cash in and get the assets back if they’re out of the playoff picture. The sticky situation is because of that core and because of the commitment of them and the deals that they have all signed they owe it to that core to give them every last opportunity to get in this year and make some noise.