Stanley Cup Champion Jake Guentzel is expected to test free agency once July 1st comes around. We used NHL 24 to see which team will sign the all-star winger.
The Carolina Hurricanes gave up Michael Bunting, three prospects, and a 2024 second-round draft pick to acquire Jake Guentzel. The Canes haven’t been an organization that pursues rentals at the trade deadline, but they bit the bullet this year to obtain the 2017 Stanley Cup Champion.
Guentzel certainly made his mark during his time in Carolina. He had 25 points in 17 regular season games before adding nine points in 11 games in the playoffs.
It was a very steep price Carolina had to pay, and the door isn’t completely shut on him returning to the team. However, as per reports by The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, the two-time 40-goal scorer is expected to test free agency. Additionally, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the team is shopping around his signing rights for a mid-round draft pick.
So, as a fun exercise, we decided to use NHL 24 to predict which team will win the Jake Guentzel sweepstakes and sign the two-time all-star.
[gallery ids="3287,3288,3289"]
His season simulation stats turned out to be almost identical to his real-life production. He finished with 30 goals (same as real life) and 78 points, one more point than he recorded in real life.
At 91 overall in the game and his listed player role as a first line winger, Guentzel was asking for an eight-year contract worth $9.425 million per year. He had three suitors interested in him as soon as July 1st hit in the game. Anaheim, Nashville, and San Jose were those teams.
Guentzel ended up signing with the rebuilding San Jose Sharks for six years worth $9.955 million annually. Yeah, that’s probably an overpayment.
Daily Faceoff projects Guentzel’s next contract to be worth around the $8 million annual range and a six-year deal. It’s fair to say that the NHL video game values Jake a lot higher. Or his agent in the game is just extremely good at his job.
There was a quote from Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek where he made a pretty out-there prediction that Guentzel could sign with San Jose.
It seems very unlikely that he would sign with a rebuilding team. Although the talent the Sharks have coming up through their pipeline in Will Smith, Kasper Halttunen, Quentin Musty, and soon-to-be 2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini could be appealing to some free agents.
Maybe Guentzel would be one of them. Also, a contract offer near $10 million per year could be just too good to turn down if he were to get one in real life.