The NHL announced that Jake Guentzel was named to the Pittsburgh Penguins Quarter-Century First Team. Here's a look back at his career in black and gold.
The NHL announced that Jake Guentzel was named to the Pittsburgh Penguins Quarter-Century First Team. Here's a look back at his career in black and gold.
The NHL announced the Pittsburgh Penguins Quarter-Century team on Jan. 9, featuring several memorable names in franchise history.
Today, we want to examine Jake Guentzel's tenure with the club and his credentials for being honored on the Penguins' first team.
The Penguins selected Guentzel in the third round (77th overall) of the 2013 Draft. He spent three years at the University of Nebraska-Omaha while Pittsburgh prepared for its 2016 Stanley Cup championship.
He played 11 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2015-16 before jumping to the NHL in 2016-17. Guentzel split the season between the AHL and NHL, scoring a combined 35 goals and 75 points in 73 games.
During the Penguins' quest to repeat as champions, Guentzel's first postseason experience ended with him leading the playoffs in goals (13), even-strength goals (11), and game-winning goals (five).
Following the victory parade, Guentzel became a 20-goal scorer for the first time in 2017-18, skating in a full 82 games and finishing with 48 points.
However, the best was yet to come for the then-24-year-old. During the 2018-19 season, he found undeniable chemistry with Sidney Crosby, scoring 40 goals for the first time and reaching 76 points.
He followed that magical season with 20 goals in 2019-20 and another 23 in the shortened 2020-21 season.
When the NHL returned to a full slate of games in 2021-22, Guentzel scored 40 goals for the second time and set a career-high with 84 points.
In his final entire campaign with the Penguins in 2022-23, Guentzel had 36 goals and 73 points. After 50 games and 22 goals during the 2023-24 season, Pittsburgh traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes, ending his eight-year stint with the team.
During Guentzel's eight seasons with Pittsburgh, these were his totals and ranks among players over the past 25 years:
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The deal with the Hurricanes included Ty Smith in exchange for a first-round pick (conditional) and a fifth-round pick (conditional), with Michael Bunting, Ville Koivunen, Cruz Lucius, and Vasiliy Ponomarev.
In 17 games, Guentzel scored eight goals and 25 points, with an additional eight lamplighters and ten points in 11 playoff games. Unable to sign him as a pending free agent, they traded him to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
For the first time in his career, Guentzel was one of the most coveted free agents on the market and agreed to a seven-year deal with Tampa Bay worth $63 million.
Halfway through the 2024-25 season, he has already scored 25 goals and 50 points in 48 games. On top of being selected to Team USA for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-off, he's on pace for 42 goals and 84 points.
