Jake Guentzel Brings More Than Just Scoring to Penguins
Everyone knows Jake Guentzel for his offense, but he provides the Pittsburgh Penguins with solid defense, too.
One of the biggest reasons the Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t been a completely rudderless ship to start the 2023-24 season has been the MVP level efforts from Sidney Crosby.
At the age of 36, Crosby is putting together one of his finest performances, yet isn’t the Penguins’ leading scorer through 31 games.
That honor goes to his linemate, Jake Guentzel who has a one-point edge on Crosby.
Guentzel holds 35 points split between 14 goals and a team-leading 21 assists; Crosby has the most goals on the team with 19 plus 15 assists for 34 points.
Despite not playing a single game during the preseason and spending most of training camp with other injured and non-roster players, Guentzel’s production has been a welcomed surprise.
Head coach Mike Sullivan spoke highly of Guentzel’s scoring touch before but called his play this year ‘critical’ to the Penguins success.
“I think Jake just quietly goes about his business every day,” Sullivan said. “He’s been one of our most consistent players on both sides of the puck.”
Sullivan went further on Guentzel’s defensive acumen, saying his offense speaks for itself.
“I think his defensive play flies under the radar,” Sullivan said. “I think he checks well. He has good awareness; he has a defensive conscience when we need him to.”
Overall, you may not think of Guentzel as a top-notch defensive player, but one of the biggest features of most Penguins’ forwards is their ability to play both ends of the rink.
Just looking at the players on the first line it’s pretty evident, Crosby leads the Penguins in takeaways while Bryan Rust has been an important piece to the penalty kill.
Guentzel being able to add his own defensive play only makes that line stronger and one of the big reasons they remain one of the best lines in hockey.
“I can’t say enough about his game,” Sullivan said. “He’s just a real good hockey player that brings a consistent effort every day.”
Guentzel could end up being one of the most pivotal players in the Penguins locker room; he’s in the final year of his contract and if the team can’t put things together, he’ll be right at the top of every trade board as the deadline nears.
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