Penguins Forward’s Start Could Help Contract Talks
The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to get great production from Jake Guentzel and that could benefit contract negotiations.
When Kyle Dubas arrived as president and general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins, one of the main parts of his to-do list was to look into a contract extension for one of his key forwards.
As the summer rolled on, no movement was made between the Penguins and elite goal scorer Jake Guentzel.
According to Dubas, however, there was a reason for that; an offseason ankle surgery was supposed to sideline Guentzel for the first couple of weeks of the regular season.
The main priority between the Penguins and Guentzel’s camp was that he regained his health and returned to the ice at 100%.
Guentzel healed faster than expected, and was on the ice for the season opener; not only was Guentzel in the lineup, he’s gotten off to a fantastic start.
While goal scoring is the focal point of Guentzel’s game, that hasn’t come around just yet, but he has found ways to be productive.
Through the first four games of the season, Guentzel has recorded a goal and five assists for six points.
For a handful of days, he and Evgeni Malkin (2G-4A) were in a tie for the league lead in points.
Guentzel has said before that he isn’t thinking about a new contract and is only focused on playing hockey, but he wouldn’t mind if something was resolved sooner rather than later.
This early production from Guentzel could be a huge benefit to him in whatever negotiations may arise now that he is healthy again.
The Hockey News believes Guentzel’s next deal could see him make just shy of $10 million annually, especially if the salary cap gets the dramatic increase everyone is expecting.
Guentzel just turned 29 and is in his prime years, it isn’t clear how long of a deal he may be eyeing up, but the Penguins know they want their elite goal scorer to stick around.
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