Penguins forward Jake Guentzel is on the move.
Pittsburgh has traded the left winger to the Hurricanes less than 24 hours before the NHL trade deadline on Friday, Carolina announced.
The deal will send the forward to Carolina along with defenseman Ty Smith.
Pittsburgh will retain 25 percent of Guentzel’s salary as part of the trade.
“Jake is an elite goal scorer and playmaker who has produced at a high level for his entire NHL career,” Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell said in a statement. “Ty is a young, offensive-minded defenseman who will provide us with another reliable option on the blue line. We’re thrilled to bolster our lineup as we compete to bring the Stanley Cup back to Raleigh.”
In exchange, the Penguins will receive winger Michael Bunting, prospects Ville Koivunen, Vasily Ponomarev and Cruz Lucius, and two conditional draft picks — including a potential first-rounder — in the 2024 NHL Draft.
“The decision to trade Jake Guentzel, with his contract set to expire this offseason, was one of the most difficult decisions that I have had to make in my time in management,” Penguins first-year GM/director of hockey operations Kyle Dubas said, adding that Guentzel had become a pillar in the community and a fan favorite. “Jake’s competitiveness, tenacity and spirit, combined with his talent have produced some of the greatest moments of this era of Penguins hockey.”
The deal was an inevitability for the Penguins and Guentzel, who is in the final year of a five-year, $30 million deal that he signed in 2018.
While Guentzel has been a staple alongside Sidney Crosby for the majority of his career, the downturn for the Pens this season had made it a necessary evil for them to part ways.
Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas and Guentzel’s camp had not had any serious discussions about a contract extension, The Athletic reported.
“The decision to trade Jake Guentzel, with his contract set to expire this offseason, was one of the most difficult decisions that I have had to make in my time in management. In my first season with the Penguins, it has become quite clear why Jake means so much to his teammates, all Penguins staff and the City of Pittsburgh,” Dubas said in a statement after the trade.
The Hurricanes aren’t the traditional big spenders at the trade deadline but managed to beat out several other teams that had been inquiring about the Pittsburgh forward.
The Canucks, Rangers and Golden Knights had been linked to Guentzel in recent days, according to The Athletic, with the outlet reporting that the Canucks were getting a lot of attention due to president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford’s past ties to the Penguins.
Guentzel is a first-line talent who led the Penguins in playoff goals during the team’s 2017 Stanley Cup run and scored 40 goals during the regular season in 2018-19.
He has scored at least 20 goals in seven of the eight seasons he’s played in the NHL, recording 22 goals and 30 assists so far this year.
— with AP