Yesterday, Kyle Dubas spoke with Josh Getzoff and addressed Jake Guentzel’s contract situation. Before we get there I am just going to say it is not an update riddled with detail and information you couldn’t already connect the dots about. Alas, it is technically an update
“We haven’t had any discussions with teams about Jake — anything out there is pure speculation,” general manager Kyle Dubas said on his biweekly radio program that aired Wednesday night on FM 105.9 in Pittsburgh
So no official trade discussions have taken place to this point if we are to take Dubas at face value. I believe him because I don’t think the Penguins first choice is to trade him away. Every one of the Penguins big picture roster moves has spoken to a team clinging on and trying to compete in the now. You don’t extend Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust, and Rickard Rakell if you are looking to rebuild. You certainly don’t trade away a first round pick and take on a 10M cap hit for Erik Karlsson if you aren’t looking to compete right now. Jake Guentzel is a compete right now piece, a very big one. I imagine the intent is to retain his services for the long term.
You can certainly trade away Jake Guentzel for quality futures, but the team is still going to try and chase its tail replacing him because they’ve already committed to the now. It would take quite a number of moving parts to successfully replace Guentzel and I’m not so sure that’s a realistic path even if you have a management team capable of juggling all the pieces it would take. Sometimes you just have to pay for convenience.
“We’ll continue to go through the season here and I’ll continue to evaluate where we’re at, and either after the All-Star break or after the season we’ll do what’s best for everybody — best for the Penguins, best for Jake, and we’ll determine that together.
“That’s really it.”
The other part of the equation is of course what does Jake Guentzel want? Because it doesn’t really matter if the Penguins want to keep him if he wants to explore other options which is certainly his well deserved/earned right.
Dubas also said Wednesday he did “not take personally” recent comments by Guentzel’s agent, Ben Hankinson, that “things could get ugly.”
“I don’t think he was talking about the contract situation,” Dubas said. “I think he was more talking about the team and where it’s going to go in the next several seasons.
“I didn’t take it as anything offensive, other than Ben trying to do right by his client.”
It doesn’t appear like Dubas is interested in burning any bridges which of course is the proper course of action.
Since mid-December the Penguins have taken standings points in 13 out of 16 games. They’ve taken 23 out of 32 possible points. They now sit a single point out of the wild card with two games in hand on Tampa Bay. The all star game is in about two weeks. Dubas wanted to evaluate the team leading into that break. The Penguins have Vegas, Arizona, Florida, and Montreal before that happens. If the gap remains consistent or the Penguins find themselves in a playoffs spot I can’t imagine they will be looking to offload Guentzel.
Thanks for reading!
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