OK so here is what we have all been waiting for. The full details of the Jake Guentzel trade. Brace yourselves:
Full trade:
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) March 8, 2024
Pittsburgh trades Jake Guentzel (25% retained) and Ty Smith to Carolina in exchange for Michael Bunting, Ville Koivunen, Vasili Ponomarev, Cruz Lucius, Carolina’s 1st RD pick in 2024 (Conditional) and Carolina’s 5th RD pick in 2024 (Conditional).
There was the feeling the Penguins were looking for quality over quantity with this trade. On the surface it does not appear to be the case. The Carolina Hurricanes have the 13th best prospect pool per The Athletic and the Penguins got their 6th, 7th, and 9th best prospect. There were rumors of Scott Morrow (3rd best) and Jackson Blake (4th best), but they were just that, rumors.
No. 13 in the 2024 NHL prospect rankings: Carolina Hurricanes: https://t.co/x6dS0nwQkv pic.twitter.com/r4VbB8m17m
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) February 18, 2024
The quantity over quality approach has the ceilings you might associate with this kind of trade
Ville Koivunen: high hockey sense, playmaker, supports plays well, skating a weakness (upside: top-nine)
— David St-Louis (@DavidSt_Louis) March 8, 2024
Vasili Ponomarev: hard-working, two-way forward (bottom-six)
Cruz Lucius: deceptive/flashy playmaker, skating also a weakness. Skilled, but style may not translate to NHL. https://t.co/aiQtzmkVWl
A common thread among these prospects is concerns about their skating. A big part of wanting your team to get younger is to get faster. Doesn’t appear to be the case here.
Carolina paid only a reasonable price to acquire a player whose upside is great. Maybe even championship great.
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) March 8, 2024
Pittsburgh got quantity over quality. That rarely ever ends well.
The consensus? The Hurricanes won the Jake Guentzel trade.https://t.co/razPTj7Hms pic.twitter.com/8c8utSbwCY
From Corey Pronman:
He (Lucius) has legit playmaking skills at the college level, but his average size and so-so skating leads to questions about how well he will translate to the pros.Like Lucius, he (Koivunen) is also isn’t a great skater and he will need to prove at higher levels that his game will translate.
But he (Ponomarev) is a smaller center who skates fine but isn’t a blazer. He has a chance to be a bottom-six forward if he hits.
This just isn’t good enough when you have the very best asset of the trade deadline, rental or not. Consolidate the pieces into something with quality, was that not the mission statement? Especially considering you are eating some salary and taking a contract off the books from them.
If you aren’t going to get prospects with higher ceilings then you can’t have a conditional first round pick. Which is what they got.
The draft pick will likely fall between 30 and 50 based on the parameters which is a literal dart throw. Even if the Hurricanes make the Final it is essentially a 2nd round pick. The fifth round pick is only coming to Pittsburgh if the Hurricanes win it all. The draft compensation is very meh, just like the prospects.
This trade feels like when you just keep adding mediocre pieces in an EA Sports game until the other team finally accepts. And to think this is a situation where you are trading a division rival a 40 goal scorer.
The final piece of the trade has the Penguins receiving Michael Bunting who used to play for Kyle Dubas in Toronto. He’s 28 years old and has two more seasons left at 4.5M.
This is similar in concept to the Reilly Smith acquisition. Just trying to get a second line winger at a 4-5M cost. Smith obviously didn’t work out whereas Buntin is another crack at things. That said, I view taking on Bunting as a favor to the Hurricanes to make salary work for them. I’m guessing Dubas viewed it as a positive for the Penguins which may have impacted the perception he had in the other areas of this deal. Unfortunate, if true.
One question I find myself asking, does Michael Bunting play more games for the Penguins than those three prospects combined? Maybe not, but the likelihood of him being the best asset the Penguins got in return for Jake Guentzel is way higher than zero and that ain’t good.
All in all it is a pretty disappointing day/night for the Penguins. They got smoked by Washington 6-0 and they’ve lost one of the best wingers of their best era of hockey for what looks like scratch off tickets.
Between Jim Rutherford, Ron Hextall, and now Kyle Dubas it has been shameful how they've constructed the roster around Crosby, Malkin, and Letang considering their caliber of play since 2017. It is crazy that Craig Patrick contributions are what has been propping this team up all the way to 2024.
I don’t see how this trade is going to help in the short or long term, but it’s the direction Dubas has gone in. Anyways...
Thank you, Jake. You were a terrific Penguin and your contributions will always be remembered. One of the smartest players the team has ever had. A personal favorite of mine. Best wishes.
Thanks for reading!