The Carolina Hurricanes completed one of the highest-profile mid-season trades in March when they landed forward Jake Guentzel from the Pittsburgh Penguins. His future in Raleigh, however, shouldn’t be taken for granted.
According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, reporting on June 3, Guentzel is expected to enter free agency on July 1, 2024, when he is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent.
“All things being equal, it very much sounds as though the most likely outcome at this stage is Guentzel going to the July 1 market while at the same time keeping Carolina as an option,” LeBrun reported.
The Hurricanes traded for Guentzel on March 8, sending Pittsburgh a package featuring many assets, including forwards Michael Bunting, Vasily Ponomarev, and Ville Koivunen, the rights to right winger Cruz Lucius, and two conditional picks (a first- and a fifth-rounder) in the 2024 NHL draft.
LeBrun noted that Guentzel and agent Ben Hankinson “most likely wants to hear from other teams,” but “without ruling out Carolina.”
Guentzel is entering unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career. The Penguins drafted Guentzel with the No. 77 pick in the 2013 draft. They won the 2017 Stanley Cup 2017 with the winger contributing 21 points in 25 games.
Hurricanes Interested in Extending Guentzel’s Contract
Guentzel and Carolina are mutually interested in agreeing to a contract extension.
“With Jake, I think he played a good role here,” Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell said on May 20. “I know Sebastian (Aho) talked about how much he liked playing with him. We have begun those talks. We’ll talk to him also.”
LeBrun doubled down on that information in his latest report, adding that the Hurricanes “have shown strong interest in trying to re-sign pending UFA winger Jake Guentzel,” adding that “conversations with agent Ben Hankinson continue.”
Guentzel also said he’s interested in staying put in Carolina during his end-of-season media availability, which followed the postseason elimination at the hands of the New York Rangers in the second round.
“I loved my experience here,” Guentzel said Saturday, May 18. “It’s a great place to play. I don’t think you realize the behind-the-scenes, how good it is. The guys make it good too. We’re going to see what happens over the next little bit here.
“I want to [win] more than anything, and that’s all I care about. That definitely plays a factor into it,” Guentzel said. “Hopefully you can kind of get some stability and be able to sign here long-term.”
Pittsburgh Penguins Not Expected to Enter Guentzel Sweepstakes
One thing the Hurricanes have in their favor that other franchises cannot offer Guentzel is a maximum, eight-year contract.
“The one carrot the Hurricanes have is to go eight years on a contract,” LeBrun wrote. “Guentzel can only get seven on the open market.”
That means Pittsburgh, who lost Guentzel via trade in March, couldn’t match the Hurricanes’ offer–assuming Carolina goes for a full max offer, which is unknown at this point.
In any case, Guentzel might never again (or at least, not in July 2024) have to decide between Carolina and Pittsburgh.
Josh Yohe of The Athletic answered a fan question about whether or not the Penguins will “try and bring Guentzel back” in a mailbag post published on June 3.
“I won’t say it’s impossible, but I’d be surprised if Jake Guentzel signed with the Penguins this summer,” Yohe wrote.
In a rather revelatory answer, Yohe added a few nuggets of information that had not been reported with such authority until now.
Yohe confirmed that Guentzel “loves it here,” referring to Pittsburgh. He added that the forward was “pretty angry” about the franchise deciding to trade him back in March.
“Guentzel was pretty angry about the trade, and I think even angrier that, in his view, the Penguins never made a legitimate attempt to sign him to a long-term contract,” Yohe reported.
The Penguins, on top of that, are under some cap constraints this summer.
According to Yohe, Guentzel could get “probably at least $9 million” in free agency. PuckPedia has Pittsburgh at $12.9 million in cap space with only 14 of 23 players under contract.
Adding Guentzel at that price would leave the Penguins with only $4 million to fill eight roster spots. Even signing all of those players to league-minimum ($750,000) deals wouldn’t be feasible.
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Hurricanes’ Jake Guentzel ‘Going to the July 1 Market’: Insider