RALEIGH, N.C. — As tributes poured in last month when legendary broadcaster Bob Cole died, Mike Guentzel googled “Hockey Night in Canada 2017 playoffs” to relive the soundtrack of a playoff in which his son Jake, then a quiet, wide-eyed rookie, had a postseason run for the ages.
In helping lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a second consecutive Stanley Cup, Guentzel became the first rookie in NHL history to lead the postseason in goal scoring with 13. He came within one goal of matching Hall of Famer Dino Ciccarelli’s rookie NHL record set in 1981 and tied for the most postseason points in history by a rookie with 21.
Advertisem*nt
Cole called many of those goals.
“It was just amazing to hear Bob Cole talking about my son and the excitement in his voice,” said Mike Guentzel, a former longtime college and junior coach and now a pro scout with the new NHL Utah franchise after coming over from Arizona. “You forget about those memories and what happened, but it was cool to reminisce back to that and to hear Bob Cole talking about Jake. I’m like, ‘Wow, this is incredible.’”
That playoff run, after scoring 16 goals and 33 points in a 40-game regular season, turned out to be a family affair for Mike and his wife, Sally, and their two other sons, Gabe, who’s now 36 and a father of one, and Ryan, who’s now 38 and a father of one with another coming in June. They were along for the ride, attending several games and were on the ice in Nashville to celebrate with Jake after he paraded the Cup around the rink June 11, 2017.
Fourteen months earlier, Guentzel sat in a hotel room in Minneapolis with his dad and his agent, Ben Hankinson, when Penguins assistant general manager Jason Botterill convinced him to forgo his senior year at Nebraska Omaha, where he was captain. Jake’s mom wanted him to complete his degree, but on the ice at Bridgestone Arena, Mike sarcastically told his wife, “You know, honey, I think he made the right choice.”
Jake Guentzel (center) with parents Mike and Sally Guentzel, and older brothers Gabe and Ryan Guentzel on June 11, 2017, after winning the Stanley Cup. (Michael Russo / The Athletic)
What has been proved since that playoff run is Guentzel’s performance was no fluke.
It’s precisely why the Carolina Hurricanes, who typically loathe paying assets for pending unrestricted free agents at the trade deadline, were willing to trade Michael Bunting, three prospects and two draft picks, including a first-round pick that will become a second if Carolina doesn’t reach the Stanley Cup Final. In 2018, Guentzel scored 10 goals and 21 points in 12 playoff games. In 2022, he scored eight goals in seven playoff games.
Advertisem*nt
In total, he has 35 goals and 62 points in 63 career playoff games, including a goal and four points in the Canes’ five-game, first-round victory over the New York Islanders.
“This is a proven playoff performer,” Canes GM Don Waddell said. “I had been talking to (Penguins GM) Kyle (Dubas) in the days leading up to the deadline, but they were fighting for their lives and still had a good chance of making the playoffs. But they lost a game (6-1 in Edmonton) on the Sunday night before the deadline, and we started texting each other. He said it was time. On the Wednesday is when it really got going. Obviously, he had the premier player on the market and wanted to explore all his options. But by Thursday, game time for us, we knew we had a good chance of getting this deal done.
“We wanted to add to our roster, but we didn’t want to just add anybody. Coming into this year, Jake had 58 playoff games and 58 points, and I think 34 of those were goals. And we all know playoff goals are hard to come by. So he was our big target.”
Jake Guentzel waves to the crowd as a video board tribute in honor of his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins plays March 26 at PPG Paints Arena. (Charles LeClaire / USA Today)
This was not an easy season for Guentzel.
He had to have surgery in the middle of last summer after a broken bone in his foot sustained blocking a shot last season was getting worse. He was supposed to miss the start of the season, but he rehabbed strongly and was ready by opening night. Then in February, only a few weeks before the deadline, Guentzel broke some ribs and his oblique muscle ripped right off the bone. So Guentzel had to watch helplessly as the Penguins tried to make the playoffs without him.
Rumors ran rampant that if the Penguins were going to begin a roster reset, Guentzel, 29, could be a casualty of that, especially since the two sides got nowhere on a contract extension last offseason and he was the type of star who could recoup assets.
Advertisem*nt
“There was not much talk before the season,” Guentzel said. “We were just trying to be fair, but it just never came about.”
Guentzel added with a chuckle, “We decided to play it out, and now here we are in Raleigh.”
In January, Mike Guentzel was in Pittsburgh scouting for Arizona. He got in the car with his son after the game, and it was the first time Jake asked, “Dad, do you think I’m going to be traded?”
It was hard for Guentzel because he loved being a Penguin. He loved playing with Sidney Crosby and for Mike Sullivan. He loved the fans. And he and his wife, Natalie, who have a son, Charlie, who will turn 2 this summer, loved their home in Pittsburgh.
“But being a pro scout, watching UFAs yourself and potential trade candidates, you understand the business, and I knew talking to other teams’ scouts that he was being targeted,” Mike Guentzel said. “It’s never easy to sit in your chair at a pro meeting in Scottsdale and have to listen to all the national reporters and broadcasts talk about your son and our (Coyotes) guys are looking at me kind of like, ‘Anything happen yet?’”
Eventually, it did happen.
The Monday after the blowout loss to the Oilers was the first time Dubas told Guentzel he’d likely soon be traded.
“And then it became a waiting game,” Jake said. “It was tough because I was so close to a couple guys, especially Sid. I sat next to him for I don’t know how long, and a guy I really looked up to and a guy who took me under his wing. I was very fortunate to play alongside him. We got so close, he’s really like an older brother to me.
“But finally, on Thursday (the day before the deadline), Kyle drove to my house and told me I was going to Carolina.”
Guentzel was blown away. As heartbroken as he was, he was excited because he looked at the Hurricanes as a true Cup contender. He had heard teams like Vancouver and the Rangers may be interested, “but I never bought the Carolina rumors because I thought they didn’t do rentals.”
To Jake Guentzel, Sidney Crosby is like an “older brother.” (Joe Sargent / NHLI via Getty Images)
Guentzel, however, hopes he’s not just a hired gun or “rental.” There should be several teams interested, but there’s no doubt he would be interested in re-signing in Carolina after the year.
“Look at this place,” Guentzel said Thursday as he sat on the patio of a coffee shop in Raleigh after practice. “The weather’s great, the team’s great. I mean, great players, a great coach, and we play a style where there’s no ice, no room when you play us.
Advertisem*nt
“The city’s great, the fans are amazing. This is a great hockey place. What’s not to like?”
But Guentzel said the last thing on his mind right now is where he’s going to play next season and beyond. His only goal is to help the Canes win their second Stanley Cup championship, plus he knows Carolina has tons of free agents to try to re-sign, including Priority No. 1 — Seth Jarvis.
“It’s hard to believe he’s only 22,” Guentzel said. “He has the whole world in his hands right now. He’s an unbelievable player.”
After playing on a line with Evgeny Kuznetsov once he debuted with the Hurricanes, Guentzel began playing with Sebastian Aho and Jarvis. The line was on fire, and Guentzel made it crystal clear to the hockey world he was not just a byproduct of Crosby’s brilliance in Pittsburgh.
Guentzel scored eight goals and 25 points, including eight multipoint games, in 17 regular-season games with Carolina and finished the season with 30 goals and 77 points in just 67 games. According to NHL Stats, Guentzel’s 25 points tied John Anderson (traded from Quebec to Hartford in 1986) for the most points with a new team by a player acquired within one week of the trade deadline. The first official trade deadline was in 1979-80.
As confident as one may consider a pro athlete, Guentzel admits he was extremely nervous showing up in Raleigh and hoping he’d fit in.
“I’m pretty quiet until I get to open up to people and get to know people, that’s just been me,” he said. “I observe a little bit and just kind of watch, and once I feel comfortable and get to know people, that’s when I kind of open up a little bit more. I mean, it’s my first time on a new team really. It was a lot different than Pittsburgh, the group here is a little bit younger. And this team seems really close, but they took me in right away.”
Advertisem*nt
Jarvis says it’s hilarious to see the difference between Guentzel now and in March when he arrived.
“Now we can’t get him to shut up,” Jarvis said. “He’s warmed up to us now, and all he does is chirp everybody. I love watching him and take a lot from his game. He has a small body, but he’s so effective in the playoffs.”
In the third period of Game 1 against the Islanders, Andrei Svechnikov replaced Jarvis on the Guentzel-Aho line, and the Canes rallied for a big victory. That trio has played together since, and it’s expected the three begin together Sunday afternoon when the Hurricanes open the second round against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
As Jarvis said, Guentzel isn’t the biggest guy, but he doesn’t seem to know there’s even an exterior of the ice, said Mark Recchi, the Canes Stanley Cup champ and current assistant coach in Columbus, who coached Guentzel in Pittsburgh.
“He can play any style of game,” Recchi said. “He’s got hockey sense off the charts and his compete level is off the charts.”
Jake says he got his competitiveness and willingness to go into the dirty areas from having to compete his entire life against his older brothers, who are six and eight years older than him.
Mike Guentzel explains it more succinctly.
“There’s no doubt he’s not the biggest guy, but I think Jake’s got heart and balls,” Mike Guentzel said. “The ice is small in the playoffs. It’s tougher to get to the slot, yet Jake’s always there.”
Jake Guentzel takes questions after winning the Stanley Cup as a rookie on June 11, 2017. (Michael Russo / The Athletic)
In the first round against the Islanders, Guentzel had one empty net goal in five games. He played well, but he wasn’t his normal, dominant self and seemed to be deferring to his linemates by passing up shots.
“He’s got to shoot,” Mike Guentzel said candidly. “I haven’t seen his back to the net as much as I saw it in Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh, playing with Sid, I know he felt like he had to be a net-front presence, and he had to do some screening and slot work. He’s got to get back to that, in my opinion. It’s gone really well for Jake for the most part there. But to me, it’s not possible for Jake to have success when you play five games and have seven shots.
Advertisem*nt
“He’s a three-shot-a-night type of guy over his career. And I think he’s got to get back to that, getting in the slot, shooting and not deferring. He passed up a chance (in Game 5) where I just shook my head watching it, going, ‘Why are you passing between the circles to a guy who’s in the circles with a worse angle than what you have?’”
Asked if he’s talked to his son about that, Mike said: “There’s times where I know when I have to say something, there’s times where I know I have to say it in a certain manner to Jake. And I probably will. I’ve let him have some space here recently, but before the next series starts, I’m going to have to remind him of what makes him successful.”
Jake Guentzel admits he needs to shoot more, and he still finds himself getting crossed up at times between the Penguins’ system and the Canes’ man-on-man system. But he loves playing with Svechnikov, whom he calls a “powerful beast,” and Aho.
“He reminds me of Sid,” Guentzel said of Aho. “His 200-foot game, the skill he has, the playmaking he does, his competitiveness, he’s a lot like Sid. But I do have to get back to shooting the puck. That’s when I’m at my best, when I’m shooting and engaged. Maybe a little bit too much passing.”
Waddell and coach Rod Brind’Amour, whom Guentzel has a great affinity for already, believe he will and know during long playoff runs, it takes an entire team to contribute and feel it’s just a matter of time before Guentzel will have his big moment or moments.
His dad expects that he’ll prove himself with time.
“Jake’s an established player now, but he’s on a new team, so it’s back to proving yourself,” he said. “You’ve got to earn it again and you’ve got to show that you can play and you’ve got to earn your spot. As a rookie, you earn your way. You show it, and you gain your respect. And sometimes when you get too comfortable, things can slip and slide a little bit.
Advertisem*nt
“In Pittsburgh, Jake really went in there wide-eyed and eager, and proved himself. And I think he’s still doing that to this day, where he knows he’s got to step up. The hardest thing, I think probably for Jake, is everybody says now that he’s in Carolina, ‘This is our playoff hero. This is the guy we’re missing. This is the goal scorer.’ So if you don’t score, then all of a sudden now it magnifies a little bit.
“But there’s going to come a time where he’s going to have to answer the bell.”
And knowing Guentzel, he will.
He always has.
“People have told me I’m too small, too weak, my whole life, so my entire career has been about making people eat their words a little bit,” Guentzel said. “That’s fun for me. I know where the goals are scored, so my goal is to get to the front of the net against the Rangers and hopefully the next two rounds.
“I think we’re all focused on the Cup, but it’s a sprint. It’s another challenge here for us against the Rangers. It’s the best team in the league, and they’ve been good all year, so I don’t think we’re worried about anything else besides them right now. It’s a big challenge, and I think we’re all excited for that.”
(Top photos: Josh Lavallee / NHLI via Getty Images and Michael Russo / The Athletic)
