Past, present, future collide for Penguins in Jake Guentzel’s return to Pittsburgh
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Tuesday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes featured an interesting intersection of the past, present and future for the Pittsburgh Penguins as beloved winger Jake Guentzel made his return to PPG Paints Arena for the first time since being traded to the Hurricanes.
Guentzel, a Stanley Cup champion in 2017, represents the club’s recent past. Michael Bunting, the NHL player acquired from Carolina in the Guentzel deal, is at present among the team’s top six wingers. First-round draft pick Sam Poulin, called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Tuesday morning, hopes to be a big part of its future.
The 23-year-old Poulin, drafted No. 21 overall by the Penguins in 2019, made his NHL debut early last season during a brief stint in Pittsburgh but soon thereafter took a three-month leave of absence from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, stepping away from hockey from December 2022 through March 2023 to prioritize his mental health.
This year at the AHL level, while he has navigated two injuries that have sidelined him for significant chunks of time, Poulin has scored 13 goals with 14 assists in 36 games.
“I’m just so excited to be here,” Poulin said. “It feels so good. I’ve come a long way to get here, so it’s just nice to know that my efforts actually happened and that I actually worked for something. So it’s nice to be here and really enjoy it.”
Poulin made his 2023-24 debut Tuesday as the Penguins’ fourth-line center, flanked by Jonathan Gruden, also called up Tuesday, and Jesse Puljujarvi.
Penguins management is hopeful Poulin, considered one of the club’s top prospects, can demonstrate he’s more NHL-ready.
“He’s been one of the better players at Wilkes this year and has gained some traction there,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “In talking with Kyle and (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach) J.D. (Forrest), that was one of the things that we were going to try to do to support Sam in his overall growth and development, was to give him an opportunity to develop and gain some traction. We all feel as though he’s done that.”
The 28-year-old Bunting, while not putting up points at quite the rate Guentzel has with Carolina, has established plenty of traction with his new team.
Sullivan initially deployed Bunting in Guentzel’s spot as left wing to Crosby, but after that experiment of a few games, Bunting was moved to Evgeni Malkin’s second line.
Through nine games in Pittsburgh, Bunting has scored three goals with as many assists, offering the Penguins a pesky on-ice presence who appears to enjoy crashing the net and hunting for rebounds at the crease.
Bunting, signed through 2025-26 for $4,500,000 annually, also is seeing action on the club’s first power play, where he’s put those aforementioned tendencies to work.
“It’s been great. The guys have been really welcoming,” Bunting said of his time with the Penguins. “It’s a close group in here, and they welcomed me with open arms. I’m starting to get more comfortable every single game playing here, freeing up my game and helping this team win. Looking forward to continuing my career here.”
Guentzel built his career in eight years with the Penguins, scoring 219 goals with 247 assists over 503 games.
Guentzel also averaged exactly one point per game through 58 career postseason contests for the Penguins, scoring 34 goals with 24 assists.
During a first-period stoppage in play Tuesday, the Penguins honored Guentzel with a video on the PPG Paints Arena jumbo screen.
Forever a Stanley Cup Champion and Penguins legend.
Thanks for the memories, Jake. Stay cool. Never change. ???? pic.twitter.com/bmTEL4zsmp
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 26, 2024
The Hurricanes did not conduct a morning skate Tuesday, so Guentzel was unavailable for comment regarding his return to Pittsburgh.
Guentzel has had a soft landing so far with the Hurricanes.
Through eight games, he’s scored a pair of goals with 10 assists, deploying initially next to Evgeni Kuznetsov on the Hurricanes’ second line but most recently as first-line left wing to Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis.
“He’s got really got hockey sense and I think can adjust to whatever game they want to play, whether it’s tight-checking and you have to grind a little bit, or if it’s up and down and you have to play the game off the rush, he can do that too,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “I think he’s someone who can adjust to any style of play.”
Note: Defenseman Ryan Graves re-entered the lineup Tuesday after an absence of two games because of personal reasons. Winger Jeff Carter, who has missed the past three games because of an undisclosed injury, participated in Tuesday’s morning skate and earned game-time decision designation but was a scratch. Forward Emil Bemstrom and blueliner John Ludvig were healthy scratches.