Revisiting Jake Guentzel Trade & The Rippling Assets

All things were not smooth when the Pittsburgh Penguins traded winger Jake Guentzel in March 2024. The locker room sulked, several opponents pounded the team on the ice, and following the trade, the winger seemed only slightly less salty than the rim of a giant margarita.

“It wasn’t my choice,” Guentzel said a couple of weeks later.

Guentzel was a pending free agent it was clear the Penguins were not going to make the playoffs. General manager Kyle Dubas had essentially cut off contract talks, instead drawing a few lines in the sand for the team to improve if they wanted to remain together.

Dubas erased those deadlines until he was out of time and dealt Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes for NHL winger Michael Bunting, prospects Ville Koivunen, Vasily Ponomarev, Cruz Lucius, and a conditional pick that became a second-round pick (44th overall).

Guentzel made it quite clear the deal wasn’t his idea and not something he welcomed.

However, more than one year later, the fallout has been beneficial to the Penguins but not so much to Carolina. Guentzel was initially complimentary to Carolina but ultimately spurned the high-intensity team for free agency and a hefty deal from the Tampa Bay Lightning (seven years, $63 million).

Dating back to 2021-22, Guentzel has scored at least 30 goals in five straight seasons, including netting 41 last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Conversely, the Penguins got 20 goals from Bunting over 79 games split over parts of three seasons before trading him to the Nashville Predators for Tommy Novak and Luke Schenn. Then traded Schenn to the Winnipeg Jets for a 2026 second-round pick and a 2027 fourth-round pick.

The second-round pick received from Carolina became defenseman Harrison Brunicke, who is on track to make the NHL roster this season or next.

Penguins Net

Prior to the trade, the Penguins’ prospect pool was shallow, limited to Owen Pickering, Tristan Broz, Brayden Yager, and Joel Blomqvist.

If you’re keeping score, the Penguins’ current Guentzel net is steeped in quantity. The quality will come from Koivunen and Brunicke. Novak remains a bit of a mystery; At 28, he has middle-six offensive skills but may or may not have the layers necessary to be successful. Nashville took the negative side of that debate, while Dubas offers an opportunity for Novak to prove the positive.

Thus far, the trade is:

Ville Koivunen, 22, registered seven assists in his first eight NHL games at the end of last season. He is ranked No. 1 on the PHN Top 25 Penguins Prospects list. He projects as a top-six winger at the NHL level.

Harrison Brunicke, 19, could be a top-four defenseman in the NHL this season or next. He’s steady, smooth, but also has good size at 6-foot-3, 202 pounds. He nearly made the NHL roster last fall before being sent back to juniors.

Vasily Ponomarev, who did little in his NHL chances last season and left for the KHL. The Penguins retained his rights, but the split seems more permanent than temporary.

Cruz Lucius, 21, who has since transferred from Wisconsin to Arizona State. Penguins director of player development Tom Kostopoulos publicly challenged Lucius to have a better season, and “He has to prove what kind of player he can become. And he’s been working hard throughout the summer, and I know he’s going to push himself. So this will be a big season for him.” Lucius ranked 22nd on our Top 25 list.

Tommy Novak, a middle-six center who fell out of favor with Nashville, has otherwise not displayed much physicality, with only 24 hits in 203 career games. Last season, Novak notched 22 points (13-9-22) in 54 games, though he played just two games with the Penguins before suffering a season-ending injury.

The Winnipeg Jets’ 2026 second-round pick

Winnipeg’s 2027 fourth-rounder.