Mark Madden: Penguins need a shakeup, and trading Jake Guentzel would bring good return

With the NHL trade deadline one month away and the Pittsburgh Penguins in a funk, the usual strategy beckons: Trade all our bad players for all their good players. Something like Jeff Carter, Kasperi Kapanen and Danton Heinen to Chicago for Patrick Kane.

That deal won’t be discussed by either team’s general manager, but talk-show callers might. It’s where twisted optimism intersects with plain old stupidity.

Almost any other swap involving the Penguins figures to be equally unrealistic. The Penguins are squeezed tight against the salary cap.

But GM Ron Hextall might be able to trade, say, winger Jake Guentzel.

Hextall shouldn’t consider trading draft picks.

Addressing the former, trading Guentzel could bring good return and would certainly affect a shakeup.

I’m not trying to run Guentzel out of town. But he’s tradeable. He’s got talent. He’s 28. Guentzel’s limited no-movement clause keeps him from being traded to 12 teams of his designation,

Guentzel is having a decent season, not a great one. Five of his 20 goals are into empty nets. He has been inconsistent. His 32 penalty minutes lead the team, but he’s hardly Battleship Kelly. All that Guentzel’s penalties do are put the Penguins shorthanded. They’re nickel-dime.

Guentzel is a great fit on Sidney Crosby’s wing. He’s not afraid to put his slight frame at risk. He’s a good finisher.

Trading him poses a lot of questions: Who replaces him on Crosby’s line? How does Crosby react? You don’t win by trading good players. But what would the return be?

But, as is, the Penguins are going nowhere. Change is badly needed. It’s a stale team. Keep it the same, and all you’re doing is hoping.

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But the Penguins won’t trade Guentzel. It might be a legitimate attempt to improve the team but wouldn’t improve it enough.

There’s no trade out there that propels the Penguins to a deep playoff run. Heck, the Penguins will be lucky to even make the postseason.

When the Penguins re-signed Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust this past offseason, they were thought to be in “win-now” mode. The dressing room thinks that. Perhaps the organization does, or did.

If the Penguins really are in “win-now” mode, Hextall should trade draft picks for immediate help in the attempt to “win now.”

But, because the Penguins lack cap room, trades like that could force Hextall’s trade partner(s) to retain a big cap hit for whoever they send to Pittsburgh, or take bad players with onerous contracts to give the Penguins cap relief.

Under those conditions, Hextall might have to surrender so much future that it would damage the Penguins for years.

Hextall shouldn’t make a trade like that. The Penguins would be better served doing the best they can with what they have, or even becoming sellers. (The latter won’t happen even if it is what’s best. It would also be hard to do with nine players on the roster who have full or limited no-movement clauses. Hextall can’t clean house.)

The Penguins haven’t won a playoff series since 2018. What would make anyone think they can “win now?”

What have we seen on the ice lately that would inspire the belief that the Penguins can “win now?”

The dressing room won’t be happy if Hextall stands pat, or merely tweaks. But what the players think shouldn’t matter. They haven’t earned that. Not lately.

So, if the Penguins are to improve, it needs to happen from within.

Perhaps Tristan Jarry could get healthy, or Casey DeSmith could hold opponents under five goals, or Carter could get a point, or Teddy Blueger could score. The Penguins could quit conceding goals in the first and last minutes of periods and right after they score. Or they could hit somebody. Or adjust to foe, score and situation.

The Penguins aren’t a great team on paper. But they’d be better than they are except for a torrent of stupidity, bad habits, underachieving and lack of self-awareness.

No trade can solve all that.