Penguins face major challenge with Jake Guentzel on long-term injured reserved
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The March of the Pittsburgh Penguins will get off to a difficult start.
That’s assuming they survive what will be a challenging finish to February.
On Thursday, the team placed All-Star forward Jake Guentzel on long-term injured reserve because of an undisclosed injury he suffered during a 5-2 home loss to the Florida Panthers.
As per the NHL’s rules with long-term injured reserve, Guentzel must be sidelined for 10 games and 24 days on the NHL calendar. That means the earliest he could return to the lineup is a home contest against the Edmonton Oilers on March 10.
Per a release from the team, Guentzel is projected to miss “up to four weeks.”
That means the next 12 games will be a challenge without the services of a player who entered Thursday tied for the team lead with 52 points (22 goals, 30 assists) in 50 games.
It also clouds what approach Penguins management might take in advance of the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline or with Guentzel’s future overall.
As the team struggles to stay in playoff contention, president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas has few options — at least ones that are enticing to other teams — with regards to potentially trading away components of this roster.
Thirteen players on the Penguins roster — including Guentzel — have a no-movement or no-trade clause in their contracts according to Cap Friendly. While such provisions don’t make it impossible to orchestrate a trade, they are a clear impediment that must be worked around.
Guentzel is in the final year of a five-year contract with a salary cap hit of $6 million and has a modified no-trade clause that allows him to submit a list of 12 teams to which he would not accept a trade. Even with that clause, he certainly would fetch considerable return in such a transaction.
Were he healthy.
While players designated to long-term injured reserve can be traded, their value is obviously limited.
As it is, all parties concerned seem interested in a potential contract extension maintaining a union that has allowed Guentzel to become an All-Star and a two-time 40-goal scorer.
While there has been plenty of speculation as to his future, Guentzel has declined to comment on the matter.
Either way, Guentzel’s injury has a considerable influence on how the Penguins will proceed with the trade deadline, even if the direction of that influence is not clear.
In a more immediate sense, Guentzel’s designation to long-term injured reserve — along with fourth-line forwards Noel Acciari and Jansen Harkins being designated to regular injured reserve because of concussions — forced the Penguins to recall forwards Jonathan Gruden, Vinnie Hinostroza and Valtteri Puustinen from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League in advance of Thursday’s road contest against the Chicago Blackhawks.
All three have taken to the ice in NHL contests this season.
Hinostroza has played in 14 NHL games and has three points (one goal, two assists). In 22 AHL contests, he has 17 points (eight goals, nine assists). A right-handed shot, Hinostroza is signed to a one-year contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000, the NHL minimum.
Gruden, a rookie, has played in four NHL games with no points. With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the left-hander has appeared in 38 games and has posted 19 points (11 goals, eight assists). He is signed to a one-year, two-way contract with a cap hit of $775,000.
Puustinen, another rookie, appears to be the leading candidate to replace Guentzel among the top-six forwards and on one of the power-play units.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s leading scorer in each of the previous two seasons, he enjoyed his first prolonged stretch of play at the NHL level this season, appearing in 21 games and posting eight points (one goal, seven assists) while primarily playing on either the second or third line.
With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season, Puustinen has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 23 games. He is signed to a one-year, two-way contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000.
Forward Sam Poulin, the team’s first-round pick (No. 21 overall) in 2019, presumably would have been a candidate for a recall, but an undisclosed injury has kept him sidelined for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s past two games.
With Guentzel and fourth-line forward Matt Nieto ($900,000) designated to long-term injured reserve, the Penguins have $3.85 million of salary cap space, according to Cap Friendly.
Entering Thursday, Nieto has missed the past 28 games with a right knee injury and is approximately six weeks removed from surgery. The team initially provided a time frame of six to eight weeks for his recovery.