Sidney Crosby Comments on the Trade of His Right-Hand Man Jake Guentzel

Last night the hockey world was shocked after the Pittsburgh Penguins brokered a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes that sent star forward Jake Guentzel south.

After the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins finished up their games last night, the two parties brokered one of the biggest, arguably the biggest, trades of the year.

Fans were quick to call this trade a robbery on the Hurricanes side but the Penguins did rather well considering the situation at hand and what they were able to get for a player that can only be assumed to be a rental at the moment.

Michael Bunting is a player that they can play right now to fill in for Guentzel and has a deep-rooted history with Penguins President and General Manager, Kyle Dubas. The Scarborough native is currently up to 13 goals and 36 points through 60 games this season. He is also in the first year of a three-year deal which gives the Penguins a player that can help them longer than Guentzel could.

In addition to Bunting, the Penguins netted a pair of former 2nd rounders in Valisy Ponomarev (2020 53rd overall pick) and Ville Koivunen (2021 51st overall pick) and a high upside prospect in Cruz Lucius (2022 4th round pick).

Ponomarev is NHL-ready as is and has produced 2 points in as many games in his short stint in the league. He has primarily played in the AHL this year with the Chicago Wolves scoring 29 points in 39 games on a rather weak Wolves team.

Koivunen is one of the Finnish LIIGA's top scorers at only 20 years old producing 55 points in 57 games. There are concerns about his ability to translate to the NHL given his subpar skating but if he can then he is a surefire shot for being a middle-six player.

Lucius has the highest upside out of the trio of prospects and has been a point-per-game player in the NCAA with the University of Wisconsin. If he is able to make the NHL one day, he has a great chance of becoming an impact player for the Penguins.

On top of all of this, the Penguins also netted a conditional second-round pick which can upgrade to a first-round pick if the Hurricanes make the Stanley Cup Finals this year and another mid-round pick on day two.

While the Penguins netted a plethora of assets for Guentzel, Sidney Crosby was not happy seeing his longtime linemate leave the Penguins organization.

Crosby was not very talkative when he commented on the trade:

Crosby obviously feels a bit heartbroken because of the trade and this is a harsh reality of what the business of hockey looks like sometimes. The Penguins play the Hurricanes later this month on the 26th and it is expected to be the first time that Crosby and Guentzel have played against each other.

Source: The Hockey News

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