Guentzel was expected to need 4-6 months to recover and miss the rest of the regular season. But the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, and general manager Jim Rutherford said on March 25 that the pause could make it possible for Guentzel to return if the season resumed.
On May 27, Rutherford said he remained optimistic Guentzel would be available.
"I can take the positive out of this," Guentzel said. "Not really sure what would've happened if the season would've played out, so I can take these two or three months and use them to my advantage. If I can get rehabbed and feeling good, that'd be nice to get back playing. I'm just taking it day by day and hopefully I'm feeling better each day. We'll see where it goes."
If Guentzel is able to play against Montreal, he likely would return to left wing on the first line with Crosby. That probably would move forward Jason Zucker to second-line left wing with center Evgeni Malkin.
Zucker scored 12 points (six goals, six assists) in 15 games with the Penguins after being acquired in a trade from the Minnesota Wild on Feb. 10. Guentzel scored 43 points (20 goals, 23 assists) in 39 games this season.
Conor Sheary, who was acquired in a trade from the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 24, could play right wing on the line with Crosby and Guentzel. If that's the case, it would reunite a line the Penguins used at times on their way to winning the Stanley Cup in 2017.
"I've thought about it," Guentzel said. "It would be an awesome experience again because we really feed off each other. We know each other's games. So if we have that opportunity, we'll have to hopefully get some time to get that chemistry back. Hopefully these Phase 2, Phase 3 and in the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs, we can do that and we can make another run for it."
Guentzel said he immediately knew something was wrong when he fell awkwardly into the boards after scoring at 6:55 of the third period in a 5-2 win against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 30. He said it could be challenging, physically and mentally, to return in a best-of-5 series after last playing more than five months ago. Guentzel said he doesn't know if he'll be a bit hesitant at first.
"Can't really think about that yet," he said. "I haven't really been in a situation like that since the injury or anything like that. It might be there. I don't know. It's hard to think about right now. It's hard to process if that will come to my mind during the game. Hopefully not, but you just never know what's going to happen until it happens."
