Guentzel “Earned Everything He Got” During Time with Penguins

Whenever Mike Guentzel came to town and drove to the rink with his son Jake over the years, he’d often tell him, “This never gets old seeing people walk to PPG with your jersey on.”

Once Mike, a longtime college coach who is now a pro scout with Arizona, would walk inside and get settled on the media level, he’d have that same feeling once the building started filling up. “Looking over the edge in the press box and going ‘God, look at all the 59s down there’ … people are paying $2-250 or whatever in the pro shop, and there's 87, 71, 58, and 59.

“Since Jake has been there, I guess it probably would be fair to say that he's been arguably the fourth-most popular player since he’s been up. So, it’s been incredible.”

The Guentzel family is going to miss the organization and city that supported Jake and helped shape him into the player and person he is today after his amazing career in Pittsburgh came to an end on Thursday (March 7) as the Penguins traded the 29-year-old winger to Carolina, with his contract set to expire this offseason.

“I still think of Jake as my little brother, but to see how he has grown into the man, husband, and father he has makes all of us super proud of him,” said Guentzel’s older brother Ryan, who lived with him early on. “He really has grown up, and Pittsburgh as a city and community played a huge role in that. Everyone sees the success on the ice, but we see the success he has in his life on and off the ice, which is all we can ask for.

“It’s tough to see him leave Pittsburgh because we know that it was home for him and his family (wife Natalie and son Charlie). But we are also very grateful he got to be part of a great organization and a city that really took him in.”

As Sidney Crosby said, Guentzel “earned everything he got” during his time with the Penguins, going from a third-round draft pick in 2013 to a Stanley Cup Champion, a bonafide superstar in the National Hockey League, and one of the best homegrown players in franchise history.

“Just a great teammate, great guy,” the captain said. “You knew every single night what you were getting from him. That's the biggest thing. He's a good person, but as a player, every night he brought it. He was tough. Wasn't the biggest guy, but he brought it every single night.”

A big part of Guentzel’s legacy in Pittsburgh is being Crosby’s most consistent linemate. “Obviously, him and Sid were a pretty dynamic duo,” Kris Letang said.

That will always be surreal to Jake’s family, as Sid was his favorite player growing up – even writing a book report on the captain while in school. Guentzel became a fixture on Crosby’s wing during his seven-plus seasons in Pittsburgh, and that stability meant a lot.

“It's huge. There's so much turnover, I think - so you appreciate that when you find that, and it’s a credit to him,” Crosby said before adding with a smile, “came in with those first two shots and gets two goals, he makes a big splash. Just that competitiveness stands out, and he had confidence right away. As linemates, I think we had chemistry pretty much instantly, and we were able to build off that.”

To this day, the footage of Jake’s mom Sally, Mike, and Ryan cheering – in disbelief and tears – after Guentzel’s first NHL goal in his debut on Nov. 21, 2016 against the New York Rangers still gets shown in commercials and highlights.

“I would have figured that after over seven years now we would have forgotten about the clips, but for some reason the video will never die,” Ryan said with a laugh. “But in all honesty, it was still one of the prouder nights of my life to be there and see him score twice in his NHL debut. Our family will never forget that night.”

Guentzel went on to lead the NHL with 13 goals – the second-most ever by a rookie in league history – and five game-winners during that postseason. His 21 points tied the NHL rookie record as Guentzel played a key role in Pittsburgh’s championship run. He was even more prolific the following year, scoring 10 goals and 21 points in just 12 games.

Guentzel just kept going from there, establishing himself as one of the best goal scorers and playoff performers in the NHL – an invaluable part of the team whose contributions speak for themselves.

Guentzel was just the eighth player in franchise history to lead the team in goals in three separate seasons (and the first to do so in the Crosby/Evgeni Malkin era) and record multiple 40+ goal campaigns. Guentzel leaves Pittsburgh having tallied 466 points in 503 career games, with his 219 goals the sixth-most by any player in franchise history through their first 500 contests.

His numbers are remarkable, and it feels like he put the puck in the back of the net at will. But for his family and teammates who know him best, Guentzel’s ability to overcome his size to be the player he is – Jake is listed at 5-11 and 180 pounds – with courage, competitiveness and a high hockey IQ was the most impressive part of his Penguins career.

“Jake was always small. He was 150 pounds when he got drafted, got cut from a U15 thing in Minnesota going to the US hockey trials and stuff. It’s been some obstacles, and some of it has been lack of size or whatever. So, I'll never take it for granted that he's gone to this level,” Mike said. “And he's evolved… this was not the kind of player Jake was when he was a youth player. He was more skill and flash and dash. Now he’s more of an inside, gritty, play-in-the-traffic areas type of player.

“I think if you look at a lot of goals, Jake will be the one standing right in front of the net screening goals. There's some days I say, ‘Jake, why are you doing that?’ He knows that this is what he has to do to give him success, so he does it. He’s been adaptable, and I think that's the biggest thing. You stay with guys like Crosby because you have certain abilities. And if you don't, you're off.”

During the annual Dads Trip earlier in the season, knowing there was a chance Jake might get moved at some point this year, Mike told his son that the Penguins captain and Head Coach Mike Sullivan were the two parts of Pittsburgh he’d miss the most.

“What Sully has done for you as a player, and given the opportunity to sing your praises like he does … and Sid, to be able to play with one of the best players in the game, ever … like, I’ll miss that,” Mike said.

He knows this trade, the first of Jake’s career, will be particularly hard because of the ties he’s built in Pittsburgh. From a community standpoint, the ‘Jake Shake’ – which was always half off the day after he scored a goal – is The Milkshake Factory's No. 1 best-seller and a food item that has become part of the city like a Primanti Brothers sandwich.

Through his ‘Hearts of Gold’ program, Guentzel invited children with congenital heart defects and other heart conditions at every home game, and win or lose, he hosted a meet-and-greet with the kids and their families after.

Behind the scenes, Guentzel went from a wide-eyed rookie to a glue guy in the locker room, a popular and beloved teammate with his funny, feisty, and fun-loving temperament. “He’s got that personality that he comes to the rink with tons of enthusiasm and he’s smiling every day, he’s having fun out there. So, he brought that to our team,” Letang said.

Guentzel was assigned a locker stall by Crosby when he first came into the league, which meant he had to deal with a lot of media traffic by the captain. But Jake didn’t mind, and stuck around. “He put up with me, sitting next to me for a long time,” Crosby grinned. “There’s been a lot of laughs. He's just a great guy. He's just got a great attitude every single day and competes, and he cares about everybody.”

That’s everybody in the organization, not just his teammates. As his dad put it, Jake isn’t someone who just clocks in and clocks out. He’s formed deep relationships with people inside the organization on the support and front office staffs, spending hours in the PR office and firing off good-natured chirps to members of the traveling media crew (even though doing interviews was never his favorite part of the job). Guentzel has grown up with many of these people, and he’s got such a comfortability with them.

It's quite a mark that Guentzel left on this franchise, who will always be a Penguin no matter where his career takes him from here … and his family looks forward to his first game back, when the Hurricanes come to Pittsburgh on March 26.

“For me, it’s always like when the PA announcer announces the lineup – especially the opening night, when Jake came out this year when he wasn't supposed to play, but every game – I would probably guess in my own mind that if you put a noise meter there, behind Sid, Jake might get the largest ovation of anybody when they announce the starting lineup,” Mike said.

“It's just so incredible. I bet when he comes back and they’ll show a video because he won the Cup and all of that, he'll get a large ovation at that point, too. Deservedly so.”