3 reasons why the Canucks must trade for Jake Guentzel at the deadline
The Vancouver Canucks finally ended their skid, but a pedestrian record throughout February should have them scouring the trade market.
Jake Guentzel is one name to look out for as rumors heat up over who will be on the move at the 2024 trade deadline. Currently, Guentzel is playing for what has been an underperforming Pittsburgh Penguins team that could end up rebuilding sooner than later, depending on what general manager Kyle Dubas decides to do with star player Sidney Crosby. So with Guentzel likely on the move before anyone else in Pittsburgh, it would make sense for the Canucks to at least inquire about him.
With 82 points as of Monday afternoon, Vancouver is pacing the NHL, but February hasn’t been the kindest month for this surprising hockey team. It shows that they are still vulnerable to bad stretches at times, and adding a big name like Jake Guentzel would help minimize such pedestrian spans even more.
Jake Guentzel would make sense for the Canucks on several accounts
If traded to Vancouver, Guentzel would join a sound core of forwards, defenseman Quinn Hughes, and goaltender Thatcher Demko, all of whom have at least another year on their respective deals sans Elias Pettersson and Filip Hronek, who will be restricted free agents and should return on extensions unless something unforeseen happens.
There may also be enough player movement going on and potential cap space for 2024-25 to where the Canucks could also lock in Guentzel long-term and add the 29-year-old to that stellar core. So if a potential trade possibility emerges, don’t be surprised if a team linked to Guentzel like Vancouver is reported to be, entered and won the sweepstakes.
Let’s talk more about just how much he would help this great team maintain and even elevate their level of play should we see him in British Columbia, starting with how much he can elevate the team as playoff races around the league get hot.
Jake Guentzel’s scoring ability would have Vancouver running away with games
With 22 goals, Jake Guentzel has been a sound scorer for a hockey team that hasn’t done a good job with finding the back of the net in 2023-24. Even with a team that hasn’t played well when in the offensive zone, it also shows us that Guentzel has barely lost a step in the process.
Those 22 goals in 50 contests would put him on pace for 36 throughout an 82-game span had he stayed healthy all season. Looking at Guentzel’s recent numbers, he put up 36 just a season ago for a team that was a solid playoff contender for most of the year until a late collapse denied the Penguins.
In 2021-22, Guentzel had his most productive season with 40 goals and 84 points, and that was on a much better but still unspectacular Penguins team. So imagine what a player in his prime could do on a Canucks team that currently ranks first in the NHL with 218 goals.
Even if Guentzel were to be one-and-done in Vancouver, trading for him would make sense based on his ability to score or to make plays that will put others in scoring position. For such a high-scoring team like Vancouver, adding another offensive talent to the mix would create nightmares for opponents.
Guentzel’s defensive game is something the Canucks could use
While Jake Guentzel is by no means a serious candidate for the Selke, his game also isn’t purely based around offense. It hasn’t emerged this season, but Guentzel has shown us in the past that he’s not afraid to play a hard-hitting game, something that was especially true early in his career.
But even as late as the 2023-24 season, Guentzel gave us 83 hits and 44 takeaways, and such play on defense is something the Canucks can use in the light of recent events. While Vancouver allowed just two goals against a sound Boston Bruins team to snap a four-game losing streak, they also allowed 22 goals during that four-game skid, averaging to 5.5 per game.
One more player who can at least give them solid defense would work wonders, and Guentzel has proven that can be the case with his game. If he can regain some of that physicality we saw re-emerge last season and get more sticks on the puck, it will make life much easier for those in Vancouver when they do slip up in the defensive zone.
Guentzel isn’t giving anyone a major boost defensively, but he’s shown enough throughout his time in Pittsburgh that he can be disruptive.
Guentzel could turn Vancouver’s power play into a top-five unit
This one makes a full circle back to the second slide in this piece, but on the man advantage. Jake Guentzel has logged over 500 power play minutes over the past season-and-a-half. While the Canucks power play currently ranks 11th in the league with a 22.80 success rate, Guentzel’s presence can break it into the top 10.
As with most of his numbers this season, Guentzel’s conversion rate on the power play isn’t what it was in the past, sitting with an on-ice conversion rate of just nine percent and a measly 19 goals in 50 games. But once again, it’s crucial to point out that the Penguins aren’t as sound offensively as they were in the past.
Therefore, let’s look to the recent past to get a full judgment call on Guentzel and what he can do. Last season, the Penguins power play unit converted 46 goals while he was on the ice, good for a 15.3 on-ice goals for percentage. The year before that wasn’t much different, with the Penguins converting 43 goals on the man advantage with Guentzel on the ice with a 15.0 oiGF.
Vancouver is good on the man advantage, but nobody has accused this team of being great at 5-on-4. Guentzel’s presence, even if he’s only there for the remainder of the season, will change that.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference as of February 26th)