CRANBERRY, Pa. -- It doesn't really feel like it was all that long ago that Jake Guentzel scored a goal on his very first shot in the NHL, shortly followed by him putting up one of the most historic postseasons for a rookie en route to the Penguins winning their fifth Stanley Cup in 2017.
Since his first full season in 2017-18, Guentzel's 145 regular-season goals ranks first on the Penguins and tied for 16th across the NHL. His 34 postseason goals since making his first Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance is the most on the Penguins and tied for third-most among all NHL skaters. Adjusting for ice-time, though, Guentzel's 1.86 postseason goals per hour is the very best mark across the league.
And those numbers aren't inflated by gaudy power-play totals, either. Guentzel has legitimately been one of the very best even-strength goal-scorers in the NHL, as his 99 regular-season even-strength goals since 2017-18 ranks ninth in the league. He ranks second with 25 postseason even-strength goals, trailing only Ondrej Palat by just three goals despite Palat playing well over 400 more minutes.
To boot, those goals have come in a variety of ways from the very jump. Whether it was wiring wrist shots from distance ...
... Or incredibly high-IQ bank shots from the goal line ...
... Or slipping through coverage on his way to the net ...
... Guentzel has filled the net more than you could possibly ever dream from a former third-round pick.
Guentzel turned 28 on Thursday. I spoke with him on his ascent to becoming one of the game's best wingers following Penguins practice at the Lemieux Complex here in Cranberry.
"I just think the main thing is that you want to be consistent," Guentzel told me when I asked what the biggest factor to his success has been. "I think that’s what you try to be as a player. For me, I’m just trying to work as much as I can to add to my game in the offseason to make sure I’m ready for a full 82-game season, because you know how long it is and hard it is. Just trying to be a consistent player and bring it every year."
It's obvious from that answer alone that, while Guentzel can appreciate what he's done to this point, he's still hungry. He has an appetite to continue improving his individual game to help the Penguins get back to the glory he tasted as a rookie.
Entering his seventh season, does the fact that he's established himself as a consistent source of scoring -- and offense in general -- give him even more confidence in his abilities and what he's capable of?
"Yeah, I think so," Guentzel said. "The more you play in the league, the more you feel comfortable with yourself. It’s the best league in the world, so every chance you get you want to make your mark and see what you can do."
The narrative has largely fallen off in the greater hockey world, but there was a point in time where Guentzel was simply touted as a product of Sidney Crosby. It takes an elite hockey mind to find truly elite and consistent success playing with Crosby for as long as Guentzel has. The duo is essentially inseparable at this stage, and it's something that Guentzel still has a hard time wrapping his head around on occasion.
"Oh, it’s special," Guentzel said of playing with Crosby. "I’m still in awe, myself, that I get to be alongside him through this journey and just to see how hard he works. He doesn’t take a day off, and I think for all of us, it just shows that no matter what, you gotta be at your best and it’s an everyday grind you’ve gotta take on."
Shortly after chatting with the birthday boy, I asked Todd Reirden about Guentzel blossoming into the player he is now.
"Yeah, he is a competitor. (I’ve) been fortunate to know Jake for a long time. Remember when he first got drafted. Being today’s his birthday he doesn’t look a whole lot older than he did then, actually, which is to his credit," Reirden said with a laugh. "He’s aging nicely, but his game really continues to evolve every year and he challenges himself. Certainly playing alongside the likes of Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin is always a challenge every day to be able to keep up with those guys and be able to be positive factors on their line, whatever role he’s cast in. And he’s just met every challenge along the way.
"I think for me, the biggest thing I can take away from Jake is the playoff that he had last year. Really encouraged me going into this season that he continued to build on where he left off last year, and that was a challenge that, internally, he had for himself."
Guentzel is coming off an eight-goal, 10-point performance in seven postseason games against the Rangers back in May. That was after recording just three goals in his previous 14 postseason games, which, if anything, just speaks to how incredibly good he was considering his ranking among the NHL in the goal-scoring department.
After putting up 40 goals during the regular season for the second time and putting up a career-high 84 points in 76 games last season, it still feels as if there's an even higher level for Guentzel to reach this season.
MORE FROM CAMP
• The list of injured Penguins now sits at just one name: Teddy Blueger. He is continuing to work his way back from an upper-body injury sustained during training camp last Wednesday. After camp on Thursday, Reirden said Blueger once again skated with skills coach Ty Hennes before the group session. He remains day-to-day.
• Goalie Filip Lindberg was re-called from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier in the week because Tristan Jarry wasn't able to travel to Detroit Monday night due to being sick. Jarry returned to the ice the following day, but Lindberg stuck around as the third goalie at camp for the next two days. Even though he was at the Lemieux Complex, Lindberg was not on the ice Thursday, indicating a re-assignment to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is on the way.
• The Penguins' lines and defense pairings yet again remained the same:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Brock McGinn - Ryan Poehling/Sam Poulin - Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
Ty Smith - Jan Rutta
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel/Mark Friedman
• After not working on them Tuesday, the Penguins practiced special teams for the second day in a row on Thursday. Here's the personnel for both power-play units:
PP1: Crosby, Guentzel, Rust, Malkin, Letang
PP2: Carter, Zucker, Rakell, Petry, Smith
• And the starting personnel for the penalty kill units:
PK1: Poehling, Kapanen, Dumoulin, Rutta
PK2: McGinn, Archibald, Ruhwedel, Pettersson
• Toward the end of the session, the Penguins briefly worked on a 6-on-5 empty-net scenario. Here's the personnel they opted to go with: Crosby, Guentzel, Rust, Malkin, Carter, Letang.
• I get that the Penguins likely value Carter's size as a net-front presence as well as his faceoff ability in this scenario, but is he really the best choice as the extra attacker? First off, Rakell isn't exactly a little dude and spent plenty of time around the crease and in the bumper position during his time with the Ducks. He's good at deflecting shots from distance, surely has a better shot and better hands. I'd give him a look as the sixth skater. Second, shouldn't the Penguins be trying to limit Carter's minutes this season to get the most out of him? This will be a relatively infrequent scenario, sure, but every minute counts the same regardless of scenario, and Carter figures to see usage on both special teams units once again. I don't get this one.
• Mike Sullivan had the day off from speaking to the media, so we got to talk with Reirden. When he was asked about Smith, Reirden noted that Smith has the capability to provide a couple different things offensively and in transition that the Penguins haven't really had the past couple of seasons.
"We're real happy with how he's done so far," Reirden said.
• The Penguins' power-play finished the 2021-22 season with a 20.2% conversion rate on their opportunities, which ranked 19th in the NHL. Reirden was asked if the Penguins are making any changes in their approach this season. He said they've made some minor tweaks to hopefully convert on more of their chances, but they also didn't feel the need to make major changes because their power-play, despite struggling to finish, had very good chance generation last season, evidenced by their strong grade in expected goals for compared to other power-plays across the league.
I then asked Reirden how much the coaching staff buys into expected goals and how the staff uses them in evaluation.
"It's one of our tools," Reirden told me. "I alluded to that in the power play discussion, but that's just one of the many metrics that we look at to continue to balance outside knowledge from internal bias, occasionally with players, and it gives you a really broad overview of what areas you can continue to grow in. That's one of the metrics we use, obviously scoring chances for, quality of competition. I could talk for quite a while about how the evaluation process goes with our coaching staff and how we use it to motivate and also teach and push our players forward so that they understand some things.
"I think that players nowadays really gravitate towards numbers, and it's important to be able to clarify what those numbers are for them because they're often times reading them. It's part of the process and something that we continue to get better at as a staff as well."
• During one of the drills, Pettersson was clipped in the face by Zucker's stick blade on a shot followthrough. Pettersson was in a bit of discomfort for a moment and was tended to by Chris Stewart, the Penguins' head athletic trainer, on the bench. Pettersson returned to the ice shortly after and was good to go, though he was rocking a sizable cut below his eyebrow afterward.
• Sullivan was very vocal on Tuesday, providing detailed instructions to the group and individually as to what he wanted to see. On Thursday, however, Sullivan was out of the way for most of the session as Reirden and Hennes ran things.
• The Penguins wrap up their preseason schedule on Friday with a game against the Sabres at PPG Paints Arena, 7:08 p.m. I'll have your coverage for morning skate, then I'll be joined by Taylor Haase and Dejan Kovacevic for the game.
