Well, now he's gone.
Jake Guentzel's being traded to the Hurricanes, according to a source in the press box here at PPG Paints Arena during warmups of the Penguins' game against the Capitals.
Michael Bunting was scratched from the Carolina lineup tonight for what the team termed "traded-related reasons," and I'm expecting he'll be part of the return. It's inconceivable that he'd be the main piece. He's 28, one year younger than Guentzel, and in 60 games this season, he's got 13 goals, 23 assists and a minus-15 rating. He was the Hurricanes’ second-line left wing as of late, playing with Jack Drury and Martin Necas.
Bunting, a fourth-round pick in the 2014 Entry Draft, finished third in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022. He scored 23 goals in each of the two seasons prior to this season, both of which were under Kyle Dubas in Toronto. He primarily played on the left wing of the Maple Leafs’ top line alongside Auston Matthews and William Nylander last season.
Bunting has two years left on his contract after this season and carries a $4.5 million cap hit, though it’s possible Carolina could retain salary on the deal. He has a 10-team no-trade list this season and next, and no protection in the final year of his deal. He will be an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
Other pieces in the trade aren’t yet known, though it'll likely wind up with a prospect/pick combo of some sort.
I'd heard around 9 p.m. that their No. 2 defense prospect, Scott Morrow, might be another. He was a second-rounder in 2021 and is currently playing for the University of Massachusetts. But that's being doused, so we'll see.
The Hurricanes don’t have an AHL affiliate this year, and so their prospects are spread out on other AHL teams and overseas. Their top prospect is defenseman Alexander Nikishin, a second-round pick in 2020 playing in the KHL. The Hurricanes’ best prospect currently in the AHL is forward Vasily Ponomarev, another 2020 second-rounder. Ponomarev has eight goals and 21 assists in 39 games with the Chicago Wolves. He scored a goal and set up another in two NHL games with Carolina last season.
Much, much more to come, obviously. I'll keep those updates here while tracking the game on the live file.
In the meantime, press play ...
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) March 8, 2024
UPDATE 11:27 p.m. The trade call's complete, and details are beginning to arrive.
• The Penguins send out Guentzel and Ty Smith.
• The Penguins retain 25% of Guentzel's salary.
• The Hurricanes send out Bunting, plus prospects Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen and Cruz Lucius. None of those are among Carolina’s top FOUR prospects. (See just above.)
• The Hurricanes send out a (very) conditional first-round pick in the coming NHL Draft, meaning only if the Hurricanes reach the Stanley Cup Final. If not, the Penguins will receive the Flyers' second-round pick in 2024 that'd been previously acquired by Carolina.
• The Hurricanes also send out a conditional fifth-rounder.
Pffffffffffffffft!
Wow. Full column to come.
