After Jake Guentzel buried his 40th goal and Sidney Crosby hit the 100-point mark simultaneously in the 2018-19 regular-season finale, the linemates had a friendly back-and-forth in the locker room about who would take home the puck.
“He’ll get 50 at some point,” Crosby, stating his case, said nonchalantly.
So, yeah, expectations are a little lofty for Guentzel, who is still only 24.
Last season, he became just the second Penguins winger since Jaromir Jagr to reach 40 goals. His 36 assists and plus-13 rating were career-highs, too.
What will he do for an encore? Maybe 50 goals? How about 100 points? Guentzel said before Thursday’s preseason game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at PPG Paints Arena that he doesn’t have a new statistical target in his sights.
“Whenever you get 40 goals, you’re going to have expectations,” Guentzel said. “I was very fortunate last year to get some bounces. It’s so hard to score in this league so you know you’re going to go through some ups and downs. I’m just going to try to stay with it and play my game and see what happens.”
Dating back to high school, when Guentzel starred for Hill-Murray just outside Minneapolis, he has never experienced a dip in his goal total at any level.
Not at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, where he went from seven goals as a freshman to 19 as a junior. Not in a small sample size it the American Hockey League. And not here in Pittsburgh, where he has scored 16, 22, then 40.
One thing offering hope that Guentzel’s goal total will rise again this season is that he figures to have a regular role on the top power play for the first time.
During his breakout 2018-19 season, 33 of his goals came at even strength. Only John Tavares and Patrick Kane had more. He had one short-handed goal, too.
“He just can do it many different ways,” Nick Bjugstad said. “In front of the net. Finding [open] areas. He can shoot the puck. I could go on and on. Unless you’re an [Alex] Ovechkin with an elite shot, 40 goals in this league is pretty impressive. He’s obviously on the rise here, and I think he can just keep getting better.”
He then chuckled thinking about how much Guentzel has already grown.
Bjugstad played for Guentzel’s dad, Mike, at the University of Minnesota. Jake, who was a stick boy when Phil Kessel was a Gopher, was then a sophomore in high school when Bjugstad was there but looked more like a sixth-grader.
“That’s what I tell everyone. He was just this little kid. His dad never talked him up or anything, but you knew he was a good player. But yeah, I just remember him as a little kid,” he said, shaking his head, “And now he’s scoring 40 goals.”
Over the years, Bjugstad got to know Guentzel the person a bit better. They’ve trained at the same place back in the Minneapolis area for a few years now and obviously crossed paths in the NHL. But the big center didn’t realize until arriving in Pittsburgh last winter that Guentzel’s game was close to complete.
“He’s not just a pure goal-scorer,” he said. “He’s that and many other things.”
Coach Mike Sullivan started rattling off many of those other things Thursday.
“We use Jake in so many situations. He killed penalties for us last year. He was on the ice when we were defending the lead when the other team pulled the goalie late in games. He’s just a complete player,” he said. “Where he goes from here is that he continues to stay hungry and … grow in all aspects of his game.”
Growing, in a literal sense, is what Guentzel emphasized this summer.
“I put on a good amount of weight,” he insisted. “We had four months off, so I spent a lot of time in the weight room. I definitely feel bigger and stronger.”
Guentzel, who turns 25 on Oct. 6, sensed a squinting reporter’s skepticism.
“It doesn’t really show, obviously,” he said. “So I just have to stick with it.”
Improving his conditioning last summer helped Guentzel become a consistent performer in 2018-19. He tried to take it to another level this offseason in the hopes that it will make him “stiffer” in the corners and in front of the net.
The thing is, Guentzel, with Crosby, is already a load to handle down low.
“He’s not huge, but he’s strong on his skates and he wins puck battles,” Bjugstad said. “I think that’s a big part of his game that’s overlooked. You don’t really realize he’s coming up with pucks and making things happen out of the corner. He’s just got a knack for the game. You can tell his dad coached him well.”
The bar isn’t the only thing that got raised last season. His notoriety has, too, which for him might be tougher to deal with than a 230-pound defenseman.
Guentzel has been a beloved figure in Pittsburgh for his contributions in Stanley Cup playoffs in 2017. Now he’s getting noticed more outside the 412.
“It’s definitely different,” he said. “It’s fun that fans are that into it, but you’re not really expecting that. It’s part of the business. You’ve got to get used to it.”
Especially if you plan to keep finishing among the league leaders in goals.
Matt Vensel: mvensel@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mattvensel.
First Published: September 19, 2019, 7:15 p.m.
