When NHL players are bounced from the playoffs, the customary line is to say they’re headed to the golf course. While Jake Guentzel will certainly play plenty of golf - he carries a 4.0 handicap – his real off-season priority is something else.
“Obviously strength training. Just try to get physically stronger,” Guentzel says after taking another beating in the six-game series against the Islanders. “I’m excited to get into the weight room and get going for that reason. I’ve just got to be better overall and it’s going to be a good summer because this has left a sour taste in my mouth and I know I have to be a lot better.”
It’s the third straight season that Guentzel has tasted that in the first round and feels some of it is unfortunate but a lot of that is also on him. “It’s just the game of hockey sometimes,” Guentzel says. “That’s why the game’s so funny. Sometimes you’re feeling it and everything goes in; sometimes it’s not going to find its way into the net.”
But then he continues, “I thought I had chances, had shots, I’ve got to find a better way to produce and do my job there. I take a lot of responsibility for that I let a lot of people down but I just got to find a way to put the puck in the net.”
That has eluded Guentzel in recent years. After he burst onto the scene with 13 goals and 21 points in the Penguins’ 25-game run to the Stanley Cup his rookie season, he followed that up with 10 goals and 21 points in 12 playoff games in 2018.
But the last 3 post-seasons, Guentzel has just 3 goals and 3 assists in 14 games. As you may have heard, his team was 3-11 in those games.
It’s especially frustrating because, like a lot of his teammates, Guentzel believed that the acquisition of Jeff Carter had put them over the top and established themselves as a legitimate Cup contender. “When we got him it was pretty cool to see,” Guentzel agrees. ”He’s a special player all over the ice, his scoring ability, his playmaking, he’s really good on draws in the D zone. We were feeling really good about ourselves going into the playoffs.”
But, once again, that run was cut short which means the inevitable talk of breaking up the team, at least to some degree. Guentzel, who has three years left on his contract and has value due to his regular season production, knows is future in Pittsburgh is not guaranteed.
“Yeah, you know the game’s a business, you never know what’s going to happen,” Guentzel says. “You never want to make an early exit and the last 3 years have been that case. Stuff happens, that’s part of the business. It’s out of our control. That’s up to management.”