Jake Guentzel discusses potential of re-signing in Pittsburgh

Coming back to play in Pittsburgh while wearing a Hurricanes jersey after having won a Stanley Cup as a Penguin.

The video tribute. The standing ovation. The internal push and pull of wondering if this was where you were supposed to play your whole career versus the fact that salary-cap dollars got allocated to others before your turn came around.

That's kind of how Staal wound up in Carolina during an offseason trade in June 2012.

That's certainly how Guentzel wound up in Carolina via a trade to Raleigh earlier this month.

"He was a heck of a player for this team for a while. He had some huge moments for this organization," Staal said of watching Guentzel's video tribute. "Yeah. Similar emotions. Great organization. Good memories. And they treated (Guentzel) the same way."

Guentzel was honored as so many former Penguins Cup winners are when they return to play in Pittsburgh, with a highlight montage and rousing cheers from the crowd during the first media timeout of the first period.

After the game, Guentzel said it was his hope that he'd never leave the city, preferring that he could have gotten a contract extension hammered out before this year's trade deadline. That didn't happen. So Pens general manager Kyle Dubas had to collect some assets for Guentzel before he hit the open market in free agency this offseason.

That haul included four players and two draft choices in exchange for Guentzel and defenseman Ty Smith.

"My intention was to stay, but they just thought there was a better direction to go a different way. It's out of my hands. It's not my choice," Guentzel said after his team's 4-1 loss in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

What Guentzel could have added to that quote is that, as a pending free agent, it was his intention to stay at his chosen price and his desired length of contract. Neither of which the Penguins were willing to grant. It will also be "his choice" if would like to re-sign here as a free agent after the season ends. But based on Guentzel's clipped response when asked about that prospect, it doesn't sound like there's much hope in that regard.

"I don't know. That's … I don't know," Guentzel responded. "We'll just see how this year goes. And I really like it in Carolina."

So far, there has been a lot to like. In the nine games he has played as a member of the Hurricanes, Guentzel is 6-2-1 and has 12 points along the way.

"He's a better player than I probably even thought he was," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said before the game Tuesday. "I knew he was a great player, but just the little things that you don't get see as coach on another team. Then you get him, and you watch him now on the little details. He's just a really intelligent player."

Part of what makes a prolonged run of excellence so difficult for teams in a salary-capped sport is that you can't keep everybody from a championship lineup. When the Penguins moved Staal, they knew there was a lot of good hockey left in a 24-year-old blood-and-guts player who had helped them win a ring.

Did they know that it would be 12 years worth of consistency that has earned him the captain's "C" in Carolina and Selke Trophy consideration on a regular basis?

Yeah, actually. Yeah. I think that's exactly what the Penguins knew they were giving up.

Similarly, three weeks ago, I think Dubas knew he was giving Carolina a scorer with a track record of playoff success that might get them out of the Eastern Conference and into a Stanley Cup Final.

He also knew that he was giving up the best-scoring winger Sidney Crosby ever had. And Guentzel knew that if he was going to sign a contract and stay, it wasn't going to be at his preferred price.

Which is why he is in Carolina right now.

Which is why he is likely to be there or with any of the other 30 remaining cities in the NHL to start next year.

That's too bad. But the montage was still pretty good. Maybe the video board folks can keep that one in the cue every year when Guentzel comes back.

Staal's highlights stand the test of time. My guess is that Guentzel's will as well.

Listen: Tim Benz and Brian Metzer discuss Jake Guentzel's return and the state of the Penguins in this week's Gerger Construction hockey podcast

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.