Huge Blow For Penguins As Jake Guentzel Suffers Signifcant Injury

Jake Guentzel has been the center of attention around the Pittsburgh Penguins due to his impending UFA status, and would remain so for the next three weeks leading up to the trade deadline. But everything has changed on Thursday afternoon, as the Pens have announced that Guentzel will be out four weeks with an upper body injury, crippling the team's playoff hopes, and perhaps putting a nail in the coffin of Guentzel's run in the City of Bridges.

The #pens announce Jake Guentzel is expected to miss "up to" four weeks due to injury, which would place his return beyond the March 8 trade deadline if he needs all of that time to recover.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) February 15, 2024

With a return slated for early to mid March, the injury likely won't hurt his trade value too much (if his recovery goes smoothly), but with Pittsburgh's shot at the playoffs now looking highly unlikely, a trade becomes even more of a possibility. 

Insider Chris Johnson is looking on the bright side, however, noting that under the circumstances, the four-week timeline is actually positive news for the Penguins, as there was some initial concern that Guentzel's injury, which occurred Wednesday night, was more serious.

true, but it will still give some teams pause, they'll want to probably wait closer to March 8 to get a clearer picture of things health-wise for Guentzel. Of course, the Penguins hope to rally back in the standings and make him their own-rental maybe... we shall see

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 15, 2024 

Follow insider Pierre LeBrun wonders, however, if the injury will at least force many potential trade suitors to wait it out until as close to the March 8th deadline as possible to make sure Guentzel will return healthy. 

The refs allowed Niko Mikkola, who’s easily half a foot taller than Guentzel, absolutely work Jake over for an entire shift. Not hockey plays. Tackles, crosschecks, hits away from the puck, just worked him. No call.

Guentzel was then pulled immediately for an injury. https://t.co/G7gKJs3Le8

— Leib Menter (@liontamer18) February 15, 2024

Guentzel appeared to take a real beating at the hands of 6'4" Florida Panthers defenceman Niko Mikkola during one particular shift, though no penalty was called. The Pens' star forward never returned. 

The Penguins have recalled forwards Jonathan Gruden, Vinnie Hinostroza and Valtteri Puustinen from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League. 

Photo: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports