Kyle Dubas Strongly Hints He's Ready To Trade Jake Guentzel

Pittsburgh Penguins GM Kyle Dubas held a State of the Union address with the media today as he faces some tough decisions to make with the trade deadline just about two weeks away.

And the biggest reading one can take out of his answers to the questions thrown his way was that he certainly sounds ready to trade star forward Jake Guentzel. 

Per Matt Vensel in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dubas made it pretty clear that, while he's not ready to throw in the towel yet on this season, he does want to expedite a youth movement, and bring down the average age of the NHL's oldest team. 

Guentzel, the pending unrestricted free agent, will be entering his age-30 season next year, and it sounds like he'll be the one to be sacrificed.

We have a lot of guys in their thirties signed. Some of them are some of the best players in the history of the franchise... 

It’s tough with Jake, as I’ve said to him, because he’s an excellent player and playing at an elite level. I understand how valuable he’s been as a teammate, person in the community, contributor to helping the team win the Stanley Cup, and so on and so forth. It’s important. But at the same time, we have to take stock with where we’re at and be realistic about the fact that one of the issues we have is we need to get younger.

Sure sounds like a blockbuster Guentzel trade is on the way. 

The 8-year veteran is coming off a five-year deal with a $6 million AAV, and as he's still performing at an elite level as a point-per-game player, he's looking at a nice raise and could be in line for something in the $8.5M - $10M AAV range. 

Dubas said his phone has been "ringing off the hook" from teams looking to gauge what he has in mind on Guentzel and a number of other players. 

Guentzel has 22 goals and 52 points in 50 games thus far, though he's currently out with an injury that will delay his return to the lineup until just after the trade deadline. That shouldn't be too much of a hindrance though for teams looking to add a star offensive player down the stretch.

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