![One NHL Insider Speculates on Potential Trade Between Blackhawks and Jake Guentzel One NHL Insider Speculates on Potential Trade Between Blackhawks and Jake Guentzel](https://i3.wp.com/www.bleachernation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Jake-Guentzel_USATSI_23214775.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1)
As we continue to listen to podcasts and search the internet for anything Blackhawks related because it’s the first week of June, one of the top insiders made a comment that caught my attention for a couple of reasons.
Elliotte Friedman was on Jeff Marek’s show (yes, his “32 Thoughts” co-host) and they talked about how the Blackhawks and Sharks will approach their rosters around young players this summer. The Sharks will bring in Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini to start the 2024-25 season; the Blackhawks already have Connor Bedard with one season under his belt and franco nazaramong others, nearby.
Friedman mentioned a pending free agent on the Carolina Hurricanes roster who he believes would be “the type of player” the Blackhawks target. No no Martin Nečas.
He mentioned Jake Guentzel.
“Guentzel is a Midwest guy. Chicago is a location in the Midwest. (The Blackhawks) realize they have to move things forward and they have to start surrounding Bedard with some players. I’ll stick with Chicago because of the proximity to where Guentzel is from.”
Hello.
Let’s break down this speculation, and keep in mind that it’s still speculation at this point, but it’s coming from an insider who doesn’t float stuff like this without some smoke somewhere causing it.
Guentzel is from Omaha (no, Peyton Manning is not going to Draft him). So if we use hometown location as a reason to sign a free agent, one could argue that Denver and Minneapolis have as much claim as Chicago. So that’s a pause button…
HOWEVERWhat do the Blackhawks have that the Wild and Avalanche are missing? Salary room, y’all. And a lot of it.
I’ve mentioned it before and it’s worth returning to this conversation. Daily Faceoff released its top 50 free agents and included contract projections based on a model provided by AFP Analytics. They have Guentzel’s six-year projection for an AAV of $8 million. Colorado and Minnesota don’t have that currency available, even if the player would fill both teams’ needs.
Here’s my second pause button. Guentzel will turn 30 at the start of the 2024-25 regular season. Yes, he’s coming off a season in which he scored 30 goals in 67 games between Pittsburgh and Carolina, and the back of his hockey card tells us that he has put the puck in the net 227 times in 520 regular season games in his career. But we can’t ignore his age.
In fact, one of the reasons I support the Blackhawks targeting Nečas is because he’s five years younger than Guentzel; a cap hit of between $7 million and $7.5 million for him (which is the projection) would probably age better than a comparable figure for the player five years his senior.
The good news I take away from this rumor – and its source – is that there is a perception outside of Chicago that the Blackhawks could play in deep water financially this summer for the first time in a few years. And certainly the first time since Kyle Davidson took over as permanent general manager.
Davidson’s comments at the end of the regular season told us they want to get better now, but we’ve all mulled the “how much better” thought since then because the number of veterans getting long-term deals limits the number of spots available on the roster. list. for prospects as they enroll at the NHL level.
The Blackhawks want to surround Bedard with better players (with all due respect to Philipp Kurashev and the others who spent a lot of time with him during his rookie season). Guentzel would be an excellent addition; the Canes desperately want to keep him, which partly explains why Nečas could be available. But recent indications are that he will at least test the waters on July 1 to see how the league responds to him being an unrestricted free agent.
It’s exciting that the Blackhawks are linked to a player like Guentzel because I think for many of us, that’s a higher salary cap level than we thought the Blackhawks would be dancing in this summer. But we’ll have to wait and see if Chicago actually makes it that far in the free agent pool.
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