Penguins sign Jake Guentzel to hefty 5-year extension

The holiday season has been kind to Jake Guentzel.

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced Thursday that they’ve signed the diminutive forward to a five-year extension worth $30 million. The contract will kick in for the 2019-20 season and make him the club’s fifth-highest earner on an annual basis, which is no small thing on the Penguins.

Primarily riding shotgun with Sidney Crosby since he broke into the league in time to contribute to the second of back-to-back Stanley Cup wins, Guentzel has emerged as an immensely important player on a top-heavy roster. He’s on track to fly past his career-best 48-point season from last year with 15 goals and 33 points through 36 games in the final leg of his entry-level contract.

His salary set to multiply by eight, Guentzel’s new deal promises to back the Penguins into a bit of a corner. Surely Derick Brassard’s run with the organization will end after this season, now, but will the Guentzel extension force Jim Rutherford to shed more significant salary?

Pittsburgh now has 11 skaters signed through the next three seasons for a combined 56 million — or roughly 68 percent of the projected salary cap in 2019-20. The organization will be able to fill in the remaining roster spots with a combination of entry-level contracts and bargain deals, but will have to explore other alternatives if they fail to uncover a winning formula as it is currently constructed.

With the extension, it appears Guentzel has cemented his spot on a roster Rutherford has shown no hesitation to tinker with.

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