FanPost

Best Way to Handle Guentzel's Next Contract

Jake Guentzel's ELC will expire at the end of the coming season. After making a little over 700k for the last three seasons, Guentzel is looking for his first big payday. Any way you slice it, he is going to get paid.

If the Penguins decide to lock Guentzel up for the long haul, they are going to have to make an of offer over $5 million AAV. If Guentzel has a good season, or puts up playoff Guentzel numbers, he could put himself in Nikolaj Ehlers range at $6 million or closer to Pastrnak at $6.6 million.

But is locking him up with big term the way to go? It could be argued that a bridge deal, something that gets a bad reputation in the NHL, could actually be the best way to go for both player and team.

For Pittsburgh, they are still in their window and arn't going to take their foot of the gas until at least after 2021-22 when the Malkin, Letang, and Kessel contracts expire. The Penguins will want to lock Guentzel up for that period, but why worry about anything after that at this point? A deal in the spirit of Nikita Kucherov's 3 year bridge deal would be a great way to keep Guentzel's AAV down through the remainder of the cup window.

There is a precedence in the organization for this type of deal as well, in Conor Sheary's $3 million dollar AAV, 3 year deal. Some sort of "Super Sheary Deal" in the 4.25 million range would be ideal. When that deal is up, Guentzel would still be a RFA and the pens won't be resigning all 3 elite stars (Malkin, Kessel, Letang), at least not all at comparable cap hits. Also this will be in the post-Seattle NHL, which will likely see another big cap jump. The Penguins can really shell out of Guentzel at that point if they needed too.

The bridge deal could be a benefit for Guentzel as well. Not only because it helps his team, which is a good way to chase more cups, but he could end up earning more money.

Kucherov may have taken $2.5-3 million or so less annually by taking a bridge deal in Tampa, for 3 years, but it worked out since he got a $9.5 million eight year extension. Had he signed at say $7 million AAV for 8 years instead of his bridge, he'd be losing $2.5 million per year for the next 5, and probably never seeing 9.5 million as a 30 year old winger in decline. Bridge deals can really maximize your earnings, when used effectively.

Penguins should hard pitch a 3 year bridge deal to Guentzel. It is the best way to maximize the team during their window and could make Guentzel richer down the road.

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