Penguins: Breaking down Jake Guentzel’s strengths and weaknesses

What makes Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jake Guentzel so good?

After using video and breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of Pittsburgh Penguins centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin last week, I am going to do the same today with the Penguins third elite forward, Jake Guentzel.

With a $6 million salary cap hit, Guentzel is a bargain. After scoring on his first NHL shift and first shot back in 2016, Guentzel has not stopped scoring. He has evolved into a top 10 winger in the NHL.

Once again, @FauxCentre provides the Twitter breakdown.

Strengths

Puck Pursuit

Head coach Mike Sullivan frequently mentions how pivotal the Penguins puck pursuit game is to their team success. As you will see in these next couple of videos, Guentzel is one of the best players on the roster at hunting down pucks and forcing turnovers.

In this clip, Guentzel realizes that Andrew McDonald is about to backpedal into his own bench. Guentzel finished his check and forced McDonald to keep backing up and pass the biscuit to his defense partner Ivan Provorov.

This pass put Provorov in a tough spot. He heard the footsteps of Phil Kessel and bobbled the pass. Guentzel’s forechecking pressure forced the Flyers to speed up their breakout attempt and turn the puck over. The result of this play was Guentzel’s second tally in an 8-5 barn burner.

That skill is also on full display on this play. Guentzel closes ground quickly on Ducks defender Josh Manson. As he was in pursuit of the puck, Guentzel took a great angle and used his stick positioning to take away a passing lane.

This essentially eliminated Cam Fowler as an outlet option. Guentzel’s forechecking pressure forced Manson to make a blind pass up the wall and right onto Brian Dumoulin’s tape. The Ducks were in such a tizzy after the turnover that they did not account for Guentzel as the play continued to develop. It didn’t end well.

Creative offensive zone entries

As Guentzel was opening up in his attempt to catch Crosby’s cross-ice pass, he was aware that Panthers defender Aaron Ekblad maintained a good gap on him. That is very important to this play. Guentzel realizes he will not be able to catch the pass. In order to adjust, Guentzel slightly tilts the blade of his stick upwards in order to chip the puck through the wickets of Ekblad.

If it were not for this adjustment, Ekblad’s long reach would have broken up Crosby’s pass attempt. After getting behind Ekblad, Guetnzel got the primary assist on a Bryan Rust goal. This zone entry alone is a display of Guentzel’s elite hockey sense and offensive creativity.

Guentzel gains the zone and quickly distributes the puck to Crosby. Rather than cutting in-between the two Montreal defenders and opting for the center-lane drive, Guentzel cuts to the outside. This freezes the Canadiens defender. It also creates more time and space for Crosby which allows him to return the puck to Guentzel for a wicked wrist shot.

High impact offensive attacker

Dmitri Orlov’s body positioning here is poor. Guentzel takes advantage of this by toe-dragging him. After getting the puck through Orlov, Guentzel had to pull the puck quickly back to his forehand and towards his body. If Alex Ovechkin had his stick on the ice, he probably knocks this puck away from Guentzel. He didn’t. Guentzel proceeded to make a return pass to Crosby that went in between the sticks of Ovechkin and Matt Niskanen.

This was one of my favorite Guentzel plays from this past season. Guentzel took this pass from Crosby on his backhand and he protected it using his body as he turned the corner on Ryan Graves. Avs forward Andre Burakovsky also whacked Guentzel with his stick but that was not enough to knock the puck loose.

After getting through two Avalanche skaters, Guentzel turns the puck to his forehand. Note how he slides the puck under the stick of Graves in order to do this. Guentzel concludes the sequence by roofing his shot top shelf.

Defensive breakouts

With three Islanders defenders trapped deep in their offensive zone, Guentzel took advantage of the open ice. Guentzel fires a pass between both Islanders defenders and finds Crosby in stride for a breakaway opportunity. Because he was positionally sound on this breakout, Guentzel quickly transitioned the Penguins from defense to offense.

Guentzel is the deepest Penguin skater in their defensive zone as he begins this breakout. Kris Letang was so confident that Guentzel was going to get the puck ahead quickly that he was bolting through the neutral zone.

Letang gets the pass from Derick Brassard and then finds Crosby for a goal. Guentzel did not get an assist here but his breakout pass allowed Letang to gain speed and join the rush. Note how Guentzel passes Brassard as the Penguins enter the offensive zone. Brassard was quite the passenger on this play (and his entire Pittsburgh tenure). His lack of hustle/enthusiasm is evident here.

Weaknesses

1 on 1 coverage

From a coverage standpoint, this is a less than ideal scenario for the Penguins. Zach Trotman is covering Blues defender Colton Parayko. Guentzel is defending against talented Blues forward Jaden Schwartz. Guentzel’s gap control here is poor.

By the time Guentzel attempts to make a play on the puck, it is too late. Parayko sets a little pick and creates even more time and space for Schwartz to pick up the primary assist on a Blues goal. Guentzel lost this battle before the play was even in the Penguins’ defensive zone.

The Penguins are on the powerplay in this clip. After the Islanders clear the puck out of the zone, Guentzel and Cal Clutterbuck engage in a neutral zone puck battle. Clutterbuck eventually prevails with the puck and pulls away from Guentzel. After initially engaging with Clutterbuck, Guentzel appears to be on cruise control and loses the 1-on-1 battle.

If the NHL is able to resume the 2019-20 season, it is expected that Guentzel will be healthy and ready to return to the lineup. That is great news for Mike Sullivan and the Penguins. Considering his postseason productivity, it is scary news for the Canadiens and the rest of the NHL. Thanks for reading!