It’s the first morning that Jake Guentzel is no longer a Pittsburgh Penguin. It’s crushing to think that his final skate in black and yellow was alone, in practice, while rehabbing from injury.

Now that we all have had a little bit of time to process this whole ordeal, I wanted to take a broader look at the trade as a whole. It’s not as bad as people think.

In case you need a refresher:

To Carolina: F Jake Guentzel (25% retained), D Ty Smith

To Pittsburgh: F Michael Bunting, F Ville Koivunen, F Vasily Ponomarev, F Cruz Lucius, a conditional second round pick in 2024, and a conditional fifth round pick in 2024

Listen I know, I know, it’s not a great trade. The Penguins certainly didn’t win this trade going away. Failing to get a top prospect out of the Carolina Hurricanes, and only securing rights to their first round pick if they make the Stanley Cup Final is, to put it mildly, not great Kyle!

It also directly contradicts the narrative that Dubas tried to assert when it was suggested the Penguins wanted quality over quantity. I think Kyle got his words mixed up on that one.

But I think part of the negative reaction to the Guentzel deal in Pittsburgh was always going to be there. Even if the Penguins were able to pry someone like Scott Morrow (who was at one point reported to be a part of this deal), there still would have been a sizable amount of this fan base upset, and understandably so.

That being said, I don’t view this as a “fleece” by the Hurricanes. A win? Definitely. But not a fleece.