It’s now official. We know what pick the Pittsburgh Penguins will be receiving from the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the Jake Guentzel trade. A refresher of that trade from two months prior:

The Penguins have acquired forwards Michael Bunting, Ville Koivunen, Vasily Ponomarev, Cruz Lucius, and conditional 2024 first-round and fifth-round draft picks from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Jake Guentzel and Ty Smith.

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 8, 2024

It feels so long ago, and yet so recent at the same time.

With both picks being conditional, we didn’t know the full return of the Guentzel deal until after the Hurricanes’ season was over.

After beating the New York Islanders 4-1 in the first round, Carolina didn’t have to look far to find their next opponent.

The Hurricanes fell down 3-0 in their series to the New York Rangers, before ultimately losing in Game 6 to lose the series. Carolina fought well in Games 4 and 5, and even held a third period lead in Game 6 before ultimately dropping the game 5-3.

Now that the Hurricanes have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the conditions on the draft picks involved in the deal have been settled.

The fifth round pick involved in the deal was conditional, with the Hurricanes only owing the Penguins that pick if Carolina won the Stanley Cup. They did not, so no pick for the Penguins there.

Now for the other one, which is a little more complex:

The Penguins, in their official announcement of the deal, framed this pick as a conditional first round pick, and while that was technically true, it was misleading.

The pick only became a first round pick if the Hurricanes advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, ensuring that even if Carolina did owe the Penguins a first round pick, that pick would have been at best 31st overall.

If those conditions were not met, the Penguins would instead receive a second round pick. So, a second round pick it is for the Penguins.

It’s interesting to note though second rounder that Carolina will hand over is not their own pick. It’s a second rounder that the Hurricanes acquired from Philadelphia nearly two years ago.

Back on July 8th, 2022, the Hurricanes received a 2022 fourth rounder, 2023 third rounder, and this 2024 second rounder in exchange for a 2022 seventh rounder and the signing rights to RFA defenseman Tony DeAngelo.

DeAngelo only played one year with the Flyers before the team bought him out of the second year of his contract with them. Ironically, he wound up signing back with the Hurricanes on a one year deal for this season.

Guentzel scored 4 goals and added 5 assists in 11 playoff games for Carolina, which was tied for third place on the Hurricanes’ roster.

Guentzel is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and is on a lengthy list of pending free agents the Hurricanes have this summer.

(Featured photo by Charles LeClaire/USA Today Sports)