Pittsburgh Penguins captain and star forward Sidney Crosby didn’t want it to happen but, still, one of the biggest trades of this year’s deadline took place on Thursday when forward Jake Guentzel was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for forward Michael Bunting , prospects Ville Koivunen , Vasili Ponomarev and Cruz Lucius and conditional first- and fifth-round picks in this summer’s draft.
The first-rounder becomes Philadelphia’s second-rounder if the Hurricanes don’t reach the final, and Pittsburgh only gets the fifth if Carolina wins it all for the second time in franchise history.
The trade took place moments after the Pens’ blowout loss to the Washington Capitals, and when reporters asked Crosby about the trade, it was clear that the whole night was bad news to the captain. When asked about what message GM Kyle Dubas and management sent to his team by trading Guentzel, Crosby could only answer this:
“I don’t know,” Crosby said, visibly upset. “That’s probably a better question for them.”
Crosby only said good things about his now former teammate, caught in a situation he never wanted to be stuck in to begin with.
“He’s a great teammate, a friend,” Crosby said of Guentzel. “I think he did everything he possibly could in his time here. It was just a privilege to play with him for the course of the time. Some great memories.
“It was a privilege. That’s all I can say.”
It had been reported in recent days that Crosby was likely to be angry with a trade scenario that you see Guentzel shipped out of Pittsburgh. Unfortunately for the face of the franchise, it happened last night and it is also believed that more moves will come as the Penguins need to become cap compliant before today’s 3ET pm deadline.
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