Penguins/NHL
3/7 1:35 PM | Penguins took step back Thursday morning in process.
The Pittsburgh Penguins while actively engaged in trade talks with the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night, took a step back and expanded the process to others again Thursday morning and are going through what’s been described as ‘improved offers’ sources say. Vegas To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! who made a late entry on Wednesday made an offer for Guentzel that was believed to include forward To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
3/7 9:04 AM | Will Penguins close a Guentzel Deal This Morning?
No matter how Kyle Dubas ends up spinning it when he speaks Friday, the Penguins started conducting business Tuesday morning with a decision made the night prior to have a Guentzel deal done by the close of business on Wednesday. What’s played out this week is multiple teams like Vegas, Florida, Edmonton for example that were circling around Guentzel for a few weeks, made decisions in the past 36 hours to go cheaper routes at forward, while still keeping tabs on Guentzel in case the price drops closer to the deadline, namely Vegas and Florida still have their pulse on the situation if an opportunity comes up to get back into the mix.
The belief around the league was this: Vancouver really tried to make this happen on from late Tuesday night into Wednesday with a number of complicated/creative scenarios, but Jim Rutherford and Vancouver team officials started sending out word Wednesday night ‘Pittsburgh is focused elsewhere’.
Rival executives believe Pittsburgh went into Wednesday evening focused on trying to finalize a deal with the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Vancouver will surely welcome a call from Pittsburgh this morning to re-engage but the Canucks could move at any point for another winger today. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Update 3/6 7:08 PM:
Who’s In & Who’s Out on the Jake Guentzel Front?
Who’s Out: | The Vegas Golden Knights a top team Pittsburgh targeted in talks and there even a belief around the league prior to about 5:00 pm. Tuesday the two sides were closing in on a deal, have continued to make moves elsewhere. Vegas was big on getting a Jake Guentzel extension to make this happen. Instead, they turned to Anthony Mantha and have now traded for Noah Hanifin. The wrinkle with Vegas is names Pittsburgh targeted in talks were not moved in the Mantha, Hanifin deals. No one seems to want to totally close the door on Vegas just yet. Meanwhile, Edmonton is definitely out. Pittsburgh/Florida never got too serious in talks but Florida looked very hard at Guentzel as a possibility at one point.
Who’s In: Vancouver is still around this and the feeling around the league is Carolina has not taken themselves out of the mix yet. Some talk Carolina conceptually discussed a deal centered around forwards Jack Drury, Jackson To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
The Late Entry Crowd who tried to get into mix today: With others dropping out and the market for Guentzel not as strong as expected, two teams that tried to make late entries are the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3/6 7:25 AM: The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to steam ahead on completing a Jake Guentzel trade and expectations from both camps is Guentzel will not be a member of the Penguins organization by Thursday……..
Here are some key developments to emerge over the last 24 hours:
*A decision was made late Monday night between both sides that permission would not be granted to teams to discuss on extension, which paved the way for Pittsburgh to start advancing talks with others as Guentzel being moved strictly as a rental. Sources say this was more a decision from Guentzel’s To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
*More and more chatter there is a bit of sticker shock in the Penguins organization at the lack of serious interest in a To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Teams inquired during the process but when it got serious this week to step up to the table Pittsburgh doesn’t have many dance partners. Vegas a particular team of interest to the Penguins that the club advanced talks with on Tuesday, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
*The noise was heavy Tuesday and into the night of the Vancouver Canucks working to facilitate a three-team trade to land To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
*A mystery To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! but Vancouver officials in particular believed late Tuesday night the Oilers were To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3/5 5:08 PM: The Pittsburgh Penguins are closing in on a Jake Guentzel trade and Pittsburgh today accelerated [hide] talks with two specific finalists To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
