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Pittsburgh Penguins Predictions: Jake Guentzel Will Truly Breakout This Season

By Matthew Rodrigopulle

PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 18: Jake Guentzel #59 of the Pittsburgh Penguins looks on against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Four of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Wells Fargo Center on April 18, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 18: Jake Guentzel #59 of the Pittsburgh Penguins looks on against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Four of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Wells Fargo Center on April 18, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Despite the Pittsburgh Penguins elimination in the second round of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, we have seen some players find success in their performances.

One of these players for the Pittsburgh Penguins is none other than Jake Guentzel. The young gun is only 23-years-old and led the team in scoring during the playoffs along with Sidney Crosby.

Now this article isn’t about his performance in the playoffs per se. This article is me bringing you one prediction that I’ve had in mind for a while now:

Jake Guentzel will truly breakout this upcoming season.

A Slow Regular Season

Breakout? You may ask. Hasn’t he already broken out? He’s averaging over a point-per-game during the playoffs over his career for crying out loud.

Well that’s the thing, he’s been amazing in the playoffs and has really been a leader in both runs he’s been a part of. Jake Guentzel could very well be up their among our top players on the team. He could, but he’s not because he’s been having a little trouble during the regular season.

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Pittsburgh Penguins

Last season, Jake Guentzel scored 33 points in 40 games. That was a huge accomplishment considering the fact that it was his rookie season and it was cut short because he was a call-up midway through the season. Guentzel followed this performance up by scoring 21 points in 25 games. Spectacular. His first season with the team ended with him almost averaging a point per game. The kid was looking bright as ever.

However, his followup performance this season wasn’t as great. He played a full 82 games but only scored 22 goals and 26 assists for 48 points. It was good, but it wasn’t like what we expected of him after a stellar rookie season.

Older and Better

But I believe this season will be the season. Guentzel finally has two seasons under his belt. He’s taken a bigger role on this team and he’s embraced it. During this year’s playoffs, he became the guy everyone looked to when we needed to score, and he delivered perfectly. He scored 21 points in just 12 games. That’s nearly 2 points a game. That is absolutely amazing and it’s really showing his comfort in the league.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself and put a lot of expectations on the kid because of his performance during the postseason, but I think we can all see how much more comfortable he is. Guentzel knows that Pittsburgh needs to get right back in our winning ways after being eliminated this year, and I think he’ll be ready to bring it next season.

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