Jake Guentzel (gent-sill) of the Pittsburgh Penguins has emerged as a star for the team this season and in particular, during their run for the Cup. Guentzel plays on the same line with Sidney Crosby and he has benefitted from that by scoring at a historic rate. He didn’t start the year off with the team, so he doesn’t have tons of rookie cards out there. That makes the ones that are in the market even more desirable.
Check out some of the reasons why Jake Guentzel needs to be a rookie on your radar worth collecting this year:
- His father was an assistant coach for the University of Minnesota. Jake served as a stick kid with the team at the same time Phil Kessel was there. On the experience, Jake says, “It was pretty special. Being a stick boy when Kessel was there is something that is kind of fun now. It only made me want to play hockey that much more.”
- Guentzel was drafted in the third round by Pittsburgh in 2013. He played three seasons at the University of Nebraska-Omaha where his stats shot north every season before he signed his pro contact with the team last spring.
- In the AHL, Guentzel got off to a nice start and then made a huge impact during the playoffs scoring 14 points in just 10 games. Just taking a look at his highlights, you can see he was going to be a star:
- And speaking of getting off to a nice start, take a look at what he did in his NHL debut:
- While the NHL rookies in Toronto get a lot of publicity, Guentzel was every bit their peer this season. Take a look at these stats:
- In the first round of the playoffs, Guentzel went off against the Columbus Blue Jackets scoring a hat trick including the game winner in overtime.
When it comes to which cards of Jake Guentzel, many are just hitting the market this season. While others are looking at Toronto and Winnipeg rookies, Guentzel may be the sleeper of this class with the most post season opportunity to become a star.
