GUENTHER WILL BE CHEERING ON OIL KINGS FROM SIDELINES
Knee injury in WHL final sidelines veteran forward for Memorial Cup championship
Dylan Guenther is among the best players on the Edmonton Oil Kings roster, but can only watch his team compete at the 2022 Memorial Cup.
Gunther is not available for the tournament after sustaining a knee injury in Game 3 of the WHL final against the Seattle Thunderbirds.
The Arizona Coyotes' firstround pick is in New Brunswick with the team, but is reduced to a spectator.
“I hurt it in Game 3. It's feeling pretty good right now, and they said it's going to start to feel better,” Guenther said Sunday. “It's a time thing and a strength thing. I'm just going to play it day by day here and it seems to be getting better and better, so that's good.”
Gunther had 13 goals and 21 points in 16 playoff games for the Oil Kings prior to sustaining the injury to his left knee. The Edmonton product said it was pretty innocuous play, which took him out of the playoffs.
“It was hard to say, you wouldn't be able to tell watching the game,” he said. “It was something that I did and felt, and it was unfortunate. But it was a harmless play.”
For precautionary reasons, the Coyotes flew Guenther to Arizona to have the knee looked at by team doctors. He's expected to be ready for NHL camp in September. The world junior hockey championship in August, however, might be touch and go.
“I think it's important to make sure we know what it is and make sure we get it right, so when it heals, it's healing the way you want, that it heals properly and everything is going smooth right now,” Guenther said.
“I don't think it's too major of a thing here, it just has to build up strength and it'll be good to go pretty soon.
“We don't know yet about the world junior, you kind of just have to take it week by week and kind of just evaluate it after that. But I haven't really got that far in advance yet, so we'll see.”
For now, Guenther is focused on watching the Oil Kings compete for the Memorial Cup title. Edmonton begins the tournament Tuesday against the QMJHL champion Shawinigan Cataractes.
The Oil Kings were the last WHL team to win the national major junior championship, claiming it on their previous visit in 2014. Without Guenther in the lineup, the job got a whole lot tougher for the Oil Kings, but the team is still pretty stacked with talent.
“We lost him early in Game 3 in the final and I thought we did well without him,” said Oil Kings captain Jake Neighbours. “That's obviously a huge hole to fill and it's not going to be able to be filled by one person.
“We have to have multiple forwards stepping up and playing more minutes. That's something we've done all year. We've always had that next man up mentality and we're just going to have to continue that with Dylan out.”
Guenther has been with the Oil Kings for the past three seasons. He was the first overall pick in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft, and had 45 goals and 91 points in 59 games this past season.
While on the trip with the Oil Kings, Guenther is going to try to spend as much time in the weight room as possible, preparing the best he can for Coyotes camp this fall. Guenther is projected to crack the NHL roster this upcoming season.
“I'm here to cheer on the team, but I don't get to play, which feels weird ... not getting to play,” he said. “But this is an exciting event and I know how excited the guys are and I'm looking forward to watching them. I think it's pretty cool to have a best-on-best tournament, and it's unfortunate I can't be a part of it, but I'll be cheering.”
Guenther was a big part of the Oil Kings rebuild. He and a large portion of the roster are expected to move on next season.
“We have a good team, but all the teams are good here, and it's hard because you don't really know what you're going to get,” Guenther said. “But we know some players on other teams. I expect the teams to be pretty close and I think we'll have a plan and we'll be successful, so I'm excited to watch it.”
Regardless of how the Oil Kings fare in Saint John, they'll always have the WHL title to cherish. The Oil Kings went on to defeat the Thunderbirds
4-2 in the best-of-seven series, playing the bulk of the final four games without him.
“It's pretty cool. It's been in the making for a while, we've had good teams the past two seasons and didn't get to compete,” Guenther said. “It's a little bittersweet ... I think we would have won last year, too. It's nice to get the win and I think if we can win here, it'll be pretty huge for everyone.
“I'm not going to play with a lot of these guys anymore. After this year, there are going to be guys moving on, there will be a lot of moving parts and that's how it is every year, so you just have to take advantage of the task at hand. This will be the last time I'll be on the road with these guys, so I just want to take advantage of it.”