Group is talented and, yes, cheap

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jake Guentzel’s first NHL season started about as improbably as you could imagine, scoring two goals in the first period of his debut.

It ended in a way he only could’ve dreamed of, lifting the Stanley Cup as his parents and brothers watched.

“Still crazy to think that I’m a Stanley Cup champion right now,” Guentzel said.

Guentzel is just the latest in the seemingly endless parade of young wingers coming up through the Penguins system to have an impact at the highest level. Conor Sheary, Bryan Rust and Tom Kuhnhackl established the trend a year ago, and the Penguins have no intention of it slowing down.

These players are young, productive and — perhaps most importantly from a management perspective — cheap. That combination allowed the Penguins to not only do the unthinkable and repeat as Stanley Cup champions in the salary-cap era, but set them up as competitors for even more success in the future.

“It’s a challenge every year,” owner Mario Lemieux said. “[General manager] Jimmy Rutherford’s got to go out every year and make sure that we’re under the cap and get some young guys who can play for less than the veterans.

“The franchise has done a great job in drafting over the years and bringing these young guys like Sheary and Rust and Kuhnhackl. It allows these young guys to come up and help us win a couple Cups in a row.”

Of the Penguins’ top four wingers in the 2-0 win Sunday night in Game 2, Phil Kessel was the only one making more than $1 million a year. The other three — Guentzel, Sheary and Scott Wilson — combined for just over a $2 million cap hit.

These guys likely aren’t going anywhere, either. Guentzel has two years left on his entry-level deal, and Rust, Kuhnhackl, Wilson and Carter Rowney are all under contract for next season.

Sheary is due for a raise as a restricted free agent this summer, but with 23 goals this season, he certainly has earned it.

There’s more talent to come, too. Daniel Sprong, 20, almost certainly will join the big-league club next year, as could 2017 Hobey Baker winner Zach Aston-Reese. Both are still on entry-level deals.

None of these guys are former first-round picks, either. Sprong went in the second. Guentzel and Rust were third-round draft picks. Kuhnhackl was a fourthrounder, Wilson a seventh. Sheary, Rowney and AstonReese were undrafted.

“Obviously, you need management to find players to be able to come into an organization and work against the salary cap,” veteran winger Chris Kunitz said. “I think that’s one of the toughest things.”

This cap-management strategy is part of the reason Lemieux thought the salary cap was so essential coming out of the 2005 lockout.

“It was important for any small-market team to have the salary cap,” Lemieux said.

“We couldn’t compete with the Rangers, L.A. and the big markets, Chicago and Detroit. To have the salary cap gave us a chance to spend to the cap and be on a level playing field as the other teams.”

Finding the assets is one thing. Working them into a locker room with veteran presences like the Penguins have is another.

“We’re so fortunate with the older guys taking us in and making the younger guys feel welcome,” Guentzel said.

“They do a great job, and I think that’s why we’ve had so much success.”

Guentzel, specifically, has benefited from playing on a line with Sidney Crosby since early March.

“You’re coming to the rink every day and you get to play with him,” Guentzel said.

“It’s special, and, obviously, he took me under his wing right away. I’m pretty fortunate to have him.”

Of course, some credit should go to Guentzel, as well.

“We talk a lot as a coaching staff about players that have it, that I-T,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.

“It’s hard to explain in wordswhat that is, but you know it when you see it, and I think Jake is one of those guys.”

The Penguins roster practically is overflowing with those guys at this point, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop any time soon.

Perhaps the scariest part for the rest of the league is that these guys aren’t just young, productive and cheap anymore. Now they’re also back-to-back Stanley Cup champions.

“You don’t expect it to go like this,” Guentzel said.

“I’m pretty lucky and thankful that it did.”