Free agency can be a sticky situation for many players that involves a lot of back & forth and sometimes, decisions that be difficult for players to have to make. And this was no different for the veteran center, Jake Guentzel, who in 2024 was traded to the Lightning from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a 2025 third round draft pick.
But why did Guentzel really sign with the Lightning? He revealed this summer on The Cam & Strick Podcast that the Hurricanes front office dropping the ball was part of his decision to go to Tampa Bay.
“I loved my time there,” said Guentzel of his time with the Hurricanes. “There was kind of a lot of back & forth before free agency. I was hoping to get a deal right at the end of the season, just didn’t come to fruition,” he said of wanting to stay with Carolina. But then Tampa Came calling. “It was a no brainer for me when that happened,” he said of the offer Tampa presented him.
As if we needed any more confirmation that the front office mishandled the situation, in an interview today on @CamandStrick Jake Guentzel confirmed he wanted to sign with the canes as soon as the season was done and he loved Rod’s coaching style. pic.twitter.com/jhqMswXfV4
— JWBS (@JustWanaBS) August 19, 2025
The day after the trade, Guentzel officially signed a seven-year, $63 million contract with Tampa, averaging an annual value of $9 million, committing to Tampa for the foreseeable future.
And what started as Carolina dropping the ball on Guentzel has since turned out to be a gift for Tampa Bay as they acquired a huge impact player and a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve and leaves it all out on the ice.
Guentzel is coming off a huge 2024-25 campaign with the Lightning and one of the best seasons of his career in which he scored 41 goals, recorded 39 assists, and 80 points, with a +18 season. The 5’11”, 178lb lefty scored 17 goals and accrued 28 points in penalty minutes, showing that the majority of his points were scored on even ice, not a short-handed defense. Though the Lightning came up short in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Guentzel was also a big contributor for Tampa Bay in the postseason, including three goals, three assists, and six points in five games.
Prior to this past season, Guentzel had only tallied 80 points one other time and that was in 2021-22 in Pittsburgh when he scored 40 goals and had 44 assists.
His 41 goals was the second most goals scored by a Lightning on the season, next to Brayden Point’s 42 goals. Nine of Point’s goals were setup by assists from Guentzel, who has fit right in with Nikita Kucherov, Point, and the Lightning offense.
Heading into the second year of his contract, with free agency behind him and coming off a huge season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Guentzel continue to glide through the 2025-26 season as well.