Jake Guentzel Practices with Penguins in a Full Capacity

Jake Guentzel practiced with his teammates in a full capacity on Tuesday (Oct. 3) at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex for the first time following offseason ankle surgery.

“I felt great. It was obviously nice to be back out with the guys again, and just to see the faces and be out with the new guys, it’s always fun,” he said. “So, exciting day for sure, and this is just the first step.”

After skating on his own for a period of time, Guentzel first joined the group in a non-contact fashion on Sep. 29, with Head Coach Mike Sullivan saying they were really encouraged by his progress and how far he’d come in the weeks since undergoing the procedure.

The plan had been to re-evaluate him in 12 weeks, with Penguins President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas saying they projected Guentzel to miss around five games – “but it’s medical, so you never want to put a lock on that.” Guentzel didn’t want to commit to a specific timetable, either.

“It’s too early to tell. Just kind of have to wait and see,” he said. “It’s day by day.”

Regardless of what the exact number of games ends up being, it looks like the Penguins were right to be optimistic that Guentzel wouldn’t be sidelined for long to start the 2023-24 season, which begins on Oct. 10 versus Chicago - and back to 100 percent when he returns.

He had sustained the injury last season, and when Guentzel returned to his native Minnesota for the summer, the plan had been to monitor it. But when his right ankle wasn’t healing how it was supposed to, the Penguins medical team worked with Guentzel and his team at home on a specific methodology to thoroughly test it before making the decision to have surgery.

Unfortunately, it just wasn't comfortable enough for Guentzel as he was getting up to the prescribed levels, so the surgical solution was performed.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing. You never want to go through something like this,” Guentzel said.  “But you realize it’s part of the game, it’s going to happen. Injuries happen, so just decided to do it in the summer, and we’ll see what happens here the next couple of days.”

Guentzel isn’t the first Penguins superstar to undergo an offseason procedure, with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin doing the same in recent summers, and coming back better than ever. The Penguins are confident that Guentzel, who led the team with 36 goals last season, can do the same.

“Jake is a vitally important player for our team,” Sullivan said. “He's quietly emerged as, in my mind, one of the superstars in the league. He's a really good goal scorer, he's a competitive guy, but he's got a two-way game also. He plays on both sides of the puck. He just plays the game the right way. I think when he's in our lineup, it gives us the ability to bump guys down a little bit. That helps our depth, and it makes our third line stronger, for example. That's the impact I think that he has when he's inserted into our lineup.”