Jake Guentzel’s campaign with the Tampa Bay Lightning is about to get interesting as the former Carolina Hurricanes seek to come up with a promising run in the 2024-25 season with the hopes of delivering a promising title campaign which can be quite a daring notion for the team at this point. But will his confidence translate into a title win that many fans have been waiting for in a long time?

After being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning, it is expected that Jake Guentzel will have to earn his place as the squad's new lead star. Guentzel inked a seven-year deal with the Lightning as he is entering his ninth season in the NHL. Given how the team is ready to compete at a high level following their first-round exit in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, it seems that the team has a chance to prove their worth with Guentzel at the helm.

Guentzel is expected to play a top-six role with the team considering how he has thrived in that core position with the Carolina Hurricanes. The forward replaces former captain Steven Stamkos, who, after not being offered a new deal by the team, has now signed with the Nashville Predators last July 1st with a four-year, $32 million contract.

Confidence in the Lightning

Jake Guentzel believes that the Lightning, which has won the 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup Final, can definitely come up with a promising run in the game once more. Guentzel is slated to play alongside a star-powered lineup of forwards Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel, and Anthony Cirelli. All five players are under contract for at least the next three seasons, which is something that Guentzel is confident about.

“There’s a lot of high-end players, elite players on the team, and just an unbelievable opportunity for me and my family to go do something else on our own,” Guentzel said. “It’s going to be fun for us. It’s going to be different, it’s going to be challenging, but it’s going to be something that we’re looking forward to.”

It is a new team for Guentzel, and it is also both a new division and an opportunity for him. Last year was a different picture with his injury and later being traded to a different team. Now this time with the Lightning can actually be a promising note for his run, especially as he hopes to click with the rest of the team and pull off a championship campaign.

Guentzel’s Championship Experience

Guentzel, selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the 77th pick of the 2013 NHL Draft, went on to win the Stanley Cup in his rookie campaign in 2017. Since then, Guentzel has amassed a total of 491 points (227 goals, 264 assists) in 520 regular-season games for the Hurricanes and Penguins and 67 points (38 goals, 29 assists) in 69 playoff games.

The championship experience comes in handy for the Lightning considering that they need Guentzel to replace the veteran leadership that Stamkos had for the team. On top of that, it is the winning culture that actually makes the team even more fun to watch at this point in time. Guentzel is a leader in his own right, and he believes that he fits in well with the team’s identity.

“They all know how to win,” Guentzel said. “There’s just a winning pedigree there. And I still feel like we have a chance to win.”