The Pittsburgh Penguins have many stars on their current roster.

Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Phil Kessel. They’re all current-day stars for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But what about up and coming stars? How about Jake Guentzel?

Guentzel really made a name for himself last season by putting on a magnificent rookie campaign. Well going into his sophomore year, I truly believe this upcoming season can be his time to breakout as a star in his own right.

Looking Back to Last Season

Let’s quickly take a look at how Guentzel played in his rookie season. 16 goals and 17 assists for 33 points in just 40 games is spectacular. Guentzel came in and looked to be the perfect linemate for Sidney Crosby. Many can say his production was a result of playing with Crosby, but you can see that Guentzel played well in his own right.

The playoffs were suomething else though for the rookie. Guentzel put up 13 goals and 8 assists for 21 points in 25 games. He ended up being the league’s goal scoring leader during the playoffs and finished fourth in point totals. He really showed that he possesses the talent and skill needed to thrive in this league.

Looking Ahead

So how will this season be any better? Well for one, he will finally get to play a full season. If he can do that well in just 40 games last season, let’s see how much he produces next season.

16 goals in 40 games is great. If he doubles that in a full season, we very well may see Guentzel be a 30 goal scorer. He already has great chemistry with Sidney Crosby and Conor Sheary. I don’t see any reason as to why that combination shouldn’t work so well together again.

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The kid’s got the potential to really breakout. I can see him increasing his point total a lot more too, now that he’s comfortable with this team. He was nearly a point-per-game player in the playoffs. Playing that well under pressure as a rookie doesn’t happen too often.

So my bold prediction for next season is that Jake Guentzel truly will shine. We may see him score 30 goals, and hey I can see him reaching 60 points even. That’s really good for a player of his calibre, and that’s exactly the type of player we need.