Jake Guentzel can truly enjoy Da Beauty League this year because he has something this summer that he did not have after his first NHL season.



Time.



Guentzel played in the four-on-four summer hockey league at Braemar Arena in Edina last summer only because his brother, Gabe Guentzel, was about to leave for Germany and he wanted to skate with his brother. Otherwise, Guentzel likely would not have played. He didn’t need his hockey fix after winning a Stanley Cup the month before with the Pittsburgh Penguins to cap off his rookie year.



But with no Stanley Cup run to shorten his summer this year, Guentzel now has the time. So he is using it to enjoy some Minnesota summer hockey while refreshing his body and taking perspective gained from his first full NHL season into next season, in the hopes he can once again hoist the Stanley Cup.



“I think we’re all getting ready to the point now that we’re itching to play again,”...