10 Players That Will Definitely Be Upgraded In NHL 18

7. Jake Guentzel - Pittsburgh Penguins

NHL 18 Cover
By Michael Miller (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

This past season defined breakout for the previously unknown Jake Guentzel, promoted to the Penguins' lineup by virtue of his dominant AHL stats. He earned a permanent spot on the roster and ended up as one of the key cogs in a campaign which saw the Penguins repeat as Stanley Cup Champions, a feat that hadn't been achieved in the NHL since 1992.

A third round pick in 2013, Guentzel had spent the past few years working his way up through college and minor-league level play before his parent team could ignore him no longer; his 42 points in 33 AHL games were almost matched upon his promotion with 33 points in 40 NHL games. Yet Guentzel didn’t stop there, with his pace only heating up in the post season as he came close to tying an all-time record for rookie playoff goalscoring with an astounding 13 goals.

For someone not even on the Penguins roster in NHL 17, Guentzel should land in a permanent role in the lineup of this year’s game with a more than solid overall rating.

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