Jake Guentzel's bonds with the Penguins remain strong

Once upon a time, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust were the future.

Each was drafted in the third round by the Pittsburgh Penguins during the early 2010s — Rust was No. 80 overall in 2010, and Guentzel went No. 77 in 2013 — and first met at an offseason development camp for the team’s prospects.

Both became big parts of what might have been the greatest era in the history of the Penguins.

Rust came to the NHL in a full-time capacity in 2015-16 and helped the franchise win its fourth Stanley Cup title.

Guentzel barged into the NHL during the following season and set a handful of postseason scoring records for rookies as the Penguins earned their fifth championship.

And in the ensuing years, each got to experience plenty of wins and goals together and shared several even more profound triumphs off the ice in the forms of weddings and children.

A decade ago, they were part of a promising future.

Today, one of them is part of a glorious past whereas the other is involved with a murky present.

On March 7, the struggling Penguins traded Guentzel — after failing to reach an agreement on a contract extension — to the playoff-bound Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a bundle of assets.

Tuesday, Rust faced his friend as an opponent in a game of consequence for the first time.

“It’s an interesting experience,” Rust said. “The only other one that’s close to that is playing against (defenseman Brian Dumoulin, of the Seattle Kraken) earlier in the year. A guy who I kind of came up with, grew up with. Came in here as young guys, left as (a) veteran with families and kids and stuff. A guy who I got really close with and who means a lot to me.

“But as soon as you get out there, friends disappear for two and a half hours.”

Guentzel has been productive since joining the Hurricanes. In eight games, he has 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) while skating on either of that team’s top two lines.

“Regardless of the team he went to, he was going to help them,” said Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, Guentzel’s long-time linemate. “He’s a great player. He’s had a great time with them. … It looks like he’s settled in nicely and producing a lot. He’s playing good hockey for them.”

Guentzel played good hockey for the Penguins from, seemingly, the moment he joined the NHL roster.

After all, he scored on his first career shot at the NHL level. Only 62 seconds into a 5-2 home loss to the New York Rangers on Nov. 21, 2016, Guentzel sniped a wrister from the left wing under goaltender Antti Raanta’s left leg on the far side.

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“He’s such an intelligent player,” Rust said. “Obviously, he’s got a good shot and he can skate well and all these things, but there isn’t something that wows you. But he just gets it down every time. He’s in the right place to finish goals, he can make plays, he’s there to make plays with his feet when they’re there. His ability to out-think pretty much everybody on the ice makes him good.”

A clarion call for the Penguins seemingly from the day they drafted Crosby first overall in 2005 was to find “a winger for Sid.”

After early and sustained success with trade acquisitions such as Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz, Guentzel was the first true home-grown winger the Penguins developed for that pursuit.

Arguably, he has been Crosby’s greatest winger, at least based on production.

“He’s got really good hockey sense,” Crosby said. “He can adjust to whatever game you want to play, whether it’s tight checking and you want to grind a little bit. Or if it’s up and down (and) you have to play a game off the rush, he can do that, too. He’s someone that can adjust to any style of play.”

Beyond the spectacular exploits on the ice, Guentzel was a vital component of the Penguins’ dressing room. The fifth-most tenured member of the team at the time of his departure, Guentzel might have been far more popular as a person among his teammates than as a player to fans, several of whom wore his No. 59 at Tuesday’s game.

“We sat next to each other, played together,” Crosby said. “Winning the Stanley Cup, there’s always a unique bond when you do that together. Besides that, the length of time and some of the memories over the years, definitely a strong (connection) there.”

Those bonds will last well into the future, no matter what team Guentzel is on.

“A guy who guys in here all really liked,” Rust said. “A guy who carried a lot of weight around here because of the person he was and also of how good of a hockey player he is. It goes well beyond that. If you talk to the staff members in here, he treated everybody — from Sid down to someone who is a locker room attendant or is only here as a volunteer — he treated everybody the same at a very high level.”