Mark Madden: The Penguins need change, and trading Jake Guentzel would likely provide big return

Mike Sullivan will reportedly be back as Penguins coach.

It’s a good bet the core three will return. Sidney Crosby will never leave unless he asks out. Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin are entering the final year of their contracts. Tickets can (and need to be) sold next season, so deciding on Letang and Malkin will be put off for a year. If/when they depart via free agency, blame can be placed on them. It’s better PR that way.

Goaltender Tristan Jarry should be ditched. But that’s much easier said than done. The NHL’s GMs saw what happened. They all own TVs. Who would take him?

So how is meaningful change effected?

It probably won’t be.

But the main goal of GM Ron Hextall and president of hockey operations Brian Burke figures to be making the roster more balanced by way of going bigger and heavier.

The Penguins have a good team. But they have way too many of the same type of player: fast, skilled and small.

The New York Islanders’ physical dominance took advantage of the Penguins’ imbalance in their first-round playoff series.

A big move in correcting that imbalance might be trading winger Jake Guentzel.

It could be a deal akin to what then-GM Jim Rutherford did in 2014 when he sent James Neal to Nashville for Patric Hornqvist. Neal was more skilled, but Hornqvist’s size and grit provided something the Penguins didn’t have enough of — and don’t now, either.

Guentzel is a tremendous player. He might be Crosby’s best linemate ever.

But he has three goals in his last 14 playoff games. The Penguins won just three of those.

Guentzel can’t adjust to the physicality of current postseason hockey, which keeps trending bigger. Guentzel is lucky the medical staff didn’t have to scrape him off the ice with a coal shovel following that series against the Islanders.

Guentzel has guts. That often gets him battered.

As his tenure in Pittsburgh progressed, Hornqvist grew too slow through the neutral zone to skate a regular shift with Crosby.

But perhaps Hornqvist should have, anyway, because Hornqvist took much of the physical burden away from Crosby while forcing that line to play down low more. Crosby may be the NHL’s best player ever below the hash marks, but he does it less as he ages. He prefers to attack mostly off the rush. Against the Islanders, his line stayed on the perimeter too much.

It’s time for Crosby to get a Hornqvist-type linemate again.

Those aren’t easy to come by.

Guentzel would be a loss. He’s just 26 and carries a relatively affordable cap hit of $6 million.

But the Penguins can’t stand pat.

Guentzel isn’t a Crosby creation, per se.

But he benefited greatly from skating with Crosby, as any winger obviously would. He is unlikely to produce elsewhere like he has with Pittsburgh. Whoever takes his place on Crosby’s flank would probably see his numbers increase.

If Guentzel is swapped, judge the deal by fit. Not just prior stats.

Guentzel has played every game possible in three of his five NHL seasons, including the one recently completed. But his slight frame is doubtless absorbing cumulative wear and tear.

I am not campaigning to trade Guentzel.

I am campaigning for significant change.

If the coach, core three and goaltender all return, what options remain in that regard?

I’d rather trade Bryan Rust or (especially) Jason Zucker. The latter hasn’t fit despite his skill set indicating that he should.

But Guentzel would be in bigger demand, would bring bigger return and is the exact stereotype of the player the Penguins have too many of.