For the Pittsburgh Penguins, there are several players as part of the Jake Guentzel trade tree who are in a “wait and see” stage to determine whether that trade will end up panning out for the organization.
But they are about to take a loss on at least one of the pieces of that deal.
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On Aug. 15, select NCAA players set to graduate who are in their fourth season of NCAA eligibility can become unrestricted free agents. According to Puckpedia, if a player is eligible, they must complete the necessary paperwork to indicate they’re no longer a college student and submit it to the NHL’s Central Registry by the 15th in order to become a draft-related free agent.
And at the top of the list is Penguins’ prospect Cruz Lucius.
Lucius, 22, was acquired as part of the trade that sent Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes before the 2024 trade deadline. He played two seasons at the University of Wisconsin before transferring to Arizona State University for his past two collegiate seasons. He had a breakout campaign in 2025-26, registering 15 goals and 46 points in 36 games, which was good enough for 11th overall in NCAA scoring.
Unfortunately for the Penguins, Lucius has already informed the team that he does not plan to sign with them for “personal reasons,” meaning he is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on the 15th so long as he completes the necessary paperwork. Had he opted to remain with Pittsburgh and sign, he would have joined a relatively crowded pool of forward prospects.
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Lucius was brought over from Carolina along with fellow forward prospects Ville Koivunen and Vasily Ponomarev – who is playing in the KHL – as well as NHL forward Michael Bunting and a second-round pick in the 2024 draft that turned into defenseman Harrison Brunicke, arguably Pittsburgh’s top prospect. Bunting was then traded to the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Tommy Novak and defenseman Luke Schenn, who was flipped for a 2027 fourth and a 2026 second-round pick that became Markus Ruck.
Even if the Guentzel trade tree is still growing and still has fruit to bear, the eventual loss of Lucius is a small blow to the Penguins’ forward depth as well as their payout from that trade.
Lucius was a fourth-round selection (124th overall) by Carolina in 2022.
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