The winger played over 500 games for the franchise and won a Stanley Cup.

Carolina Hurricanes winger Jake Guentzel will return home to play against his former team tonight as the Canes take on the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

Guentzel, who played over 500 games with the Penguins and won a Stanley Cup with the team in 2017, was dealt to Carolina at this year’s trade deadline.

Now, less than a month later, he’ll be facing his old teammates.

Guentzel has fit in almost perfectly since coming to Carolina. Paired on the top line with Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis, he’s put up two goals and 12 points in 10 games and his line has controlled play without allowing a single even-strength goal against

But he still has another level to get to if you ask his new coach.

“I still think he’s trying to figure out what we do, but he’s such a smart player that you can probably drop him off anywhere and he can figure it out,” said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour. “I think there’s still another level of understanding of what we’re trying to do, but he’s a better people than I probably though he was, to be quite honest. I knew he was a great player, but it’s just the little things that you don’t get to see when he’s on another team. Just a real intelligent player.”

Guentzel’s ‘welcome home’ comes just two games after Evgeny Kuznetsov received his from the Washington Capitals.

At the time, Guentzel said, “It’s special to see what he’s done for the city. He’s obviously been a high-end player so it’s really cool to see when the fans get behind him like that.”

When asked about his own upcoming tribute though, “I don’t know. It’s going to be interesting, but I’m excited for it.”

It’ll certainly be an emotional night for the 29 year old, and the way Brind’Amour described it for Kuznetsov still probably rings true for Guentzel.

:When you’ve been somewhere for a while and been a huge contributor, not just on the ice but with the fans and teammates… they were your family for a long time,” Brind’Amour said. “You just can’t flip a switch. It’s hard to play against and lineup against guys you were brothers with. There’s a lot of emotions that go through that.”

Also of note, the Canes will be facing Michael Bunting for the first time since trading him to Pittsburgh. It’s a situation where there’s almost assuredly some hard feelings being that Bunting signed a three-year deal this offseason and the fact that he won’t even get to play in the postseason.