My thoughts on the upcoming season

It’s early July and the state of Utah is preparing to welcome its newest major sports franchise, Utah Hockey Club for its first season of National Hockey League play. While fans familiarize themselves with the sport, the team and its players, the organization inversely familiarizes itself with Utah and its unique qualities following a seemingly hasty relocation from Phoenix just months ago. In Phoenix the Coyotes for years found themselves in the doldrums, nearly finalizing multiple deals to build a permanent arena in various parts of the valley of the sun. The ‘Yotes ultimately played their final season at Arizona State’s Mullet Arena until a serious buyer in Qualtrics’ co-founder Ryan Smith showed legitimate interest in bringing a hockey team to Salt Lake City. 

This summer has been busier for no individual in an NHL front office than the aforementioned Smith who also heads Smith Entertainment Group, the Utah Jazz and now Utah HC which will together share an arena in the Delta Center for the foreseeable future. While an expansion franchise would have likely cost Utah somewhere north of $800M to bring a team to the state (Seattle was awarded the Kraken for $650M), Smith purchased the Coyotes and all of their existing ice hockey assets for $1.2. This ensures that Utah HC is starting with a solid foundation in place that includes coaching, scouts, a front office with clear organizational direction, a talented prospect pool and young core of recognizable players to build the team around as it establishes its own identity in the Beehive State.

The most frustrating component of the team’s relocation for Phoenix fans is the timing of the move. For the better part of the last two decades, the Coyotes have been bottom feeders in the western conference; always drafting near to the top of the board but never high enough to draft a transformational player like Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid or Jack Hughes despite having the league’s third worst points percentage (.450) in that time. 

Despite the lack of success the last few seasons brought, the Coyotes were able to capitalize  on much of their high draft picks. Center Logan Cooley is a third overall pick from the University of Minnesota who completed his rookie season with 20 goals and 24 assists and is poised to make a substantial leap in his second season.

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Winger Clayton Keller is 25 years of age but following eight NHL seasons is widely considered to be a top five right wing in the entire league for his ability to score goals and create chances for his line mates as well as his defensive prowess. In the 2023-24 season he put up 76 points in 78 games despite playing with inexperienced talent around him and often being burdened to drive the offense from a winger position which would usually be expected from a center. 

Other crucial offensive pieces that show promise are 23 year old Matias Maccelli who put up 57 points in just his third season and prospect Dylan Geunther who spent half of last season skating with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners but 35 points in his 45 games played with the big club. First round draft pick Tij Iginla should be expected to be called up to the NHL club at some point this season following a monster campaign in the WHL, scoring 84 points in 64 games for the Kelowna Rockets, prompting Utah to select him sixth overall in the NHL draft. Although undersized, the 6’0 192 lbs 17 year old is expected to fill out his frame and exemplify a gritty yet offensively skilled game similar to his Hall-of-Fame father, Jarome. Tij demonstrated his offensive capabilities at the team's inaugural prospect scrimmage, wowing fans with his fast, smooth skating, elite puck handling and ability to finish around the net. 

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In addition to Iginla, Utah traded back into the first round with Colorado to select centerman Cole Beaudoin at pick 24. After posting nearly a point per game with the OHL’s Barrie Colts and leading team Canada to a IIHF U18 world championship, the 6’2 209 lbs center is poised to blossom into a stalwart two-way center that have become the norm in anchoring cup-contending teams in today’s NHL.

Notable vets with track records of statistical production that Utah will be able to plug and play with include forwards Nick Bjugstad, Alex Kerfoot and Nick Schmaltz. If general manager Billy Armstrong can successfully surround the young core of Keller, Cooley, Geunther, Iginla and Beaudoin with capable pieces in the next few seasons this will surely be a team that can compete in the hyper-competitive pacific division. 

The Utah hockey club now plays in an NHL-size arena, has a fanbase hungry to embrace hockey and a young talented core for the organization to market and build around; the team has everything in place sans a mascot. These conditions would often enable an ownership group to take their foot off the gas, capitalize on their newfound fanbase and let the revenue dollars flow in by lacklusterly slapping a product on the ice. Utah HC’s brass has done just the opposite of that. 

Since free agency opened on July 1st, Ryan Smith has given Billy Armstrong and co. the green light to append money and improve this team immediately; extremely atypical of this franchise’ time spent in Arizona. The penultimate move was the acquisition of Mikhail Sergachev, a star offensive-minded defenseman with the resume of a seasoned veteran. The 26 year old has already played in 100 career playoff games with the Tampa Bay Lightning, winning two Stanley Cups while serving as a top power play and penalty kill specialist in those series. At a lofty $8.5M per year, Sergachev will add a necessary offensive punch from the blue line, defensive stability and veteran leadership to a fairly inexperienced squad that attempts to establish a new identity in a new, untested market. Sergachev projects to lead this team in minutes played and will likely assume the captaincy in Utah’s  inaugural season and going forward.

Utah also added more Stanley Cup experience to their blue line when they traded for Ian Cole, an aging vet with two Stanley Cups under his belt from his time spent with the Penguins and will add stability on Utah’s second or third defensive pairing. To provide depth to the forward group, Armstrong acquired on a two-year deal defensive forward Kevin Stenlund who just played 24 playoff games for the Florida Panthers en route to their Stanley Cup Victory. Other key back end additions include Sean Durzi who averages about half a point per game in three seasons played and 27 year old John Marino whose logged 328 games in five NHL seasons and holds a +39 rating. 

Projected forwards:

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|Clayton Keller|Logan Cooley|Dylan Guenther|
|Nick Schmaltz|Barrett Hayton|Josh Doan|
|Alex Kerfoot|Nick Bjugstad|Matias Maccelli|
|Lawson Crouse|Kevin Stenlund|Jack McBain|

Projected defense:

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|John Marino|Mikhail Sergachev|
|Sean Durzi|Juuso Valimaki|
|Michael Kesselring|Ian Cole|

Projected goaltenders:

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|Connor Ingram|
|Karel Vejmelka|

Plugging veterans who have been through the ups and downs of grueling seasons and deep playoffs run into the lineup will be crucial in shaping this young Utah team into a contender in the west. These seasoned newcomers will provide direction throughout all challenges faced throughout Utah HC’s inaugural season and will teach the team's young core to be consummate professionals on and off the ice. 

Utah’s new hockey team is littered with young talent and ownership has shown by adding star power and veteran leadership that this team plans to win at a high level sooner rather than later. It’s almost certain that the team will surpass last year's win total of 36, good for 4th worst in the western conference. Unfortunately for Utah the west is loaded; teams like Edmonton, Dallas, Colorado and Nashville have legitimate championship aspirations while upper-middling teams such as Vancouver, Los Angeles, Winnipeg and Minnesota plan to compete with the elite teams in the conference. So long as Utah’s core is composed of young and inexperienced players and lacks a clear cut number one option at goaltender, Utah HC fans should expect an exciting product on the ice that may have to wait two to three seasons to establish their identity and find themselves in postseason play.