Utah, here’s who you’re getting with your new NHL team

Mike Gould
Mike Gould
Utah, here’s who you’re getting with your new NHL team
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The National Hockey League is coming to Utah.

Earlier this month, the league approved the sale of the Arizona Coyotes’ players, prospects, draft picks, and reserve list to Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, who will house the team at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

On Wednesday, Smith and a group of former Coyotes players will be in attendance for a special fan event at the Delta Center to formally introduce the fans in Utah to the NHL.

Although the Utah team doesn’t yet have a name (for our purposes, we’ll call it “Utah HC”), it does have a selection of intriguing players. Here’s a cursory look at Utah HC’s initial depth chart:

LEFT WINGCENTERRIGHT WING
Matias MaccelliLogan CooleyDylan Guenther
Clayton KellerBarrett HaytonNick Schmaltz
Lawson CrouseNick BjugstadJosh Doan
Alex KerfootJack McBainMichael Carcone
LEFT DEFENSERIGHT DEFENSEGOALTENDERS
J.J. MoserSean DurziConnor Ingram
Juuso ValimakiMichael KesselringKarel Vejmelka
Vladislav KolyachonokVictor Soderstrom

This is undeniably a young team, but what it lacks in experience, it more than makes up for in potential. Utah HC general manager Bill Armstrong also has approximately $40 million in cap space to play with this summer, so there’s a strong chance this roster looks quite a bit different after Canada Day.

In any event, there’s lots to talk about. If you’re a new hockey fan in Utah, you probably have a few questions: “Who are these guys?” “Who are our prospects?” “Who’s the coach?” — among others.

Well, you don’t have to wonder anymore. In our Utah NHL primer, we’re going to take a look at this team’s forwards, its defensive group, and its front office to get you up to speed on the new show coming to the Delta Center this fall.

Let’s start with the big guns up front.

FORWARDS

First off, learn these two names: Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley. The Coyotes originally selected Guenther and Cooley with high first-round picks in back-to-back drafts and they both started to blossom when put on the same line in the back half of the 2023–24 regular season.

Guenther, 21, is a pure goal-scorer who makes his linemates better. Case in point: Cooley, a 19-year-old center with star potential, looked a little out of his depth until Guenther joined him in the lineup in January. The two immediately hit it off and finished the season extremely strong.

While Guenther and Cooley both represent the future of this team, Clayton Keller is its present. The 25-year-old winger emerged as a full-fledged star over his last three seasons in Arizona, racking up 98 goals and 225 points in 227 games — and, in 2022–23, tying a Coyotes-era team record for most points in a single season.

Keller has played primarily with Nick Schmaltz over the last few seasons, with the two displaying terrific chemistry in the offensive zone. Schmaltz, 28, set up Keller with passes that led directly to shots more than pretty much any other duo in the entire NHL last season. Expect them to be attached at the hip again with Utah HC.

Continuing on: Lawson Crouse is a heart-and-soul player who is a safe bet to score 20 goals each season. The 6’4″ winger turns 27 in June, meaning he should be getting to the very peak of his career. He repeatedly stated during his tenure in Arizona that his goal is to put together a 30-goal season — can he do it in Utah?

Matias Maccelli is a slick Finnish winger who just wrapped up his second full NHL season, racking up 57 points in 82 games. The 23-year-old is an outstanding passer who is responsible for creating more than a handful of Crouse’s goals over the last two years. He spent a bit of time on the Cooley line down the stretch last season but he could be reunited with Crouse and big center Nick Bjugstad, 31, to kick off the first year in Utah.

Then, there’s Barrett Hayton, who has been the regular center on the Keller/Schmaltz line when healthy over the last three seasons. The 23-year-old Hayton does most of the dirty work in front of the opposing goal and frees up a ton of space for his linemates, but he missed all but 33 games last season while dealing with various injuries.

Finally, it’s worth singling out Josh Doan, who arrived in the NHL late in the 2023–24 regular season and made an impact with five goals and nine points in 11 games. The Scottsdale, AZ product is the son of Coyotes legend Shane Doan and played for the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes, the Arizona State University Sun Devils, and the Tucson Roadrunners before making the jump to the NHL. For the fans in Arizona who choose to follow the team to Utah, Doan will likely be the main reason why. At age 22, he’s only just beginning what should be an impressive career.

DEFENSE

Although Utah HC is pretty much set up front (for now), its defensive situation is much more of a work in progress. The team doesn’t yet have a single NHL defenseman signed for next season, although they’ll be able to extend their RFAs and sign some UFAs to address that issue.

One of those restricted free agents is J.J. Moser, who established himself as a quality top-four option over his three seasons in Arizona. Granted, he didn’t have a ton of competition with the Coyotes, but Moser nevertheless proved himself capable by eating a lot of minutes, taking on roles with both special teams units and demonstrating his poise with and without the puck. The Swiss lefty will turn 24 in June and could be in line for a long-term contract extension this spring.

Moser spent much of the 2023–24 season on a pairing with Sean Durzi, whom the Coyotes acquired from the Los Angeles Kings last summer. Durzi is a talented offensive defenseman who set new career highs with 76 games played, 32 assists, and 41 points in 2023–24. He might not be a top-pairing guy down the line, but the 25-year-old Durzi still has untapped offensive upside, can play both sides and should be a mainstay on Utah HC’s top power-play unit in 2024–25.

One of the Coyotes’ top breakout stories of the 2023–24 season was 24-year-old Michael Kesselring, a behemoth of a defenseman who showed he can hold his own in the NHL at both ends of the ice. The 6’4″ righty came to Arizona from the Edmonton Oilers as a throw-in at the 2023 trade deadline and quickly set himself apart from the Coyotes’ other defense prospects, racking up 24 points in 74 games over parts of two seasons in the desert.

GOALIES

In goal, Utah HC will likely turn to Connor Ingram as its primary starter in 2024–25 (barring any additional moves). The Coyotes claimed Ingram off waivers at the start of the 2022–23 season and he eventually showed why he had previously been named an AHL All-Star in back-to-back seasons, tying for the league lead with six shutouts in 2023–24. Ingram also maintains a hilarious presence on Twitter.

Karel Vejmelka will look to challenge Ingram for more starts in 2024–25 after being relegated to second fiddle for large swaths of last season. Vejmelka, 27, is a rare goaltender who wears his glove on his right hand — only six other right-catching goalies played in the NHL this season — and, fittingly, he plays a bit more of an unorthodox style than Ingram. Vejmelka is also much more prone to extended hot and cold streaks than his tandem partner.

PICKS AND PROSPECTS

Over the last few seasons, the Coyotes embarked upon a plan to amass as many draft picks as possible to build this team into a contender. While the team may no longer be located in Arizona, their picks remain with them — and boy, does Utah ever have a lot of draft picks.

Utah is slated to make 10 (!!!) second-round picks over the next three drafts, and that’s in addition to the six second-round picks the Coyotes made in their last three drafts in Arizona. It’s also worth noting that this section won’t include some of Armstrong’s other recent picks, like Cooley, Guenther, Moser, and Doan — we already mentioned them above.

While we wait to see who Utah will make its first-ever draft pick this summer, Conor Geekie has taken over the mantle as this team’s top prospect. The Coyotes originally selected the 6’4″ center with the No. 11 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft; over the following two seasons, Geekie has collected 78 goals and 176 points in just 121 WHL games with the Winnipeg Ice, Wenatchee Wild, and Swift Current Broncos. The 19-year-old has clear-cut top-six upside.

In 2023, the Coyotes selected a pair of Russians in the first round of the draft: Dmitri Simashev and Daniil But. Both turned 19 in February and play for the KHL club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Simashev is a big defenseman who skates well and holds the fort in his own zone; But is an even bigger forward who scored 21 points in 55 KHL games this year (impressive production for a young player). Both players will become eligible to sign contracts with Utah ahead of the 2025–26 season.

Utah’s top goaltending prospect is Michael Hrabal, who went 16-12-1 with two shutouts and a .912 save percentage in 30 games as a freshman at UMass-Amherst in the 2023–24 season. The 6’7″ goaltender also suited up for Team Czechia at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship, backstopping the team to a bronze medal while going 4-3-0 over seven games. The 19-year-old goaltender will likely spend one or two more seasons in the NCAA before signing with Utah.

Other Utah prospects of note include hulking defenseman Maveric Lamoureux, NCAA National Champions Miko Matikka and Sam Lipkin, Finnish winger Aku Räty, and German defenseman Maksymillian Szuber.

COACHING AND MANAGEMENT

Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong and head coach André Tourigny will both move with the team to Utah, along with an assortment of other hockey operations personnel.

Armstrong, 53, was named the Coyotes’ general manager in 2020. He oversaw a major teardown shortly after his arrival, trading away Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Conor Garland, Darcy Kuemper, Christian Dvorak, and others in exchange for a collection of draft picks and prospects. Armstrong also took on other teams’ unwanted players, such as Shayne Gostisbehere, Andrew Ladd, and Zack Kassian, to acquire even more future assets.

While the Coyotes were criticized during their final years in Arizona for taking on bad contracts and not spending as much money on active players as their division rivals, that strategy has put Utah in a position to be aggressive under new ownership over the next few seasons. Armstrong should have somewhere in the ballpark of $40 million to spend this summer on extending his existing players and acquiring new ones. With a bit of luck, Utah could field a playoff team in its first year of competition.

Tourigny has helped guide the players on this roster to career-best seasons since being named the Coyotes’ head coach in 2021. A fierce advocate for his players, Tourigny joined the Coyotes after an impressive career in the junior ranks coaching the Ottawa 67’s and the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. The 49-year-old Tourigny has been pivotal in the development of players like Keller, Schmaltz, Hayton, Maccelli, Guenther, and Cooley over his three seasons behind the bench.

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