How good can Utah be in first NHL season?

The Utah Hockey Club kicks off their first season in the National Hockey League (NHL) tonight against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks.

Utah, formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes, went 36-41-5 with 77 points in 2023-24, seventh in the Central Division and 27th in the league-wide standings.

How far can they make it in their first season? Today on Daily Faceoff Live, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss how good Utah can be.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s talk about this team for a moment, Clayton Keller is their star, Logan Cooley, and Dylan Guenther could have a big season and become a household name around the league. I like their forward group, I like their defense, I think the dio they have in net is more than serviceable. How good can Utah be?

Frank Seravalli: I have them making the playoffs this year. You look at Vegas in 2017-18, coming in as an expansion team and making the Stanley Cup Final their first year, but this is a totally different scenario. You have a ready-built team that has been going through this exercise for the last few years and is ready to hit the ground running. They improved their defense by trading for Sergachev, they added an important voice with Ian Cole, plus the youngsters they have.

Frank Seravalli: You mentioned Guenther becoming a household name, he’s already inked to a $50+ million deal. Logan Cooley is another rising star, and this team has a lot of exciting pieces. And their top player, Sergachev makes $8.1 million on the cap. Utah has cap space, has draft picks and could catch some teams by surprise with how aggressive they could be early on.

You can watch the full show here…