Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller highlight Utah’s NHL quarter-century team

On Friday, the NHL revealed the Utah Hockey Club’s quarter-century team.

Yes, even though the team has been active for less than a calendar year, they get to be included during the league’s celebratory roll-out.

Every player on the two squads is actively playing for Utah. The first team sees many young stars, including forwards Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther and Clayton Keller. On defense, there’s Mikhail Sergachev and Michael Kesserling, with goaltender Karel Vejmelka also being honored.

Keller is one of two members on this QC team that was also named to the Arizona Coyotes team. After being a guiding force for the franchise in its final days in Tempe, the young scorer was named Utah’s first captain on Oct. 4. He currently leads the team with 18 goals and 36 assists for 54 points.

Cooley is expected to be part of UHC’s future. The former Minnesota star has been a lightning bolt since joining the Coyotes and has been playing well this season, sitting second on the team in scoring behind Keller, scoring 15 goals and 28 assists for 43 points.

Guenther scored the team’s first-ever goal and has continued filling the net for the team in Salt Lake City. Through 40 games, he’s second on the team in goals (16), sitting fourth on the team in points in 34.

Sergachev gave the new team some legitimacy when he was acquired via trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Though he’s also missed a couple of games, the Russian blueliner has been effective at both ends of the rink, leading the team in scoring among d-men with 31 points.

Kesserling has also been a solid player this season for Utah. With a +9 rating through 50 games, the 25-year-old is seventh on the team in scoring with 19 points.

Vejmelka has been one of the more underrated goaltenders over the past few seasons. Even on some bad teams in Arizona, the Czech goaltender seemingly always gives his team a chance to win. In 28 starts, Vejmelka is 11-14-3 with a 2.47 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage and one shutout.

The second team has forwards Nick Schmaltz, Alex Kerfoot and Jack McBain, along with defensemen Ian Cole and Olli Maata. Goaltender Connor Ingram rounds out the crew.

Schmaltz is the other player featured on both Utah and the Coyotes’ QC teams. The centerman is third on the team in scoring this year with 10 goals and 30 assists for 40 points. Kerfoot has brought some veteran qualities to the team over the past few years, and has posted six goals and 15 points in 50 games thus far.

McBain is the last of six Utah players to have double-digits in goals this season, potting 10 through 50 appearances.

Maata came to the organization looking to give a young D-Corps some needed experience. He’s been relatively solid on the back end, as has Cole. Cole is third in scoring among blueliners with 13 points, while Maata trails him with 11.

Ingram, the reigning Bill Masterton winner, has been a solid figure for the team over the past couple of years. In 18 games this season, he has a record of 8-6-4, a 3.31 GAA and a .881 SV%.