Utah’s Dylan Guenther set to return to lineup vs. Flyers

The Utah Hockey Club got some good news on the injury front, as winger Dylan Guenther will be returning to the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Guenther had missed the past 12 games due to a lower-body injury that he sustained on January 8th against the Florida Panthers. He was originally labelled as out indefinitely, leading many to be concerned about how long-term he’d be out of the lineup, but had seen his status switched to day-to-day last week, and is now ready to return to the lineup. Utah went 4-6-2 during his absence.

Guenther will return to the lineup alongside Barrett Hayton and Michael Carcone. This trio has yet to play together this season.

Guenther was having a career year before the injury, with 16 goals and 18 assists for 34 points in 40 games. Some of that is carried by a red-hot start that saw him score 5 goals in his first 3 games, but he’s still only one point shy of his previous career-high set last season.

Guenther is in the final year of his three-year, entry-level contract with an $894,176 cap hit, and will begin an eight-year contract with a $7,142,857 cap hit at the conclusion of it.

Winger Lawson Crouse will draw out of the lineup in place of Guenther. There’s currently no word if his absence from the lineup is injury-related, but considering he has only 7 goals and 4 assists for 11 points in 52 games, and 1 assist in his last 12 games, it’s likely a performance-related healthy scratch.

Utah currently sits in sixth in the Central Division with a 21-22-9 record, which is 8 points behind the Calgary Flames for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference. Utah will look to snap their five-game losing streak when they host the Flyers on Tuesday at 7 p.m. MST.