(L-R) General manager Bill Armstrong and head coach Andre Tourigny of the yet to be named NHL Utah hockey team speak during a news conference at the Delta Center on April 24, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The NHL has allowed the sale of the Arizona Coyotes and the team will relocate to Salt Lake City, Utah.(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – As the Utah Hockey Club prepares for their first season at the Delta Center, a plethora of new opportunities awaits them. In addition to a new town, new look and a new fanbase, perhaps the greatest opportunity this year is a chance to bring the Stanley Cup playoffs to Salt Lake City. But before they roll out the red carpet for Lord Stanley, they’re a few key areas that the club will have to improve upon if they have any hopes of making the postseason.
There’s no sugarcoating this one. With one of the worst goals against averages from last season (3.34 GA/G, 25th in the NHL), the club simply has to improve, or they won’t stand a chance in a Central Division where most the teams who qualified for a playoff spot last year allowed around three goals or less per contest.
Related: Get To Know Utah Hockey Club’s Central NHL Division
Luckily for the Utah Hockey Club, General Manager Bill Armstrong went right to work this offseason and secured a group of highly talented defensemen. Acquiring players like Mikhail Sergachev, John Marino and Ian Cole, the club added nearly 300 playoff games of experience and four Stanley Cups.
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Those additions alone should greatly impact Utah’s ability to keep the puck out of their own net while also improving offensive production as each of those players have helped their previous squads light the lamp on a fairly consistent basis for defensemen, especially Sergachev.
Additionally, the goaltending has to be better. Connor Ingram (.907) and Karel Vejmelka’s (.895) save percentages are simply not good enough. However, with so much new defensive talent and a fresh start, those numbers should improve.
There’s an obvious correlation between Utah’s penalty kill from a season ago (76.3%, 25th in the NHL) and the number of goals they were allowing on a nightly basis. If you don’t have a strong penalty kill unit, you’re obviously going to allow more goals which negatively impacts both areas.
However, this is another stat that should improve with all the additions that the front office made this offseason. Being able to rely on guys like Sergachev, Marino and Cole, in addition to Sean Durzi and Michael Kesselring when the team is down a man, greatly fortifies your special team’s unit.
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Also, better defensemen means more support for your goaltender which should lessen the number of times they’re scraping the puck out of their own net. If they can improve their penalty kill percentage by three or four points, closer to the league average of 79%, they’ll be much more competitive in the division.
If it wasn’t obvious enough, defense was the focus coming into the offseason. Once the 2023-24 campaign had completed, Armstrong jumped on the phones and didn’t stop until he found someone willing to send a top tier defender to the Wasatch front. He then added more depth by trading for Marino and the veteran signing of Ian Cole.
Now heading into a new era of Utah hockey, this team should see noticeable improvements and just might compete for a playoff spot in year one. If these additions can quickly spearhead improvements in these two key areas and the offense witnesses individual improvements from young guys like Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther and Josh Doan, this team will be dangerous and just might inch out one of the top Central Division teams for a postseason spot.
Fans can watch the Utah Hockey Club’s first game on October 8 against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks on ESPN. Click here for the full schedule.
