Utah Gov. Spencer Cox invited the crowd gathered at the Delta Center to come back when the Utah hockey club wins the Stanley Cup. Team broadcaster Matt McConnell said the team could be “really good, really fast.” Goalie Connor Ingram told the fans he would run through a wall for them.
The arena was brimming with optimism on Wednesday afternoon when fans filled seemingly every available seat to welcome Utah’s new NHL team, its general manager, head coach and players to Salt Lake City.
But how competitive will Utah’s new hockey club, formerly the Arizona Coyotes, actually be when the season kicks off this fall? Is the yet-to-be-named club on a path to the playoffs?
Team officials and players cited young talent, organizational depth and a “warchest” of draft picks over the next three seasons as reasons to believe a postseason run — maybe even a deep run — is possible in the near future.
“This is the most difficult part of this whole process, is that the future was going to be so bright,” said Steve Peters, a former Coyotes assistant coach, on a recent episode of the PHNX podcast dedicated to educating Utahns about the team.
“And now, Utah, the future is yours.”
Young talent and an All-Star
During Wednesday’s introductory event, the Utah hockey club put its young star front and center.
Clayton Keller, a high-scoring forward, was the only Coyotes player to make the All-Star game over the past three seasons and is a four-time All-Star. He’s scored more than 30 goals over the past two seasons and was the team’s co-captain. At 25, he’s one of the league’s young stars and already has more than 500 games of NHL experience.
“I think he has something to prove in Utah,” Peters said. “Clayton Keller believes he’s the guy because he is the guy.”
In addition to Keller’s 33 goals and 76 points, the Coyotes had five 20-goal scorers. Three are age 26 or younger: forward and co-captain Lawson Crouse, 26, a three-time 20 goal scorer; Matias Maccelli, 23, who was second on the team in assists; and Logan Cooley, 19, the third overall pick in 2022.
“What fans are going to get from this team is an exciting young team that can score goals,” said general manager Bill Armstrong, who helped build a Stanley Cup winner in St. Louis as an assistant…
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