Utah HC will be without two right-handed defensemen, Sean Durzi and John Marino until well after the New Year and could look to acquire a defender. The Vegas Golden Knights have eight NHL-calibre defensemen on their roster, raising the question if the two teams could explore a trade.
Durzi and Marino are undergoing surgeries that will keep them out for multiple months; Durzi out for 4-6 months and Marino out for 3-4 months, and have called up one of their top prospects, Maveric Lamoureux to replace them. The 20-year-old was playing in his rookie season in the AHL before his call-up.
The current Utah blue line looks like this:
Mikhail Sergachev – Michael Kesselring
Juuso Valimaki – Ian Cole
Vladislav Kolyachonok – Robert Bortuzzo
Lamoureux
Utah are hoping to make the playoffs this year and Durzi and Marino were going to be key parts of their success. Missing them for as long as they are could make or break their season. Cole and Bortuzzo are trusted veterans but are going to be forced to play larger roles than they may be able to handle.
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The Golden Knights come into play in all this with the abundance of defenders they have. When healthy, the Golden Knights are employing eight NHL-calibre defensemen with Kaedan Korczak and Ben Hutton sitting in the press box. The Golden Knights have three untradeable defensemen; Noah Hanifin, Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore. There were rumours that the team looked at possible trade destinations for Theodore in the offseason but with his contract expiring and his strong start to the season, it seems very likely that the Golden Knights hold on to him until the end of this season to make a decision on his future.
That leaves the Golden Knights with five other defenders who they could move, those being Korczak, Hutton, Zach Whitecloud, Nicolas Hague and Brayden McNabb.
Whitecloud is under contract the longest out of any of the five defenders, until 2028. Hutton and Korczak are locked up for this season and the next but McNabb and Hague are on expiring contracts. Hague will be an RFA when his expires meaning the team will still have control but McNabb is set to become a UFA.
Utah is likely looking for a right-handed defender; Whitecloud and Korczak…