Estimated read time: 7-8 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Spencer Cox looked out at the 12,000-plus fans who had packed into the Delta Center on Wednesday and made a plea to the crowd.
"You have to promise me that you will all come back for the parade when the Stanley Cup is here in Utah," he said.
Moments later, it was co-owner Ashley Smith making the bold proclamation.
"Thanks to this incredible team, these players for moving their lives … to bring a Stanley Cup to Utah," she said.
Optimism abounded as Utah's NHL team was introduced to its new home last week. But after the confetti had fallen and the festivities ended, this question remained: How good are these guys?
"We've got a young team, a talented team, but, truth be told, we're in the fourth year of the rebuild," general manager Bill Armstrong said.
Utah's yet-to-be-named NHL squad won't be among the favorites for the Stanley Cup when the puck drops next season. The former Coyotes finished with the sixth-worst record in the NHL and were second to last in their division.
A new home won't suddenly push them to the top of the league, but they might be closer to contention than their record would suggest.
All the noise surrounding the team's future didn't help their situation last year. Head coach Andre Tourigny remembers the exact date when Ryan Smith and Smith Entertainment Group made an official play for the NHL.
"It was Jan. 24 … and then we went on a 14-game losing streak," Tourigny said.
The Coyotes were just 2 points out of playoff positions before that stretch. By the time they won another game — which didn't happen until the calendar turned to March — any hope of the postseason was gone.
Coincidence? Not to longtime Coyotes beat writer Craig Morgan.
"It impacted the room," Morgan told KSL.com.
Even with that 14-game stretch, the Coyotes still finished with more points than they did in the 2022-23 season. Take away the rampant speculation and rumors, and the team may have played meaningful hockey in the spring. It's hopeful that will happen in the first season in Utah.
"I do believe we are a playoff team," young veteran Clayton Keller said. "We have a lot of great players, we have depth. We're a fast, skilled team and we can play with anyone when we're playing our best."
Here's a look at the team Utah is inheriting:
The star: Clayton Keller
Keller is the face of the new Utah franchise.
The 25-year-old forward followed up an 86-point breakout season in 2022-23 (good enough for 21st in the league) with a 76-point effort this season. The four-time All-Star is a top-20 wing and projects to be a 70-point per season player for a long time.
Forward Lawson Crouse, who had his second straight 20-goal campaign, and forward Nick Schmaltz, who scored 20 goals for the third season in a row, are other veterans on what could be an emerging team next season.
The hope: Logan Cooley
The third pick in the 2022 draft has a real chance to be a top center in the league. As a 19-year-old rookie this season, he recorded 20 goals and 24 assists — and he caught fire late in the season, scoring 12 goals in the final 24 games.
"There were some of us who wondered if Logan Cooley would have benefited from some time in the AHL," said Morgan, who covered the Coyotes since their move from Winnipeg in the 1990s. "But he's coming. You can see the skill and the speed and just the vision that he has. He's really a playmaker first, so he's going to bring a lot to the center position.
"This franchise has lacked elite centers for most of its history — really going all the way back to Jeremy Roenick (who left in 2001). Whether he's a No. 1 center or not, I don't know yet, but he's a top-six center. And that's that's something that every team needs."
The future: Guenther, Maccelli, Doan
Cooley isn't the only young player to be excited about. The team is probably a couple of years away from being a true contender, but the pieces are starting to take shape.
When Dylan Guenther was called up from the AHL in January, it was supposed to be for a "short term," according to Tourigny.
Then Guenther scored a goal in his first game. He then recorded a goal and an assist in his second; and soon enough, a short-term stint turned permanent. Guenther, who will turn 21 in May, had 18 goals and 17 assists in 45 games with the Coyotes.
He's part of a young group of forwards that includes Matias Maccelli (17 goals and 40 assists in 82 games) and Josh Doan, who is the son of Shane Doan, the best player in Coyotes' franchise history. Josh Doan played in 11 games at the tail end of the season and finished with five goals and four assists.
"There's a lot of young, exciting pieces, and there's just so much more in the pipeline because this hockey operations staff has done a spectacular job and the best in franchise history of building sustainable success through the draft," Morgan said.
COYOTES COME BACK ✅
— NHL (@NHL) March 23, 2024
Dylan Guenther buries his first career @Energizer OT winner on the breakaway! pic.twitter.com/ilogbFITFL
The draft
The Coyotes have never moved up in the draft lottery. Not once. Can a change of scenery change the team's luck? Boston University forward Macklin Celebrini is a 17-year-old phenom and is considered the prize of the 2024 draft. He would fit seamlessly into a young team ready to take the next step of a rebuild. Regardless of the results of the May 7 lottery, the Utah team has a lot of draft capital.
Armstrong has acquired 20 picks in the first three rounds over the next three seasons, including seven such picks this season.
"Adding more prospects to this organization is a great thing and will give us a chance to be a championship team in the future," Armstrong said.
Free agency
There are holes to fill for next season — especially on defense. The Utah team doesn't have a single defenseman signed for next season (first-liners Sean Durzi and JJ Moser are two of five restricted free agents on the blue line), so there's some work to do in free agency.
And Utah will have some money to spend.
The team will have about $41 million in cap space as they look to fill out the roster. The team will have to spend about $20 million just to reach the salary cap floor.
Armstrong has been patient and has avoided the flashy signings during the rebuild, but will he keep the same philosophy in Utah? Or will he look to make a splash for the inaugural season in the Beehive State? Keller expressed optimism that players will want to play for the new franchise.
"Hopefully we'll get new free agents here — guys that want to sign here," Keller said. "We're super excited. It's going to be a great place to play, and I think we're only going to keep going upwards and we definitely have a super exciting young team"
The coach: Andre Tourigny
How is Tourigny seen around the hockey world? Consider this: Even while his NHL side is going through a relocation, Team Canada still asked him to coach the team in the IIHF World Championship in Czechia next month. And why wouldn't they? He was the one who guided the Canadians to gold in last year's event.
And those around the team have credited him for how well the young squad has developed.
"He was billed as a player's coach, a guy who could develop relationships with the younger players," Morgan said. "That's a big part of the reason they brought him in. … He has been as advertised. He has been spectacular.
"You can see that the players have really responded. But the other side of Andre, too, is that he was able to develop younger players and you've seen progress with so many of their young core pieces. He's been fantastic so far."
