All 32 teams enter each NHL season with plenty of questions awaiting answers. From head coach questions to locker room leadership inquiries, there’s always something in the air being asked. This season, the Utah Hockey Club will endure what no team has faced since the Seattle Kraken: being the league’s newest franchise. With that comes higher expectations and more eyes than usual.
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Now that August has arrived, puck drop at the Delta Center against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks is still a way off, but there is plenty of intrigue two months out. Having general manager Bill Armstrong make a splash at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas and some quality additions to the team during free agency, Utah has lots of potential this season.
With that potential comes questions that will likely dictate how they do, so without further ado, here are three questions entering the 2024-25 season that remain unanswered.
How Does Mikhail Sergachev Embrace New Environment?
The 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas was a surreal event and, by far, one of the more astounding venues for an NHL Draft at the Sphere. It was a great atmosphere, and fans from Toronto to Anaheim loved it; it was a success. During the draft, Armstrong made a splash by trading Conor Geekie, J.J. Moser, and a 2025 second-round pick.
It was quite a shock to the fans in Vegas and Utah fans, as this was undoubtedly the biggest trade during the draft. Now, Mikhail Sergachev is no newcomer when it comes to winning, having won two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning, so how will he embrace the Utah environment? He has all the tools to become a number-one defenseman, and he’ll have that opportunity in Utah being the number one guy.
He was always behind Victor Hedman in Tampa Bay, which made sense, but he couldn’t unlock his full potential. Change is hard, but if Sergachev’s track record has shown us anything, it’s that he’ll be able to come into head coach Andre Tourigny’s system and be the team’s number-one defenseman, something that’s been missing for several seasons.
Can Clayton Keller Continue His Rise to Stardom?
After Clayton Keller’s magical rookie season with the Arizona Coyotes in 2017-18, there was hope for a franchise that had always dealt with constant issues on and off the ice. He regressed in his sophomore and junior years, which was disappointing since he had such a promising rookie season. In 2021-22, he took flight until a fractured femur halted his season short, and whether he could regain his play was in the air.
Then, in 2022-23, he took off, tying Keith Tkachuk for the most points in a Kachina jersey, and Keller was a bright bulb for the Coyotes. Flash forward to now, as Utah enters its inaugural season, and Keller has the chance to put the team on his back and continue his rise to stardom. As mentioned, the newcomers will help, especially a guy like Sergacehv, who has ample experience.
This season will be big for the 25-year-old and while many think Keller deserves to be the first captain in Utah history, that’ll be up to Tourigny, who has always voiced his appreciation for having multiple alternate captains. Needless to say, Keller is in prime position during the 2024-25 season to continue his rise to fame and become the face that Utah needs.
Does Utah Sneak Into Playoffs?
Many started to ponder this question at the beginning of last season, and for a bit, it looked like the Coyotes could clinch a spot in the playoffs. The West wasn’t entirely that strong, and the Coyotes had lots of depth, something teams need to make deep runs. This was all up until January, when the team hit a skid, losing 14 games in a row, putting them well out of the playoff picture.
This also resulted in them selling at the trade deadline, and guys like Jason Zucker and Matt Dumba were shipped out. The team is obviously not going to be in Arizona this season, as they take center stage at the Delta Center, where they’ll play all of their home games. This now begs the question, does Utah sneak into the playoffs? Similar to last year’s situation, they may sneak into the playoffs with tons of youth and veterans with enough experience.
That being said, they will likely take a stride forward but miss the playoffs by a hair. I say this because when you look at the other teams in the West, like the Vancouver Canucks, Colorado Avalanche, and Edmonton Oilers, they don’t have those kinds of pieces to contend. Utah is a big dark horse entering the 2024-25 season, and it’ll be interesting to see how they handle the new environment in Utah.
2024-25 Season Has Plenty of Intrigue
It’ll be an exciting season for Utah, as this is its first season in the NHL and the first since the Coyotes were relocated. While there are plenty of mixed feelings, and rightfully so, Utah is moving forward in the rebuild and could have a solid season in the West. With the additions they acquired during the summer, this is a vastly improved team, and they have all the pieces necessary to make a leap forward, but it’ll come down to the development of the younger players and how they handle the season overall.
