- In an interview with Craig Morgan on Utah HC’s team site, GM Bill Armstrong indicated that there’s a chance that they could have all their injured players back coming out of the break. Center Logan Cooley suffered a lower-body injury at the end of January while blueliner Sean Durzi (shoulder) has been out since mid-October; getting both of them back would be a big boost for their attack. Meanwhile, defenseman Robert Bortuzzo (lower body) has missed more than a month while goalie Connor Ingram left the final game before the break with an upper-body issue so it appears they’re close to returning as well.
- From that same interview, Armstrong suggested that Utah has already done most of its team building already from the summer and early-season trade activity so the team is “already built to some degree”. They have six games left before the trade deadline and are six points out of the final Wild Card spot so being buyers would be a bit of a surprise. With that in mind, instead of team building, they could be doing some trimming with centers Alexander Kerfoot and Nick Bjugstad, blueliners Ian Cole and Olli Maatta, and goaltender Karel Vejmelka among the long list of pending unrestricted free agents this summer.
Utah Rumors
Penguins Claim Vladislav Kolyachonok From Utah
The Penguins have claimed defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok off waivers from Utah, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Pittsburgh had a pair of open spots on their active roster after some pre-break paper moves this morning, so they won’t need to make a corresponding transaction until their schedule resumes later this month.
Kolyachonok, 23, now joins his fourth NHL franchise. He was initially selected 52nd overall in the 2019 draft by the Panthers, who traded him to the Coyotes in the Anton Strålman offseason deal in 2021. The Belarusian defender jumped with his former Arizona teammates to Utah last summer but now finds himself headed east to Pittsburgh.
The interest in Kolyachonok stems from his two-way upside. He has decent size at 6’2″ and 195 lbs and has put up decent totals in the minors, recording 13-35–48 with a +12 rating in 150 career AHL games. None of those contests have come in 2024-25, as a revolving door of injuries on the Utah blue line meant he’s spent the entire season on the NHL roster. He was passable in a depth role, logging 2-3–5 with 19 blocks and 14 hits in 23 appearances. His underlying numbers were strong, posting a 52.9 CF% at even strength and a +1.7 expected rating, grading out better defensively than his actual minus-seven rating would otherwise indicate.
Pittsburgh hopes to tap into his remaining upside. At present, he’s an upgrade over their current seventh defenseman, Ryan Shea, who’s logged just three points in 53 games since making his NHL debut last season with middling possession impacts. He’ll likely knock Shea off the NHL roster if Pittsburgh needs to open space, but whether the lefty works his way into the lineup over Ryan Graves, Matt Grzelcyk, or Pierre-Olivier Joseph remains to be seen.
Utah could reclaim Kolyachonok and send him directly to the minors if the Penguins place him on waivers again this season, although they’d need to be the only team to submit a claim to do so.
Utah Hockey Club Places Vladislav Kolyachonok On Waivers
The Utah Hockey Club is now in a position to reduce the number of defensemen on their active roster. They have announced that defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok has been placed on waivers, to eventually reassign him to their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners.
Utah has carried eight defensemen on the active roster for much of the regular season due to long-term injuries to John Marino, Sean Durzi, and Robert Bortuzzo. Kolyachonok’s placement on waivers indicates the team is close to activating Durzi or Bortuzzo given that Marino has already been activated.
The injuries have allowed Kolyachonok to achieve a career-high in games played this season. The native of Minsk, Belarus, has scored two goals and seven points in 23 games this year, averaging 12:20 of ice time per night.
He has significantly improved his possession metrics, boasting a 52.9% Corsi For% at even strength, which is 7.3% higher than his previous career high. However, considering his relative youth, Kolyachonok would likely benefit from playing in the AHL.
Should he clear waivers, it will be his first time playing for the AHL Roadrunners this season. He scored eight goals and 11 points in 36 games in Tucson last season but has only been rostered in the NHL this year.
The improved quality of possession may give Kolyachonok a strong chance of being claimed. The Nashville Predators, currently ranked third-to-last in the league standings, could be a viable option for him. With Kevin Gravel filling in on the left side of their bottom pairing while Jeremy Lauzon recovers from injury, the Predators might consider Kolyachonok an upgrade over Gravel and a potential seventh defenseman.
Utah Activates Dylan Guenther From Injured Reserve
Utah will activate winger Dylan Guenther from injured reserve before Tuesday’s game against the Flyers, head coach André Tourigny told reporters, including Cole Bagley of KSL Sports. They don’t have an open roster spot and will need to make a corresponding transaction, likely moving center Logan Cooley to IR. The team announced last week he’s out indefinitely with a lower-body injury.
Guenther, 21, last played on Jan. 8 against the Panthers. Utah announced the following day that he’d be sidelined indefinitely with a lower-body issue. However, his absence was not as long as the team feared. He began skating last week, after which Tourigny told reporters he had been upgraded to day-to-day.
At the time of his injury, Guenther was Utah’s leader in goals with 16 through 40 games. He’s since been surpassed by Clayton Keller, who now has 18, but still ranks second. Adding 18 assists for 34 points, he’s a vital piece of Utah’s present and future offense – a belief the organization shares, considering they inked him to an eight-year, $57.14MM extension during training camp.
He’s operated at a 70-point pace through his first season in Salt Lake after ending last season with 35 points in 45 games for the Coyotes. The 2021 ninth-overall pick did exit the lineup amid a dry spell with two assists in his last eight games, but he’ll look to get back on track on a line with Michael Carcone and Barrett Hayton.
Coming out of the lineup to make room for Guenther is alternate captain Lawson Crouse, Tourigny said. The 27-year-old figures to be a healthy scratch for the first time since the 2019-20 season. He’s had a cataclysmic 2024-25 campaign, limited to just seven goals and 11 points through 52 games.
Utah has fallen below the .500 mark after a five-game losing streak and ranks 24th in the league with 2.77 goals per game, a figure Guenther will be key in improving down the stretch. Utah’s playoff chances have fallen to 10% as a result of their recent struggles, per Hockey Reference.
Utah Acquires Sammy Walker From Wild
Utah acquired depth forward Sammy Walker from the Wild on Monday in exchange for future considerations, both teams announced. Walker, who had been on assignment to AHL Iowa, will report to Utah’s affiliate in Tucson.
Walker, an undersized but speedy center, is in his third season of professional hockey. The 25-year-old was a seventh-round pick of the Lightning back in 2017, but after a fruitful four-year tenure at the University of Minnesota, they opted not to sign him. He hit free agency and signed with his hometown Wild in the 2022 offseason.
The 5’10” pivot earned a handful of call-ups across his first two campaigns, getting into 13 games with Minnesota while recording a goal and an assist. He posted a minus-four rating during that time and averaged 10:13 per game, struggling to control play with a 43.2 CF% at even strength.
Most of his time has been spent on the farm in AHL Iowa, where he’s steadily regressed since an All-Star rookie season. He led Iowa with 27 goals and had 48 points in 56 games, even earning a spot on the United States’ roster for the 2023 World Championship. His offensive output dropped to 14 goals and 45 points in 70 AHL games last year, though, and has completely fallen off a cliff to the tune of two goals and 11 points through 30 games in 2024-25.
As such, Walker was tracking for his first campaign without an NHL recall. He’ll now get the chance to rediscover his game in the Utah organization, joining a marginally stronger Tucson roster, while the Wild open a fourth contract slot in advance of the trade deadline.
Guenther Upgraded To Day-To-Day
- Utah winger Dylan Guenther has been upgraded as out day-to-day, relays Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). The 21-year-old has missed a little more than three weeks with a lower-body injury. Before getting hurt, Guenther was scoring at pretty much the same rate as last season, tallying 16 goals and 18 assists in his first 40 games after putting up 18 tallies and 17 helpers in 45 outings in 2023-24.
Utah’s Logan Cooley Out Indefinitely With Lower-Body Injury
Star Utah center Logan Cooley will be sidelined indefinitely with a lower-body injury, the team announced Friday. He’ll be re-evaluated when the league schedule resumes following the 4 Nations Face-Off.
It’s not clear when Cooley sustained the injury. He skated 19:50 against the Penguins on Wednesday, more than two minutes above his season average, and ended a three-game point drought in the process with a secondary assist on a Mikhail Sergachev power play goal.
Cooley, the third-overall pick of the 2022 draft by the Coyotes, has yet to miss a game since signing his entry-level contract with Arizona in the summer of 2023. He’ll now be held out of Utah’s next six games, the balance of their schedule until the 4 Nations tournament, at a minimum.
The 20-year-old’s absence will be felt immensely for a team with a bottom-10 offense already dealing with a lower-body injury to top-six winger Dylan Guenther. He’s broken out in a big way after an inconsistent rookie campaign, ranking second on Utah in scoring with 43 points (15 G, 28 A) through 50 games. His plus-four rating is tied for fourth on the club, and his 17:47 ATOI ranks third among forwards behind Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz. He’s also improving in the faceoff dot – while still subpar with a 44.2% win rate on over 500 draws, it’s up by a significant margin from last year’s 38% figure.
That jump in production comes despite Cooley logging most of his time at even strength away from Keller and Schmaltz, who Barrett Hayton has centered for most of the year. Instead, Cooley anchors the team’s second line between Guenther and Jack McBain, still tying for second on the team with 19 even-strength assists.
Cooley’s two-way game is still developing, but more concerning is the loss of Utah’s arguably most effective even-strength producer as they slide further out of the wild-card race in the Western Conference. It’s been an injury-fueled, inconsistent first year in Salt Lake City for the ex-Coyotes group, who have dealt with extended absences to Guenther and top-four defenders Sean Durzi and John Marino. It’s not all bad news, though – Marino returned earlier this month and has four assists through eight games, while Guenther and Durzi skated with the team today in non-contact jerseys, Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
In the meantime, Hayton will likely overtake Cooley’s job on the top power-play unit and will look to boost his production. The 2018 fifth-round pick has been a good two-way complement at even strength to Keller and Schmaltz, recording 26 points through 50 games with a second-place plus-seven rating. Hayton’s 11 even-strength goals are second on the team behind Keller’s 13, but he has just two power-play points this season while skating with the second unit.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
New Vote For Utah Team Name Begins Wednesday
- The Utah Hockey Club announced that they are no longer pursuing some of their preferred team names following the trademark issues that were revealed last week. The team will now run another voting campaign with only three names on the ballot – their current moniker, Mammoth, and Wasatch. This round of voting will occur in-arena during Utah’s next four home games, beginning with tonight’s.
Utah, Miloš Kelemen Mutually Terminate Contract
Jan. 29: Kelemen cleared waivers and will have his deal terminated, per Friedman.
Jan. 28: Utah Hockey Club depth winger Miloš Kelemen landed on unconditional waivers Tuesday, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. It’s the first step for a mutual contract termination, which will occur if he clears tomorrow.
Kelemen, 25, made the move from Arizona to Utah last summer after two seasons in the Coyotes organization. The Slovak forward was briefly a restricted free agent but quickly signed a two-way deal to play his third season in North America. He cleared waivers to begin the season, but after scoring once through 11 games with AHL Tucson, Utah granted him a loan to the Czech Extraliga with HC Dynamo Pardubice.
That’s where Kelemen has suited up since late November, posting six points (4 G, 2 A) in 12 games for the top-level Czech club. He was slated to be a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer and was destined to remain in Europe once Utah lost his NHL rights, so the two sides are just terminating their relationship early to allow Kelemen to better plan for next season.
Standing at 6’2″ and 218 lbs, Kelemen was somewhat of an intriguing undrafted free agent signing by the Coyotes in 2022. He largely did well in Tucson aside from this year’s early-season struggles, totaling 68 points in 124 games for the AHL club. He also got into 24 NHL games with Arizona over his first two seasons stateside, scoring a goal and an assist with a minus-seven rating and 46 hits.
Utah will gain a contract slot after terminating Kelemen’s deal, giving them four open spaces.
Afternoon Notes: Kulich, Stolarz, Savage, Durzi
The Buffalo Sabres cleared up space in their bottom six by placing winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel on waivers. After the team’s practice, head coach Lindy Ruff shared that the decision was influenced by how well 20-year-old Jiri Kulich has performed as of late, per Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. Ruff elaborated that the team will face a roster crunch with Jordan Greenway expected to return to practice soon. An undisclosed injury has forced Greenway out of 28 of Buffalo’s last 32 games.
Through the weeds of roster moves, this news shines a spotlight on Kulich. The young center recorded the first three-point game of his career last Tuesday, and was promptly awarded with the most ice time of his career on Thursday. Kulich didn’t manage any scoring, but made sure to find the scoresheet in Buffalo’s Saturday game – scoring one goal on a career-high seven shots. He’s playing much more confident and determined than he was earlier in the year, and the Sabres seem ready to reward him with a hardier role and a chance to prove his worth.
Across the Atlantic Division, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube told media after practice that he won’t hold back goaltender Anthony Stolarz if he’s healthy before the league breaks for the 4-Nations Face-Off, captured in a video from TSN. Stolarz participated in his first full practice after missing the last 21 games with a knee injury. He’s been upgraded to day-to-day and nearing a return, but will have just five chances left to return before the Leafs go on a two-week break.
Stolarz effectively leads the league in save percentage among goalies with 10-or-more games played. He’s recorded a .927 through just 17 games this season, backed by a stout 9-5-2 record. Stolarz seemed to be the reliability in net that Toronto had been seeking, but his untimely injury has put the team in a challenging spot. The Leafs have been outscored 70-to-69 since Stolarz’s injury, though they’ve still managed a 12-9-0 record. His return will be hotly anticipated as, hopefully, the catalyzing piece of a second-half run in Toronto.
Traveling south of Toronto, Michigan State Spartans captain and Detroit Red Wings prospect Redmond Savage has suffered a season-ending injury, Spartans head coach Adam Nightingale told local reporter Conor Earegood of Detroit News Sports. Savage’s season will end with 11 points in 20 games – a dip in scoring pace from his 27 points in 38 games last season, but still a better pace than his two years at Miami University of Ohio. Detroit drafted Savage in the fourth round of the 2021 NHL Draft, but haven’t yet signed him to his entry-level contract. They will lose his rights next summer if he doesn’t sign.
Finally, out in the plains of the Western Conference, Utah Hockey Club defender Sean Durzi returned to the team’s practices on Tuesday. Durzi has missed Utah’s last 45 games with a shoulder injury. Head coach Andre Tourigny joked about the defender’s return to Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune, saying that Durzi looked a bit rusty but that the team is incredibly excited to have him back. Utah signed Durzi to a four-year, $24MM contract this summer, but he’s so far only played four games on the deal. He was still productive enough to illicit excitement in the brief showing – recording two assists, seven penalty minutes, and a +2. Durzi will likely return to a role on Utah’s second pair, once he eases his way back to full practice.