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Utah Signs Owen Allard To Entry-Level Deal

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Utah has signed forward prospect Owen Allard to a three-year, entry-level contract, per Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune.

Allard, 20, was passed over twice in the draft but was finally selected by Utah in the fifth round earlier this year. The 6’2″, 190-lb forward can play both center and left wing. Last year, he put his name on the map with 44 points in 55 games for the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds.

Amid his career-best offensive season at the junior level, he was a surprise inclusion on Canada’s roster for the 2024 World Juniors. He had two goals and an assist in five games, but Canada failed to medal at the event for the first time since 2019.

If he ever cracks an NHL roster, whether with Utah or somewhere else, it’ll likely be in a bottom-six energy role. His delayed offensive outbreak doesn’t bode well for his chances of being a significant impact player at the NHL level, at least on the scoresheet. But scouting reports from Elite Prospects praise his “never-ending motor” and his strength in puck and net-front battles.

Allard, who turns 21 early next year, had a goal and an assist in his first season appearance for the Greyhounds earlier this week. Due to his age, his entry-level contract isn’t eligible for a slide and will go into effect immediately. He’ll be an RFA after the conclusion of the 2026-27 season.

Utah Inquiring On Ivan Provorov, Other Teams Interested

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In today’s rendition of Early Trading with TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the insider shares that the Utah Hockey Club general manager, Bill Armstrong, has been working the phones to fill the void left by Sean Durzi and John Marino’s injuries. Specifically, LeBrun reports Armstrong has checked in on Columbus Blue Jackets’ defenseman Ivan Provorov although other teams remain interested.

It would be surprising to see Provorov moved at this point in the regular season unless Don Waddell receives an offer he can’t refuse. The Russian defenseman would be a dream trade candidate for any rebuilding team’s general manager. He’s a top-four defenseman set to hit unrestricted free agency next summer with no trade protection in his contract. Assuming he’ll head for greener pastures next offseason, nobody would fault the Blue Jackets for taking him down to the wire of the trade deadline season to reap the best possible return.

The NHL’s newest franchise might be the one to make that offer early in the year out of pure desperation. Durzi and Marino’s surgeries will keep them out for much of the regular season, putting glaring holes in Utah’s blue line. They currently sit fourth in the Central Division standings through seven games and have a legitimate pathway toward the Stanley Cup playoffs should the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators continue their struggles out of the gates.

Not only does Utah need to add a top-four blue liner but they also represent a strong trade partner for Columbus. Armstrong has spent the last couple of years stockpiling draft capital during his tenure with the Arizona Coyotes and has 26 draft selections in the next three NHL Drafts. Utah may hesitate to part with a first-round pick for Provorov but has several second-round selections to dangle.

Utah could also help the Blue Jackets in areas outside of the draft. Forward Michael Carcone is an obvious low-cost trade chip. He’s only managed three games with Utah to start the 2024-25 NHL season but is coming off a year in which he scored 21 goals in 74 contests. Columbus has been one of the highest-scoring teams to start the year and Carcone should add to this strength with increased usage.

They could also help Columbus get over the salary cap floor with the existing contract of defenseman Shea Weber. Utah has Weber’s $7.857MM salary on LTIR but the Blue Jackets have the financial flexibility to activate him for the rest of the 2024-25 season. Carrying all of Weber’s salary and retaining a decent chunk of Provorov’s would allow Columbus to move out other pending unrestricted free agents at the deadline without having to take back much salary in any future trade.

Sean Durzi, John Marino Undergo Surgery; Maveric Lamoureux Recalled

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Utah defensemen Sean Durzi and John Marino have both undergone surgeries that will see them sit out most of the season, the team announced. Durzi will be out four to six months after having his right shoulder surgically repaired, while Marino will miss three to four months after undergoing surgery to address a lower back issue. The team later said that they’ve recalled 2022 first-rounder Maveric Lamoureux from AHL Tucson, but with a full 23-man roster, there’s still a corresponding move coming.

The team didn’t disclose when each player underwent surgery. However, if Durzi underwent it within the last few days, a six-month timeline would mean his regular season is over after just four appearances. Meanwhile, Marino should return in the lead-up to or after the league’s schedule pauses for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. Both players are already on injured reserve, and with over $8MM in cap space, a transfer to LTIR is unlikely for either.

It’s a regrettable development for both players and the team, although it’s not unexpected. Reports from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff indicated earlier this month that an absence of at least four months awaited Durzi. Utah head coach André Tourigny said last Friday that Marino would still be unavailable for “months.”

Durzi, who turned 26 on Monday, is in the first year of the four-year, $24MM extension he signed in June to keep him off this summer’s RFA market. Acquired by the Coyotes from the Kings in the 2023 offseason, he excelled in a top-pairing role in the desert, controlling 54.8% of shot attempts at even strength and posting 41 points (9 G, 32 A) in 76 games. Unfortunately, he’ll now miss most of his first season under that contract.

The 2018 second-round pick of the Maple Leafs has been traded twice – first from Toronto to Los Angeles in 2019’s Jake Muzzin trade and again from L.A. to Arizona in 2023. He’s now averaged 20:48 per game across 216 NHL appearances, recording 108 points with a -20 rating but a strong 51.8 CF%. Through four games this year before sustaining the injury on a hit from Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler over a week ago, he had two assists and a +2 rating.

Durzi is a left-shot but played the right side throughout much of last season in Arizona. He did so again to begin 2024-25, suiting up on the right side on Utah’s first pairing alongside offseason trade acquisition Mikhail Sergachev. With Marino also out long-term, Utah will be without its top two right defensemen for most of its inaugural season.

Marino, also a trade pickup by general manager Bill Armstrong over the summer, has yet to play a game for Utah. He sustained the back injury during offseason training and never practiced with the team during training camp. He was initially listed as week-to-week and was later upgraded to day-to-day, signaling a potential return was near, but an evident setback landed him on IR to start the regular season.

Despite their recent aggressiveness in the trade market, don’t expect Utah to swing a deal for a right-shot defenseman in the coming days. Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reports they “intend to lean on internal solutions,” at least for now. One of those internal solutions is the 20-year-old Lamoureux, a hulking 6’7″ right-shot defender who’s off to a hot start with Tucson in his first professional season. The former QMJHL champion and All-Star has two goals and an assist through his first four AHL games.

Utah’s injured players were already on IR before today’s news, so they’re likely sending someone down to accommodate Lamoureux’s addition to the roster. That will be depth defender Patrik Koch, Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Utah recalled the 27-year-old last week after Durzi’s injury, but he was a healthy scratch in three straight contests. Koch, a mainstay in pro leagues in Czechia and Slovakia, jumped to North America with the Coyotes organization last season. He spent most of the year in Tucson but made his NHL debut in March, posting a shot on goal and receiving a 10-minute misconduct penalty in a game against the Wild.

Lamoureux joins Robert Bortuzzo and Michael Kesselring as the right-shot defensemen on Utah’s active roster. However, both Ian Cole and Juuso Välimäki can and have played on their off side in recent days. He could make his NHL debut tomorrow against the Avalanche.

West Notes: Hartman, Joshua, Nordh

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Minnesota Wild centerman Ryan Hartman missed Tuesday night’s game with an upper-body injury, head coach John Hynes told reporters( via Sarah McLellan of The Minnesota Star Tribune). Hartman sat out of the team’s Saturday matchup after initially being designated a game-time decision. He’s since been labeled as day-to-day and will continue to miss action despite returning to practice in full.

Hartman scored two goals on 12 shots and six hits in Minnesota’s first four games. He’s one of five Wild forwards with multiple goals, though Mats Zuccarello’s three scores lead the way. Hartman has played the least of any of Minnesota’s multi-goal scorers, averaging just 15:21 in ice time while serving as the team’s third-line center. His role has declined every season since he served as the team’s top center and scored a career-high 65 points in the 2021-22 campaign. Joel Eriksson Ek and Marco Rossi have taken complete hold of the top six in Hartman’s place. Hartman has stayed productive in the declining role, netting 21 goals and 45 points in 74 games last season. He’ll aim to return to the third line and spot starts on the power play when Minnesota takes on Tampa Bay on Thursday.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Canucks also shared that forward Dakota Joshua is a couple of weeks away from a return after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous lump this summer, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Joshua earned a hardy lineup role toward the end of Vancouver’s 2023-24 season, ending the year with 18 goals and 32 points in 63 regular season games and adding eight points in 13 playoff games. He’ll quickly slot back into the lineup when he’s healthy, likely stepping over Nils Aman, Teddy Blueger, and Kiefer Sherwood for minutes in the bottom six.
  • The Utah Hockey Club has returned 2023 draft pick Noel Nordh to the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds after a two-game conditioning stint with the AHL’s Tuscon Roadrunners. Nordh, a third-round draft pick, failed to score in his first two games in North American pros. He’ll now begin a career in Canadian juniors after earning professional ice time in Sweden with resilient U20 performances. His Swedish career was capped off with a HockeyAllsvenskan championship with Brynas last season. Nordh contributed 15 points in 50 games.

Utah May Look To Trade Market For Defensive Depth

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The Utah Hockey Club is in an unenviable position right now with two top-four defensemen out long-term in the early days of the regular season. On the ALL Utah Hockey Podcast, Craig Morgan suggests the team will seek outside help rather than rush defensive prospects to fill the void.

Reports yesterday indicated that defenseman John Marino was “months” away from returning while Sean Durzi is headed for a similar trajectory. The team is keeping pace with the rest of the Central Division through the first two weeks of the regular season but will face increased difficulty the further they go without a complete blue line. Luckily, if Utah wants to be one of the few teams looking to be aggressive on the trade market early in the season, they have some options.

Shortly before the start of training camp, a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicated the Anaheim Ducks were willing to explore trade options with veteran defenseman Cam Fowler. Utah has plenty of capital to send the other way with the financial flexibility to take on all of Fowler’s $6.5MM salary for the next two years. The hurdle to clear regarding Fowler is the four-team trade list attached to his contract. Fowler would have to waive his protection if Utah isn’t one of the four teams or a trade won’t get done.

A short-term option is David Savard of the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal would be better served by holding on to Savard for the trade deadline in the hope of sparking a bidding war but could be enticed out of Utah’s desperation. Savard doesn’t have any protection attached to his deal and he’s not expected back in Montreal next year thanks to several defensive prospects in the system.

Other Central notes:

  • Subpar goaltending has been a major storyline for the Colorado Avalanche early in the 2024-25 NHL season. On his ’32 Thoughts’ podcast, Elliotte Friedman reported the Avalanche had previous interest in San Jose Sharks’ goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood and may circle back should their goaltending woes continue. Blackwood has struggled to start the season with a .875 save percentage through three games but is an obvious trade candidate on an expiring contract for a rebuilding organization. There’s no deal expected soon but don’t be surprised to see Colorado make a major push for Blackwood by American Thanksgiving if they can’t get their goaltending straightened out.
  • Sticking in Colorado — Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette reports the Avalanche are undecided on returning forward Calum Ritchie to his junior team in Oshawa to save a year on his contract. Ritchie is five games shy of burning the first year of his entry-level contract and has scored one goal on the season. His -7 rating through five games doesn’t invoke positive thoughts but much of that can be laid at the feet of the goaltending with Ritchie managing a +0.7 E+/- according to Hockey Reference. Re-ignite.

Bjugstad Seven To Ten Days From Returning

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Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn missed a game last week due to an upper-body injury and now he’s banged up again.  Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times notes that the 27-year-old is listed as day-to-day after being injured in Friday’s victory over Philadelphia; he didn’t play in the final 23 minutes of the contest.  Head coach Dan Bylsma didn’t have a timeline for his return, stating that Dunn is still waiting on further evaluation.  Dunn is off to a solid start to his season with a goal and two assists in his first four appearances while logging a little under 19 minutes per night.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Utah HC center Nick Bjugstad is seven to ten days away from returning, per Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). The 32-year-old has yet to play this season due to an upper-body injury that kept him out at the start of training camp.  He’s coming off one of his best seasons offensively after putting up 22 goals and 23 assists in 76 games with Arizona and was originally expected to miss all of October.  Now, it appears he might be able to beat that by a game or two.
  • Stars center Sam Steel was injured on his final shift on Thursday against Washington and is listed as questionable for Saturday’s contest versus Edmonton, mentions team radio analyst Bruce LeVine (Twitter link). The 26-year-old has a goal and an assist through his first five appearances this season.  With Tyler Seguin already out, Dallas would need to bring up a forward if Steel can’t play.  However, they can’t even afford a recall making $800K per PuckPedia which will limit their options.
  • Sharks forward William Eklund missed tonight’s game due to an upper-body injury, relays Max Miller of The Hockey News. He had been listed as a game-time decision on Thursday but he managed two assists in the loss; head coach Ryan Warsofsky acknowledged postgame that the 22-year-old isn’t fully healthy.  With that in mind, holding him out of a back-to-back certainly made sense.

Utah HC Activates And Assigns Curtis Douglas To AHL

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While Utah HC got some rough news on the injury front today, they also cleared one of their depth players to return.  The Hockey News’ Tim Hiebert relays (Twitter link) that the team has activated Curtis Douglas from the injured, non-roster list and assigned him to AHL Tucson.

The 24-year-old spent last season exclusively with the Roadrunners, notching career bests in assists (16), points (21), and penalty minutes (148), finishing tied for fourth league-wide in the latter category.  The 6’7 center has four professional seasons under his belt, also spending time with Ottawa and Toronto’s farm teams.  The organization acquired him late in 2022 in exchange for defenseman Conor Timmins.

Douglas inked a two-year, two-way deal with Utah in early July after his entry-level contract came to an end.  The deal carries a $150K minor league salary this season before jumping to $325K for the 2025-26 campaign.  He has yet to receive an NHL recall but if Utah decides they need some extra grit on the fourth line, that could change in the coming months.

John Marino Still “Months” Away From Returning, Sean Durzi’s Timeline Uncertain

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New Utah Hockey Club defender John Marino must wait significantly longer before making his season debut. After being listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury at the beginning of camp and later upgraded to day-to-day, he was placed on IR at the start of the regular season. Now, it’ll be “months” before he can return to play, Utah head coach André Tourigny told reporters today, including Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune.

Utah has still managed to get off to a 3-1-1 start without Marino, who they acquired from the Devils shortly after officially being established out of the ruins of the Coyotes. The 27-year-old right-shot defender was expected to serve as their top shutdown option and stabilize their top four while averaging over 20 minutes per game, but instead, he’s yet to even skate with the team a month after their first training camp began.

It’s an even more difficult blow to a new-look Utah blue line that’s also set to be without last year’s No. 1, Sean Durzi, for quite some time. The team confirmed yesterday that he’ll be out “for the foreseeable future” with an upper-body injury. Some reports, including one from Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli yesterday, indicated he needed surgery and could be out for four to five months. But Tourigny declined to verify that today and only said Durzi’s injury wasn’t season-ending, per Fraser. It’s still unclear what the specific injury is, but he was seen wearing a sling earlier this week after taking an awkward hit from Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler on Monday.

A sixth-round pick by the Oilers in 2015, Edmonton traded his signing rights to the Penguins in 2019, shortly before they expired following his final season of collegiate hockey at Harvard. Marino unexpectedly cracked Pittsburgh’s opening night roster and hasn’t looked back, immediately cementing himself as a top-four defender and holding that role throughout his five NHL seasons to date. He spent the last two seasons in Newark after a 2022 offseason trade sent him to the Devils, where he had 43 points and a +15 rating in 139 games while averaging 21:01 per game.

Initially expected to comprise Utah’s bottom pairing to begin the season, veteran signing Ian Cole and Michael Kesselring have stepped into top-four roles on the right side alongside Juuso Välimäki and Mikhail Sergachev, respectively, to offset the losses of Durzi and Marino. Fringe NHLer Vladislav Kolyachonok and late-summer signing Robert Bortuzzo comprise the bottom pairing for now.

With Utah’s hot start and general manager Bill Armstrong’s recent aggressive streak, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them pursue a right-shot defender on the trade market or waiver wire in the coming days now that Durzi and Marino’s long-term absences are confirmed, even without a specific return timeline.

Utah Signs Terrell Goldsmith To Entry-Level Deal

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The Utah Hockey Club has inked defense prospect Terrell Goldsmith to a three-year, entry-level deal, the team announced. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Utah’s front office drafted Goldsmith in the fourth round of the 2023 draft while representing the Coyotes. The 6’4″, 216-lb left-shot defenseman is now in his fifth and final season of junior hockey with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, where he serves as an alternate captain. Goldsmith is a physical, stay-at-home defender who has yet to record a point through four games this season but has 9 PIMs and an even rating.

Goldsmith is a bit of an afterthought in a relatively deep Utah prospect pool inherited from Arizona. He didn’t rank among their top 15 prospects in a preseason assessment from McKeen’s Hockey, and the ALL City Network’s Craig Morgan recently ranked him seventh among defenders in Utah’s system. That’s mainly due to an extreme absence of any offensive upside. The British Columbia native only had 12 assists and 15 points in 66 games in his post-draft year with Prince Albert last season, standing as career-highs. He does have NHL-ready size, though, even if his ceiling is a bottom-pairing presence.

His ELC is eligible to slide this season if he plays fewer than 10 NHL games, which will be the outcome. His deal won’t go into effect until the 2025-26 season, keeping him under contract until he’s eligible for restricted free agency in 2028.

Sean Durzi Out For "The Foreseeable Future" With Upper-Body Injury

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The early prognosis for the upper-body injury keeping Columbus Blue Jackets’ defenseman Erik Gudbranson on the injured reserve isn’t positive. Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff reports that Gudbranson is potentially set to miss months due to the injury but the team will have an exact timeline tomorrow after tests are performed.

It’s unfortunate news for an organization that can’t seem to catch a break. Columbus entered the season with injuries to captain Boone Jenner and Dmitri Voronkov up front and will now have to contend with a weakened blue line for the foreseeable future.

The Blue Jackets will reintroduce veteran Jack Johnson into the lineup tonight against the Buffalo Sabres in Gudbranson’s stead rather than former sixth-overall pick, David Jiříček. The young defenseman was the obvious choice originally to replace Gudbranson as he hasn’t factored into any games yet this season. Despite being the second defenseman taken off the board in the 2022 NHL Draft Jiříček sits fourth amongst defensemen in his draft class in games played.

Other happenings from the blue line:

  • Earlier this afternoon, the Utah Hockey Club gave a vague injury update regarding defenseman Sean Durzi. The organization announced Durzi “would be out for the foreseeable future” with an upper-body injury without any additional context. Durzi’s prognosis could be similar to that of Gudbranson’s where the organization won’t have a firm recovery timeline until more tests are performed.
  • The Winnipeg Jets should get some welcome news regarding their back end shortly. Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun reported earlier that defenseman Logan Stanley was a full participant at practice this morning. Stanley has been rehabbing a knee injury that’s kept him sidelined for much of training camp and the regular season. Once he is fully healthy, he should have a home in the Jets’ bottom-pairing next to Colin Miller.

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