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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.

Utah Hockey Club Recall Patrik Koch

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The Utah Hockey Club will have quite the hole on their defense for the foreseeable future with Sean Durzi dealing with an undisclosed injury. To fill that void, the organization has recalled defenseman Patrik Koch from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners.

Koch made his way to North America last season by signing a one-year, $848K deal with the Arizona Coyotes after spending much of his professional career in Czechia and Slovakia. He spent nearly the entire season with AHL Tucson scoring one goal and 15 points in 63 games while also collecting 97 PIMs.

Koch, who is from Malacky, Slovakia, was set to become an unrestricted free agent this past offseason. His strong performance at the 2024 IIHF World Championship, where he had one goal and four points, likely contributed to Utah’s decision to sign him to a one-year, $775K contract on June 20th.

He continued his solid play into training camp this September tallying three assists in two games while posting a +5 rating. Utah reassigned Koch to AHL Tucson on October 4th after clearing waivers but he’s been held scoreless after two games to start the year.

The team will likely utilize veteran defenseman Robert Bortuzzo tonight to fill in for the injured Durzi. Should he not meet expectations; however, Koch could make his debut in Utah sooner than expected.

Utah’s Sean Durzi May Miss Time With Injury

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Utah defenseman Sean Durzi left the team’s game today against the New Jersey Devils and there may be lasting consequences. Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune reported the team didn’t have any updates on Durzi but he was seen leaving the game wearing a sling.

It may take until the weekend to unveil the total extent of Durzi’s injury with the team wrapping up their current road trip against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday of this week. The sling suggests Durzi won’t be available for the team in that game and could already be on a plane home to Salt Lake City.

Durzi was off to a great start with Utah before the injury as the team technically still hasn’t lost a game when he was in the lineup. He tallied two assists in the first three games of the year while putting one puck on the net and blocking two shots before exiting the game today. Depending on the severity of the injury the NHL’s newest franchise might be without one of their top defenseman for the foreseeable future.

Durzi’s absence paves the way for veteran defenseman Robert Bortuzzo to make his regular-season debut with the organization. Bortuzzo signed a one-year, $775K contract with Utah this past offseason after posting zero points between the St. Louis Blues and New York Islanders last offseason while averaging 13:44 of ice time in 27 games.

Utah Hockey Club Names Lawson Crouse Associate Captain

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All signs indicate the Colorado Avalanche will enter the 2024-25 regular season without an extension ironed out with one of their star forwards, Mikko Rantanen. The organization isn’t concerned about Rantanen reaching unrestricted free agency next summer with Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports reporting general manager Chris MacFarland isn’t worried about the negotiations.

Rantanen has been one of the most underappreciated players in the league over the last several years scoring 242 goals and 579 points in 486 games since 2017-18 with an additional five goals and 25 points in 20 games during Colorado’s run to the Stanley Cup in 2022. He hasn’t received as much attention as teammates Nathan MacKinnon or Cale Makar on the national stage but he’s become an integral part of the Avalanche’s success.

His camp will likely use Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl’s new eight-year, $112MM extension as a starting point and work down from there. Draisaitl has averaged 0.16 more points a game than Rantanen since the 2017-18 season with an Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy, and Ted Lindsay Award. He will certainly increase his current $9.25MM salary but Colorado will attempt to keep him under MacKinnon’s $12.6MM salary.

Other Central notes:

  • MacFarland also gave a small update on Valeri Nichushkin who is still away from the team due to his six-month suspension last season (X Link). Nichushkin can return to the ice with the Avalanche on November 13th, 2024 but general manager MacFarland shares that he expects Nichushkin to return to Denver sometime toward the end of October. The team continues to work through his reintegration process back to the NHL but all signs have been positive up to this point.
  • Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has been away from the Winnipeg Jets because of personal reasons. The absence isn’t expected to carry over into the regular season with TSN’s John Lu reporting he will return to practice with the team on Wednesday and will be the opening night starter tomorrow night against the Edmonton Oilers.
  • The Utah Hockey Club has already laid out its leadership hierarchy to start the year by naming Clayton Keller the first captain in franchise history. TSN’s Chris Johnston reported earlier the team has named Lawson Crouse an ’associate captain’ for the 2024-25 regular season which is an interesting designation. Most teams refer to players wearing an ’A’ on their jerseys as ’alternate captains’ unlike what Utah has done with Crouse.

Utah Hockey Club Signs Kailer Yamamoto

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The Utah Hockey Club has its first successful professional tryout agreement in league history. The organization announced they have signed forward Kailer Yamamoto to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2024-25 NHL season.

Yamamoto is hopeful this contract will translate into a solid bounceback year for the former Edmonton Oilers prospect. He was drafted with the 22nd overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft as one of the smaller players in the class at 5’7″.

The NHL has changed quite a bit over the last few decades with smaller frame players becoming some of the game’s best but this has not been a reality for Yamamoto. He showed flashes of being a reliable top-six scorer as early as the 2019-20 season with 11 goals and 26 points in 27 games for the Oilers.

He fell into a middle-six role from 2020-22 scoring 28 goals and 62 points in Edmonton in 133 games. The team hoped Yamamoto would eventually blossom into a consistent top-six threat and opted for a two-year, $6.2MM bridge contract with their young forward in 2022.

Yamamoto only saw a year of this contract with the Oilers scoring 10 goals and 25 points in 58 games. Edmonton traded Yamamoto with Klim Kostin to the Detroit Red Wings for future considerations the next offseason before he was eventually bought out.

The Seattle Kraken, a 280-mile drive from his native Spokane, became his new landing spot on the back of a one-year, $1.5MM contract. The one-year gamble proved bad for both parties as the Kraken limited Yamamoto to an average of 11:59 of ice time per game and the player produced his lowest offensive output since 2018-19.

The depressed season paved the way for Yamamoto to sign a PTO with the new Utah team for training camp. He’s scored three goals over four preseason contests and will now compete for a spot in Utah’s middle six.

TSN’s Chris Johnston was the first to report Utah had signed Yamamoto. 

Waiver Wire: 10/6/24

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Today is the major day for the waiver wire as most teams in the NHL are preparing the 23-man rosters for the 2024-25 NHL season. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed that all players on waivers from yesterday have cleared. The following list is each player placed on waivers this afternoon as reported by PuckPedia.

Boston Bruins

F Patrick Brown
G Brandon Bussi
G Jiri Patera
D Billy Sweezey
F Jeffrey Viel

Buffalo Sabres

D Kale Clague
G James Reimer
F Lukas Rousek

Calgary Flames

G Devin Cooley
F Jakob Pelletier
F Cole Schwindt

Carolina Hurricanes

F Josiah Slavin
D Ty Smith
F Ryan Suzuki

Chicago Blackhawks 

D Isaak Phillips

Detroit Red Wings

F Sheldon Dries
D Justin Holl
D William Lagesson
D Brogan Rafferty
F Joe Snively

Edmonton Oilers

D Josh Brown
F Drake Caggiula
F Raphael Lavoie
G Olivier Rodrigue

Los Angeles Kings

G Pheonix Copley
F Samuel Fagemo
F Jack Studnicka

Nashville Predators

D Marc Del Gaizo

New Jersey Devils

F Shane Bowers
D Nick DeSimone
F Nolan Foote
D Colton White

New York Islanders

D Samuel Bolduc
F Pierre Engvall
F Hudson Fasching
F Liam Foudy
G Marcus Hogberg
D Grant Hutton
F Fredrik Karlstrom
G Jakub Skarek

New York Rangers

D Matthew Robertson

Ottawa Senators

F Adam Gaudette
F Jan Jenik

Pittsburgh Penguins

D Sebastian Aho
F Bokondji Imama

St. Louis Blues

D Corey Schueneman
D Tyler Tucker

Tampa Bay Lightning

F Gage Goncalves
D Steven Santini
F Jesse Ylonen

Toronto Maple Leafs

G Matt Murray
D Marshall Rifai

Utah Hockey Club

G Matt Villalta

Vancouver Canucks

D Erik Brannstrom

Vegas Golden Knights

F Zach Aston-Reese
F Tanner Laczynski
F Jonas Rondbjerg

Washington Capitals

G Hunter Shepard

Winnipeg Jets

F Jaret Anderson-Dolan

Utah Names Clayton Keller Captain

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The Utah Hockey Club has anointed Clayton Keller as the first captain in franchise history, the team announced Friday.

It’s a fitting honor for the team’s first star. But dating back to this roster’s time in Arizona as the Coyotes, it’s been Keller’s team ever since former captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson was traded to the Canucks in the 2021 offseason. The 2016 seventh-overall pick has broken out as an undeniable first-line threat since then, averaging just shy of a point per game over the last three seasons.

The 26-year-old winger took a career-high 228 shots on goal last season while averaging 19:15 per game, scoring 33 times and adding 43 assists for 76 points in 78 contests. It was the second time Keller hit the 30-goal mark in as many years.

He’ll be the focal point of Utah’s offense in Year One, but it’ll no longer rest entirely on his shoulders. The work that general manager Bill Armstrong did to construct a roster rebuild in Arizona should start coming to fruition this season in Salt Lake City. Names like Josh Doan and Dylan Guenther are slated to be full-time NHLers for the first time, and 2022 third-overall pick Logan Cooley is primed for a step forward after hitting 20 goals and 44 points in his rookie season.

Keller exceeded the point-per-game mark once during his 86-point showing in all 82 appearances in 2022-23. Utah will likely be in the wild-card mix for a good long while this season with John Marino and Mikhail Sergachev now in tow on the back end, but if they’re set to bring postseason hockey to Salt Lake City in 2025, they’ll likely need new career-highs from their new captain.

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