Legends in the making: Meet the Utah Hockey Club forwards

With less than a month to go until the first Utah Hockey Club preseason game, now’s the time to get to know the team. This is the first part in a three-article series introducing the players to Utah.
Let’s start with the forwards.
If Utah HC names a captain this season, it will almost certainly be Clayton Keller. He’s the second-longest-tenured player on the team and has led the club in goals and points three years in a row.
Keller is a speedy winger with a quick release. He scores almost all his goals before the goalie even knows a shot is coming. He’ll surely get the Utah fans on their feet this season.
Away from the rink, Keller enjoys playing golf and ping-pong. While recovering from an injury in the summer of 2022, he and a friend bought a professional ping-pong table and had a state champion ping-pong player come in to coach them.
Now, with Mikhail Sergachev on the team, Keller will have his work cut out for him at the team ping-pong table.
The Arizona Coyotes sent a shock through the hockey world when they passed on Shane Wright to take Logan Cooley third overall in the 2022 draft. Of course, they weren’t the first team to do so — the Montreal Canadiens and the New Jersey Devils did the same thing moments earlier, making for one of the most dramatic drafts in sports.
Two years later, Cooley is showing that Coyotes management may have made the right choice. He played all 82 games in his rookie season, tallying 20 goals and 44 points. Wright, on the other hand, is easing his way into the NHL, having played just 16 games so far. It’s still too early to tell who made the better choice, but Cooley sure looks promising.
Cooley began playing hockey when he attended Sidney Crosby’s “Little Penguins” youth hockey program at age 4. Like Crosby, Cooley has the ability to score goals every which way — despite the fact that he idolized Crosby’s direct rival, Alex Ovechkin, growing up.
The 20-year-old is one of Utah’s many young players with the chance to become cornerstone pieces.
The hockey world hasn’t yet had a proper introduction to Matias Maccelli, and that may be in his best interest. He’s an elite playmaker who flies under the radar, setting up his teammates when everyone least expects it. He makes his teammates better, and that’s a valuable skill to have.
Maccelli has had to work hard for everything he’s ever had. He’s one of 10 fourth-round pick from his draft year to play in the NHL so far, and he’s got 68 more games under his belt than the next-most experienced player of that group. If he can shore up his defensive game a little bit, he could really make a name for himself.
Since the turn of the century, four players have recorded seven or more points in an NHL game: Jaromir Jagr, Daniel Alfredsson, Sam Gagner and Nick Schmaltz.
Schmaltz’s feat came in an 8-5 Coyotes win over the Ottawa Senators in March 2022. Schmaltz had two goals and five assists. He followed it up with a four-point effort the next night amid a seven-game point streak. He hasn’t come close to seven points in a game since then, but he has been a consistent 20-goal, 60-point scorer every year since then.
He doesn’t score a lot of pretty goals, but as the old saying goes, “They don’t ask how — they ask how many.”
For better or for worse, Josh Doan steps out of his father’s shadow with the move to Utah. His dad, Shane Doan, leads the Coyotes franchise in every major statistical category. Now, Josh Doan has a blank record book to try to fill.
In 11 career NHL games — all of which came at the end of last season for the Coyotes — Josh Doan scored five goals and nine points. It’s a small but promising sample size and Utah fans should be excited at what the future holds for him.
Doan is a dynamic forward with a high-caliber shot and a keen playmaking sense, much like his father.
Dylan Guenther is a two-time Ed Chynoweth Cup champion, having won it with both the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2022 and the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2023. He didn’t go on to win the Memorial Cup either year, but intense playoff experience like that can only help in his pursuit for the Stanley Cup.
Utah hockey fans can poke fun at Vancouver Canucks fans as Guenther soars and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, a piece going the other way in a trade between the two teams, occupies millions of dollars’ worth of Canucks cap space after they bought him out.
Guenther’s shot is as deadly as that of his World Juniors linemate, Connor Bedard. He changes the angle of his blade just before releasing his shot, fooling goalies left and right. He gets the puck off his stick quickly and powerfully, which is why he was on pace for 33 goals last season, had he played all 82 games.
If you thought hockey players weren’t smart, think again. Alex Kerfoot is one of two Utah HC players with a degree from Harvard. Defenseman John Marino is the other.
The 30-year-old center played four seasons in a key depth role for the Toronto Maple Leafs but was a casualty of the salary cap. He’s currently in the second year of a two-year deal worth an average of $3.5 million per year.
A lower-body injury limited Barrett Hayton’s season to 33 games last year. Puckpedia lists him as being ready to go for the start of training camp.
Despite being a high pick in the 2018 NHL draft, Hayton has had a hard time maintaining success at the pro level. His best season was 2022-23, when he had 19 goals and 43 points in 82 games for the Coyotes. He signed a two-year contract extension in July, which will pay him $2.65 million per year.
In order for this season to be a success, Hayton must stay healthy and continue to grow with his teammates. He likely hasn’t reached his full potential yet.
Note: Hayton wore No. 29 in Arizona, but he will switch to No. 27 in Utah. No. 27 was honored by the Coyotes for Teppo Numminen, who played 15 seasons for the franchise. Those numbers will stay with the Coyotes franchise, allowing Hayton to switch back to the number he wore in juniors. Michael Kesselring will do the same, switching from number five to number seven, previously honored for Keith Tkachuk.
The Coyotes won the trade that landed them Lawson Crouse, as he was the only player in the five-piece deal that played in the NHL after that.
Crouse is a big power forward who consistently produces half a point per game. He’s a leader on the ice and in the locker room. His nickname is “The Sheriff” because he punishes anyone that messes with him or his teammates.
After battling it out in the minors for seven years, Michael Carcone solidified himself as an NHL regular with the Coyotes last season. He scored 21 goals and 29 points while averaging just over 11 minutes a game. He will look to take another step forward this season as his two-year contract comes to an end.
“Spicy Tuna” earned his three-year contract extension, signed this summer, by doing two things: fighting in games and hyping up the crowd at the Utah HC prep rally. He recorded the most penalty minutes of any NHL player last season and amassed 11 fighting majors.
Liam O’Brien has fought nearly every tough guy in the league, regardless of his small stature, relative to opponents such as 6-foot-6 Nikita Zadorov and 6-foot-4 Brenden Dillon. Who hasn’t he fought? Matt “The Rempire State Building” Rempe.
Rempe joined the New York Rangers toward the end of last season, so he didn’t get a full tour around the NHL. He and O’Brien have never shared the ice at any level, so it will be interesting to see what transpires when Utah visits Madison Square Garden on Oct. 12.
The Rangers’ first and only visit to the Delta Center this year will be on Jan. 16.
Away from the rink, O’Brien and his wife, Adela, welcomed their first child, Leilani, into the world in June.
Nick Bjugstad is the dream bottom-six forward. He’s big and strong, he plays with a physical edge, he’s great defensively and he chips in half a point per game. He was one of six Coyotes to hit the 20-goal mark last season. The only problem is that he didn’t play in the Coyotes’ bottom six.
This year, he might find his role diminished compared to last season. If that’s the case, it’s a good sign for Utah fans because it means the young forwards have taken a step in the right direction. If not, Bjugstad is a good buffer to put between the young players and the frontlines of battle.
Bjugstad’s uncle, Scott Bjugstad, played a total of 317 NHL games for three different teams.
Stanley Cup champion Kevin Stenlund brings coveted playoff experience to a young Utah HC forward group, having won with the Florida Panthers in June. He played a key penalty-killing role for the Panthers en route to victory, and he’ll likely do a similar job for Utah HC.
Stenlund has a big body and is hard to play against, but he’s not overly physical. Don’t expect him to fight or hit a lot.
He’s signed for the next two seasons at an average value of $2 million.
Jack McBain managed 26 points last season, despite missing 15 early-season games due to injury. He’s a bit of a Swiss Army knife: He can kill penalties, throw big hits, fight occasionally and contribute offensively.
A successful season for McBain would include staying healthy the whole year and recording half a point or more per game.
The Toronto, Ontario, native is the son of Andrew McBain, who played 12 seasons in the NHL, divided among four different teams.