Entering Utah HC at American Thanksgiving – The Hockey Writers – Utah Hockey Club

America's Thanksgiving is billed as a testing ground for many NHL fans as a time to judge whether a team will make or miss the playoffs. Most of the teams in the playoffs at this point will probably get in. With that being said, let's take a look at the Utah Hockey Club and see what has been going on during the first 22 games in franchise history.

Utah's Season So Far

Utah started its season with a bang by going on a three-game winning streak. Dylan Guenther actually led the entire league in scoring during this period with five goals. Utah began their 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the first NHL game in Salt Lake City.

From there, Utah fell quickly and has won just six of its last 19 games. Although a number of them have come close to one-goal games, it has been a downfall for the NHL's newest team. Guenther still leads the teams in goals but has only scored five since Utah's first win. He is tied with Clayton Keller for the team lead with 20 points. Nick Schmaltz leads the team with 17 assists.

Related: Utah's Maverick Lamoureux Thriving in First Month in NHL

On the net, it has been an interesting story. Connor Ingram leads the team with six wins. However, three of those wins came within the first three games of the season. Karel Vejmelka leads the duo in other categories with a 2.25 goals-against average (GAA) and a .922 save percentage (SV%).

In their first 22 games, Utah has a 9-10-3 record and is seventh in the Central Division. They are four points back of the Vancouver Canucks for the wild card spot. Utah is five points back of third place in the Central Division, currently held by the Minnesota Wild.

Who Made It Well then

When it comes to who is doing well, it is difficult to name a number of players as the season progresses. However, there were highlights.

Vejmelka should be the team's MVP at this point in the season. Vejmelka held an impressive .922 SV% despite having a 3-6-0 record throughout the season. The point guard took over the starting job from Ingram even before Ingram was injured before Utah's recent trip.

Vejmelka's 49-save performance against the Carolina Hurricanes has to be one of the biggest moments of the season for the team. Despite being outshot 50-21, Utah held on and beat the Hurricanes despite being outscored for most of the third period. It was Vejmelka's performance that kept them going in the game, which was the story of the season. The Czechoslovak goaltender kept Utah close in every game he started, which allowed Utah to win some games it shouldn't have won.

Mikhail Sergachev has been another big reason why Utah has been able to stay around .500. The Russian defenseman was a big addition for Utah in the offseason and has lived up to what general manager Bill Armstrong wanted him to be: the team's best defenseman. In 22 games, Sergachev has 15 points and is just four points shy of matching his total from his 34-game 2023-24 season.

Two of Sergachev's six goals were game-winners, and he was involved in big moments. In their game against the Hurricanes, Sergachev played most of the third period when Utah was shut out in the final 20 minutes. Despite taking a shot to the head, he finished the game to help his team win.

Most recently, Sergachev hit an overtime winner against the Montreal Canadiens that gave Utah a .500 record on their most recent road trip and sent the team into Thanksgiving break on a high note. He was arguably Utah's most important publisher. It's even clearer when you look at his average time on ice that currently sits at 25:43, good for third-most in the entire NHL.

Although Utah had Guenther, Keller, and Logan Cooley, all of whom were expected to be Utah's best players, no one expected Jack McBain to be second in scoring. In the last five games, McBain has been on fire scoring four goals.

In 22 games, McBain has 11 points. Eight of those goals put him behind Guenther. Since being brought back into the lineup with Cooley and Guenther, McBain has played very well and has been a pleasant surprise for a team that desperately needed offense.

Other standouts for Utah so far have been Michael Kesselring, who has 11 points in 22 games and is second in scoring on the blue line; Nick Bjugstad, who has returned from injury has collected six points in 14 games; and the aforementioned Cooley and Guenther have both been where they were expected to be in terms of points.

Who's Cold

Pick your poison. There are many players in Utah who have not played well this season. Three stand out.

Nick Schmaltz has been one of the biggest disappointments of the season. After three consecutive 20-plus goal seasons with the Arizona Coyotes, Schmaltz was scoreless in 22 games. The Wisconsin native has a team-leading 17 assists in that category, but as the team's fourth-leading scorer, he doesn't make the cut, especially considering the only line that has been hitting Utah is the second line of Cooley, Guenther, and McBain.

Schmaltz's contract expires after next season, which means Utah could try to move him during the trade deadline. However, he has been an integral part of the team since the Coyotes traded him in 2018-19. You can tell his teammates are determined to end his scoring drought. If he can't, it could end up being a bigger problem for Utah than it is now.

After last season of 40-plus points, Lawson Crouse has been a frustrating player to watch this season. In 22 games this season, the other captain has only four points. However, it has been his play lately that has been the biggest concern. Crouse hasn't scored a point since Utah's Oct. 24 against the Colorado Avalanche. In the last 14 games, he has zero goals, zero assists, and a minus-3 average.

It's clear that Crouse has played his worst hockey in the last month. It gets worse when you consider that he is also one of the highest paid players in the team. Something has to give. He's not a player Utah should trade — the Ontario product is one of the most important people in the locker room — and his decline is something he'll need to figure out on his own as his season progresses.

Ingram started off the season playing great hockey, winning his first three games. He then lost seven of the next ten games, eventually losing the first goal-scoring job to Vejmelka.

Ingram's stats aren't great. He has a .871 SV% and a 3.61 GAA. It's disappointing, especially considering how strong his 2023-24 season with the Coyotes was. Perhaps it was his injury that prevented him from playing. However, it is unclear when Ingram was injured. It kept him out of the team's east coast road trip and is another head coach André Tourigny will keep out for the foreseeable future.

There were a few other disappointments. Juuso Välimäki hasn't been great on defense to the point where he's barely scratched when he's healthy, Matias Maccelli has just nine points, and Michael Carcone doesn't even have a goal this season after scoring 20 last season. All of this has been accumulated in Utah hovering around .500 and at times, it has looked very disappointing.

What's Wrong

Utah has been a frustrating team to watch for points this season. Although some of their issues have been resolved recently, others remain.

The first problem is that Utah takes too many penalties. In their 22 games, Utah has accumulated 104 penalty minutes, second most in the league. Surprisingly, it was Maverick Lamoureux who took the majority of those sentences. Lamoureux currently leads the team in penalty minutes with 42. It makes sense since this is his first season in the NHL and he is only 20 years old. However, that needs to change as Utah's penalty kill success rate is 77.4% which is 10th worst in the league.

The second issue is scoring goals. During Utah's recent slump, they failed to challenge their opponents offensively, relying on their defense and willingness to let them loose. Utah is currently 21st in the league in goals per game average at 2.73.

This also shows Utah's power play numbers. They are tied with the Buffalo Sabers for 22nd place with a 16.9% playmaking success rate. While it's been getting better lately, Utah needs to continue to improve in order to get points.

The third problem is one that Utah cannot control. Injuries plagued this team. To start the season, both John Marino and Nick Bjugstad were out. Fast forward to now and Marino hasn't even played a game. While Bjugstad returned, Sean Durzi was injured in one of the first games of the season and is out until the end of the season. This forced Armstrong to trade Olli Määttä who was decent in his 12 games with the team. Ingram was injured before the last road trip and now before their game against the Edmonton Oilers, news has surfaced that Lamoureux is also injured.

Utah's All Season Cover?

Statistically, most teams that are out of the playoffs by Thanksgiving don't make the playoffs. Of course, this is not always true. A recent example last season was the Edmonton Oilers who did not win but reached Game 77 of the Stanley Cup finals.

Let's get one thing straight, Utah is not the 2023-24 Oilers. However, while it will be an uphill battle to stay in the wild card hunt, making the playoffs is not impossible. Right now they are not in a terrible place but they will need to correct many of the mistakes listed above to compete with the best teams in the west.

If Utah continues on its current path and hovers around .500, the trade deadline will be very similar to last year's trade deadline. They will browse through a few pending free agents that can be used. Alex Kerfoot, Bjugstad, Carcone, Cole, Määttä, Robert Bortuzzo, and Vejmelka are the seven NHLers on expiring deals. Of the seven, Kerfoot and Carcone will likely be the ones traded if Utah is out of the playoff picture come the deadline. If Durzi and Marino return by then, Bortuzzo and Määttä could be candidates for the chopping block again.

If Utah starts winning and is in the hunt for the deadline, not much will likely happen. They are still a rebuilding team and won't want to trade too many pieces of the future to win now. However, Armstrong could add the six pieces below to give the team a sense of belief that it has the momentum to be one of the 16 teams to compete for hockey's most coveted trophy: the Stanley Cup.

In all likelihood, Utah will continue its path as a team at or near .500. Injuries to Durzi and Marino hurt them and the number of young players who are expected to be part of the team's backbone in the future is still growing. Armstrong came out and said that he does not expect Utah to make the playoffs this season, but that he has improved since last season.

While Utah may make a playoff push, fans shouldn't be upset if they don't. They are already making progress in their development and still look like they will be a very competitive team in the future. For now, Utah is the place to be as they continue to build their new market and grow in the snow.