Utah Hockey Club Can Be Proud of Inaugural Season

Despite the inaugural season of the Utah Hockey Club coming to a close without a postseason appearance, the buzz on and around the team seems as high as the peak of the Wasatch Mountains.

Playoffs would have been neat, no doubt, especially as a “new” team in the NHL, but remember despite the new uniforms, colors and location of the team now, this is largely the same makeup of the Arizona Coyotes.

You know, the team that has only had one season with 80 or more points in the last ten years.

The team who has only made the playoffs once in that same time span.

The team who has had more wins than losses only twice in the last ten years.

That team.

So when you step back and look at Utah’s 38-31-13 record with 89 total points, the season seems like an absolute step in the right direction, a corner stone in ultimately becoming a competitor.

The 38 wins would have been Arizona’s best season since the 2018-2019 season, and their second highest win total since the 2011-2012 season.

The last time Arizona had an 89 or more point season?

2013-2014.

If you consider the entire history of the pre-existing franchise including their time in Winnipeg dating all the way back to 1979, this would have tied for the 9^th most points in a season.

We don’t make these comparisons to kick the Coyotes while they are down, we do it to simply acknowledge that this team, who's DNA is very much infused with Coyotes hockey, is making strides that had not been seen in Arizona in some time.

Despite the NHL making Utah a separate entity, Utah’s hockey team, whatever they be named, and the Arizona Coyotes will forever be intertwined and comparable.

Mix that with the fact that Ryan Smith and new Utah ownership seem genuinely devoted to investing in the team, both from a player and facility standpoint, it is not unfathomable to imagine things will only get better.

For the Coyotes, seasons like the one Utah just had haven’t been common occurrences for some time. .

Fun while they were here, but rarely constant outside of the 1990’s.

So for Utah, the tools and blueprint are in place to make winning a consistent factor.

Now improvement isn’t only hoped for, it is expected.

Despite all the talk and comparison of points and winning records, those aren’t attainable without players putting in the proper effort and Utah is locked and loaded with plenty of talent moving forward.

Take first year captain and young superstar in the making, Clayton Keller, for example.

Keller set a new career high in points and found himself in the top ten of most points on the season for individual players In the entirety of the NHL.

It would have been the most points scored in a single season by any Coyotes player ever.

Keith Tkachuk stil technically holds the record at 86 points, a total Keller tied two years ago.

How about Logan Cooley?

Dylan Guenther?

It doesn’t take much digging to understand this years squad saw the youth movement take more than baby steps.

Alongside excellent veterans like Mikhail Sergachev, the youth just wasn’t a part of the teams success, they directly impacted it.

So yes, being left on the outside looking in of postseason hockey is a bummer, but by practically every definition, there is no reason to be anything but optimistic about what’s to come in Salt Lake City.

If this team was still in the desert, this would be the most exciting, promising season seen in years and that should mean something to Utah as they await an offseason full of change, in all the best ways.