Josh Doan is making his case to stay with the Utah Hockey Club

The Utah Hockey Club is in a unique situation. Although they are well below the NHL's salary cap, they have more quality talent than roster spots available. We are one week away from Utah's inaugural season, and Head Coach Andre Tourigney will face some challenging decisions.

As of Monday, September 30th, the Utah Hockey Club has made significant strides, reducing its training camp roster from a hefty 64 players to a more manageable 35 (via Cole Bagley).

While Utah has cut almost 20 players since the start of training camp, this is where the decisions start to get difficult. The coaching staff and front office will have to widdle this roster down to 23 players before Utah takes the ice against the Chicago Blackhawks on opening night.

Here are the Utah Hockey Club storylines you need to follow throughout the final week of training camp:

Josh Doan is making his case to stay with the Utah Hockey Club.

As mentioned earlier, Utah has too many NHL-quality forwards, and a talented player must miss a full-time roster spot. At the start of training camp, many people around the team assumed that the player who would miss out was Josh Doan, the son of NHL legend Shane Doan.

Josh Doan is a highly talented young prospect drafted in the second round of the 2021 NHL Entry draft. He impressed in his first stint in the NHL last season, tallying nine points in the 11 games he played at the end of the year. Although Doan is talented, he is still on a rookie two-way contract that allows him to be called up and sent down to the NHL quickly without having to clear waivers.

His contract situation alone makes Doan an easy choice to start with the AHL team in Tuscan. However, Doan is not making it easy for the coaching staff to proceed with this plan and use him as the first callup.

Doan has played in three preseason games so far, making him the only player in Utah to suit up three times. He has tallied three points in those three games, one of which was a goal. He has been all over the ice, throwing his body around, working hard in the corners, and racking five individual high-danger scoring chances.

Doan appears to be competing for a job with Kailer Yamamoto, whom Utah brought in on a professional tryout contract before the start of training camp.

Yamamoto is an established NHL winger, but he has been passed from team to team, as he has never really lived up to his full potential. He has played four entire NHL seasons now, and his career high in points is 41. Yamamoto came to Utah's camp and was immediately impressed in practice, which is not shocking considering he is a small, fast and skilled player. However, that hasn't translated into preseason action. Yamamoto has played two preseason games thus far and has only managed to register two shots on net and has been on the ice for two goals while only having 20 minutes at five-on-five.

As it sits right now, Doan has put a lot of pressure on Yamamoto to perform through the final three games of the preseason. Doan is an excellent young prospect, but his contract situation may make him the odd man out despite outplaying Yamamoto in camp.

Doan still has a lot he can work on, even if he is sent to the AHL. He needs to become a slightly better skater if he is going to turn into the huge success story everyone is hoping for, and doing that in Tucson may be more beneficial to him anyway. However, Doan will be the first callup as soon as injuries hit, which has already happened as Nick Bugstad is likely to miss the first few weeks of the season.

With Bugstad injured, it likely means Doan will start his season in Utah. I'll be interested to see the front office's decision when Bugstad returns. Should they keep Yamamoto or Doan? I'd lean toward Doan for his size, physicality, and offensive talent.