The Utah Hockey Club is ready and raring to go for the 2024-25 season, and the new fan base is surely excited to see the NHL in Salt Lake City. But since this team is in its inaugural season, there could be a lot of mystery surrounding them and their players since fans may be rather unfamiliar with those who could make an impact this year.
Below, we got three players you will want to know if you plan on following Utah as they kick off Year 1 of what will be some exciting times on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. Get to know one forward, one blueliner (defenseman), and one goaltender who will make an impact for your team perhaps the very second the puck drops to kick off the regular season.
Clayton Keller, F
Few players in the NHL deserve to be part of a winning team more than Clayton Keller, who has been an impact player since his first full season with the Arizona Coyotes in 2017-18. That year, he finished with 65 points and 23 goals before the next few seasons were rather lean.
That trend broke in 2021-22, when Keller found the net 28 times and finished the year with 63 points in 67 contests. He also logged an average total ice time of 20:08, hitting the 20-minute mark for the first time in his career, and defensively, Keller recorded an amazing 61 takeaways.
The last two seasons were epic, as Keller hit 86 points for the first time in his career in 2022-23 and scored what remains a career-high 37 goals. He was one of the few bright spots on the Coyotes, and that trend continued last season when he finished with 76 points and 33 goals.
Mikhail Sergachev, D
Picked up in a trade from the Tampa Bay Lightning, Mikhail Sergachev unfortunately only played in 34 regular season games last year due to injury. But the two-way defenseman still finished with 19 points and a pair of goals, plus 69 blocks and 36 hits.
Let’s go back to the 2022-23 season for you to get a visual of what Sergachev can really do when he’s fully healthy. He played in 79 games, scoring 10 goals and 64 total points with 55 takeaways, 149 blocks, and 128 hits.
If there’s one player for you to get behind if you now consider yourself a member of this team’s growing fan base, it’s Sergachev. He’s still very much in his prime as he heads into his age-26 season, and if he can stay healthy and build off that 2022-23 outing here in 2024-25, Sergachev will set new career highs.
Connor Ingram, G
Few players surprised us more last season than Connor Ingram, who won the Masterton Trophy in what was his second season in Arizona. Following a year in which his goals allowed average (GAA) sat at a modest 3.37, Ingram improved last year and was a big reason why the Coyotes enjoyed a solid first half of the 2023-24 season.
He finished the year with a 0.907 save percentage, a 2.91 GAA, and an epic six shutouts, the latter of which he led the league in. It’s something Utah fans can look forward to him building on in 2024-25, and if he does, this team will have a solid goaltender.
Overall, it more than remains to be seen whether Ingram will be the Utah Hockey Club’s top goaltender in the long-term, but he will at least provide stability in the net as a trusted stopgap.
(Statistics powered by Hockey-Reference)