Now that the mid-way point of the Utah Hockey Club’s inaugural season has come and gone, let’s take a look at how everyone is doing, relative to their expectations going into the season.
Note that while these grades take statistics into account, they’re still the opinions of the writer. Feel free to voice your own opinions in the comment section of the article.
This is the first of three articles grading each player’s performance thus far. First up: the forwards.
Clayton Keller
Grade: A+
Take a walk in Clayton Keller’s shoes for a moment.
Imagine you’re 26 years old and you’re expected to carry an NHL team offensively. On top of that, you’re playing in a new NHL city and you’re trying to get people interested in hockey. Oh, and to add to it, you’ve been named the captain of the team — a responsibility you’ve never had before.
It would have been easy for Keller to fold under the pressure, but he’s done the opposite. He’s on pace for a career high in points, he’s become the face of the team, and, by all accounts, he has excelled in his new leadership role.
Nick Schmaltz
Grade: A
He’s not the flashiest player, but Nick Schmaltz gets the job done. He has 37 points in 46 games and has scored some big goals for Utah.
It took Schmaltz 24 games to score his first goal of the season, but since then, the flood gates have been wide open. He also had plenty of assists during his goal drought, so it’s not like he wasn’t pulling his weight.
Barrett Hayton
Grade: A
Barrett Hayton is on pace for his second-best season in both goals and points, but there’s an argument to be made that this has been his best season overall.
Being the fifth-overall pick in the 2018 draft, Hayton has always had big expectations on his shoulders. He didn’t immediately turn into a first-line center, which drew him some criticism early in his career. Now, in his sixth NHL season, he’s showing that he’s a reliable two-way forward who can play up and down a lineup.
Any conversation with head coach André Tourigny about Hayton will automatically garner two things: a smile and a lecture on how important he is defensively. He does the little things that allow his linemates to score.
Logan Cooley
Grade: A++
How is Logan Cooley only 20 years old?
Watching him play, you might think he’s a veteran in the prime of his career. In reality, he’s the youngest player on the team and is still in the second year of his entry-level contract. Short of Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini, there might not be a more promising youngster in the entire league.
“(I) feel more comfortable in the league now,” Cooley told the Deseret News on Jan. 13. “Comfortable making plays that I might have not been last year. Overall, I think it’s been pretty good. Obviously, of course, there’s always stuff to get better (at).”
Cooley has evolved both offensively and defensively. He’s second on the team in points, third in goals and is never caught up-ice. He kills a fair amount of penalties and he’s often used in key defensive situations.
It makes you wonder what his ceiling is.
Dylan Guenther
Grade: A+
Like Cooley, Dylan Guenther is proving that he’s a legitimate first-line forward in the NHL.
He has developed an Alex Ovechkin-like one-timer on the power play, but he can also let wrist shots go with an Auston Matthews-like release.
He has missed the last six games with a lower-body injury. Tourigny said on Monday that Guenther is “not close” to returning. Despite that fact, he’s still tied for the team lead in goals on the season.
From a media perspective, Guenther has also grown as a speaker. At the beginning of the season, it was hard to get him to say more than a few words, but over the last month or two he’s become a go-to for all of us beat reporters whenever we need quotes.
Jack McBain
Grade: B+
Jack McBain started the season at an A+ rate, but he’s currently on a nine-game point drought and has just two points in his last 19 games.
But even when he’s not scoring, McBain drags his team into the fight with his physical play. He’s never afraid to go to the corners, park himself in front of the net, throw a big hit or drop the gloves.
He’s only two goals and 14 points shy of his career highs in those categories. He’s a restricted free agent this summer, so it will be important for him to find his offensive game again to maximize his contract value.
Matias Maccelli
Grade: C
Matias Maccelli’s previous two seasons made him seem like a budding superstar — at least as far as playmaking goes. But eight goals and eight assists in 45 games is just not enough.
Unlike McBain, Maccelli doesn’t provide a ton on the physical or defensive sides of the game, so scoring is imperative to his success.
All that being said, Maccelli has shown improvement recently. He has three goals and four points in his last four games. If he can keep that type of production up, the first half of his season will be forgotten.
Nick Bjugstad
Grade: C+
Like Maccelli, Bjugstad has struggled to score this season. Unlike Maccelli, though, Bjugstad brings that physical edge to the game that can excuse lack of offensive production.
Bjugstad is also at a much different stage of his career than 24-year-old Maccelli. At age 32 and having played parts of 13 NHL seasons for six different teams, he brings experience and veteran leadership.
That being said, Bjugstad is an unrestricted free agent this summer and adding to his counting stats will be critical to his ability to earn another contract.
Lawson Crouse
Grade: D+
Lawson Crouse just hasn’t done enough this year.
He’s on pace for less than half his point total from last season. He’s slower than he was last season, he seems to have a harder time controlling the puck and he hasn’t done a ton physically or defensively.
Crouse is only 27 years old. Most players — especially high draft picks — don’t slow down until at least their 30s. He has to figure out how to get back into it if he wants to provide value to the team.
Kevin Stenlund
Grade: A+
Simply put, this has been Kevin Stenlund’s best NHL season — and that’s high praise, considering the fact that he broke his career highs last year en route to the Stanley Cup.
Stenlund is four goals and three points shy of those career highs, despite the fact that a fifth of his ice time has come while short-handed. He’s also a beast in the face-off circle: He has a 59.7% success rate.
With just a $2 million cap hit and being signed until the end of next season, Stenlund would fetch a pretty return if Utah decided to move him at the trade deadline — but the downgrade to their current roster might be too big for them to even consider moving him.
Alexander Kerfoot
Grade: B+
Alexander Kerfoot is on pace for less points than he had in any of the last three seasons, but offensive production is a secondary part of his job anyway. He’s a defensive specialist who is highly regarded for his hockey IQ.
He plays on Utah’s top penalty-killing unit with Stenlund, playing a major role in the 10th-best penalty kill in the league.
If his offensive production were on par with his recent rates, his grade would be higher — but all things considered, he’s had a good season.
Liam O’Brien
Grade: B+
Liam O’Brien has done everything that’s been asked of him — even if that’s simply to be a good teammate who competes hard in practice.
O’Brien has never been expected to contribute offensively, so his zero points in 11 games isn’t a big deal. To O’Brien, there’s no such thing as not giving it your all every shift. He gets the team going and, as Utah learned at the team’s welcome event in April, he gets the crowd going.
After playing three games in October, O’Brien didn’t get to suit up for a game until Dec. 31 — and even then, he only found out he was playing after warmups. He has been a regular member of the forward rotation since then and has brought that spark every time he’s played.
Michael Carcone
Grade: B-
Was last season the norm or an anomaly? That’s the question Michael Carcone is trying to answer. Although he’d like it to be the norm, it’s seemed to be an anomaly, based on his play this season.
Don’t get it twisted: Carcone is doing pretty well, considering the fact that he has to earn his spot in the lineup every night. But he set the bar high with 21 goals and 29 points last year.
He has only potted three goals and nine points to this point in the season, but he brings the type of intensity that’s imperative to get from a bottom-six player.
Josh Doan
Grade: B+
Josh Doan has looked like a legitimate NHLer in his second big-league stint of the season.
In six games since being called up, he has a goal and three points. He has all the confidence in the world and he speaks like a 15-year veteran.
If he can continue playing like this, he’ll have to make just one more trip to Tucson: He has to pick up his dog, Hank (Roadrunners teammate Montana Onyebuchi is watching him for the time being).