An end-of-season press conference with Utah Hockey Club management yielded the beginnings of an offseason plan. Here’s what came out of the conversation with GM Bill Armstrong and president of hockey operations Chris Armstrong.
Utah Hockey Club’s goal for 2025-26
Throughout the entire half-hour discussion, one thing was abundantly clear: The goal next season is to make the playoffs. This year, it was all about playing meaningful games in March and April — but that won’t cut it in year two.
“It was great for our young team to go through that,” Bill Armstrong said of his team’s competitive push down the stretch. “Next year, we’ve got bigger aspirations of getting in, and you’re going to see that right away.”
He talked about the growth he saw, especially from the young players. It included playing better situationally and commanding respect from other teams.
“I take it as a compliment when you run into the opposing GM going down the hall and he’s like, ‘You guys are going to be good. You’re not fun to play against,’” he said.
What will Utah HC do in free agency this summer?
Developing the young players will be a major factor in the team’s growth, but it’s also important to add more talent around those guys. The intention this summer is to do exactly that, though it won’t necessarily involve handing out long-term contracts to the top free agents.
Without directly naming them, Bill Armstrong alluded to the Nashville Predators, who, over the summer, signed three of the biggest free agents on the market, only to finish third-to-last in the league and miss the playoffs for just the second time since 2014.
“A lot of teams that you saw that ‘won the summer’ didn’t win the winter,” he said. “Once the money’s gone, it’s usually locked in for a long term and next year, we’re talking about, ‘How do we get rid of some of that money?’ So, it’s really a tricky one, where you have to very, very cautiously spend your money.”
It’s not that Ryan Smith isn’t willing to spend the money — Bill Armstrong made it clear that the contrary is true — but in the NHL, cap space is one of the most valuable things a team can have.
He talked about his philosophy in the past, bringing in players on short-term deals to fill roles until entry-level players can take over those roles.
Last summer, those deals brought in Kevin Stenlund, Ian Cole and Robert Bortuzzo, while Olli Määttä joined a month after the season began to do a similar job. When Maveric Lamoureux was ready to play some NHL games, there was nothing complicated about pulling a veteran out of the lineup in his favor, because that was always the expectation.
Now, don’t take that to mean that Utah won’t go after a big-name free agent if they get the opportunity — they’ll do what makes sense for them — but they don’t want to commit long-term to players that won’t fit in the long run.
Head coach André Tourigny, who also spoke on Monday, said the team’s philosophy on offseason additions will be different than it was in Arizona.
“A couple years ago, we needed players no matter what,” Tourigny said. “If you’re a good player, we (were) happy to have you. Now, we’re looking for specific areas of our game to be better.”
He kept those “specific areas” under wraps for competitive reasons, but it’s likely that his wishlist includes size and scoring.
Internal business
In addition to external free agents, Utah has some decisions to make regarding its own pending free agents. Most of them spoke on Thursday about their personal levels of interest in returning next season, though it all hinges on management’s plans.
Bill Armstrong made it clear that final personnel decisions have not yet been made, but here’s what he said.
On Nick Bjugstad: “We’re very fortunate to have Bjugy. He was in our organization a long time. He’s an incredible human being. He’s helped develop our culture, he’s a big part of it.”
On Nick DeSimone: “Nick DeSimone was an add that really came in at the right time and just patched some holes. He was so calm in how he played. He’s such an impressive person.”
On Logan Cooley’s extension: “There’s certainly no rush at this point. We’ve got other priorities — not that Logan’s not a huge priority, but that’s just the way it rolls and we’ll deal with it at some point in time," he said.
Cooley is eligible to sign for up to eight years this summer. He’s still under contract for another season, so pen doesn’t have to be put to paper for some time still.
On goaltending: Bill Armstrong didn’t have an update on Connor Ingram’s status, as teams are prohibited from contacting individuals in the player assistance program. At the same time, he recognizes that he needs a contingency plan in case Ingram is not available come October.
“Obviously in any situation that you’re building, you always look to provide depth in that, so we’ll be no different, but we haven’t really gotten into it,” he said.
On Matias Maccelli: “We’ve got some evaluation to do. When your team gets better every year, there are certain things that happen where your players, sometimes they have to keep up, sometimes roles change, sometimes your younger players start to take more ice and things change. There’s always two or three players at the end that didn’t have a great season, where you might have six that have. ... It’s really up to the player to go back in the summer and make those adjustments.”
This comes after NHL insider Elliotte Friedman stated in Saturday’s episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast that Maccelli would likely change teams over the summer. He still has a season left on his contract, so he’s not going anywhere unless UHC says so.
Bill Armstrong related Maccelli to Lawson Crouse, who struggled in the 2021 season, only to come back and be among the team’s top six scorers in each of the next two seasons.
Team name and arena renovations
While Chris Armstrong didn’t have a Utah HC team name update yet, he did say that they’re “in the homestretch” of that process and that it will be announced in the coming months.
As for the Delta Center renovations, they are already underway. The arena has no events scheduled until Oct. 7, giving the construction crew time and space to work.
Chris Armstrong declared his confidence in the renovation plans, though he added the caveat that the plans could be interrupted by the success of UHC or the Jazz in the form of playoff competition — “a great reason” to disrupt the plans, in his words.
He did not have any specific updates on how they’d expand the limited views, but he did say that a more comprehensive update is coming soon.
By his estimation, the renovations will make the Delta Center the best arena for both basketball and hockey.