Blackhawks Opponent Watch: Welcome to the Utah Hockey Club

Tonight, the Utah Hockey Club will play their inaugural game entering the NHL, against the Chicago Blackhawks. For the Blackhawks, tonight’s season opener provides the perfect opportunity to play spoiler to the new team, but first let’s get an introduction.

Utah Hockey Club Projected Lines:

Clayton Keller – Barrett Hayton – Nick Schmaltz 

Jack McBain – Logan Cooley – Dylan Guenther 

Matias Maccelli – Josh Doan – Lawson Crouse 

Liam O’Brien – Kevin Stenlund – Alex Kerfoot 

Mikhail Sergachev – Sean Durzi 

Juuso Valimaki – Michael Kesselring 

Ian Cole – Vladislav Kolyachonok 

Connor Ingram 

Karel Vejmelka 

Utah enters the NHL ready to compete. The Arizona Coyotes were just a few steps from contention and now this roster seems ready to go. This will be an interesting matchup to see how Utah looks in the NHL, Blackhawks fans will get the first taste of Utah, with a new captain leading the way.

Clayton Keller is ready to lead.

The Utah Hockey Club recently named Clayton Keller as the first captain in club history. Keller has long been a leader in Arizona, now with a fresh start in Utah it will be interesting to see how he takes his game to the next level.

Tonight’s game will also be interesting to see how Mikhail Sergachev looks in Utah. The former Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman has long been an elite player on a great team. How will he respond to a new team?

Utah finished the preseason with a 5-2-0 record, with the only cross over with Chicago being a win over the St. Louis Blues on Sept. 22. Last season, the Arizona Coyotes were led in points by Clayton Keller, 76 (33 G, 43 A), Nick Schmaltz with 61 (22 G, 39 A) and Matias Maccelli with 57 (17 G, 40 A).

Bedard against Utah.

The Coyotes drafted Logan Cooley third overall in 2022. Last season, Cooley got his first crack at the NHL playing in all 82 games putting up 44 points (20 G, 24 A). This is a big sophomore season for Cooley now in Utah. Bedard is another young player entering his second season, keep an eye on if the two young centers faceoff head to head throughout the night.