Utah Hockey Club has a tough decision to make.
The team wrapped up preseason Saturday night with a 2-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche at Maverik Center. Dylan Guenther and Nick Schmaltz both scored, and Connor Ingram had 30 saves en route to the victory. Now it is time to finalize an opening-night roster.
Utah Hockey Club has until 3 p.m. MT on Monday to submit its official 23-man roster for the 2024-25 season. The main players in question? Josh Doan and Kailer Yamamoto.
The battle for bottom-six forward roles has been on display throughout training camp. While Utah’s top six is somewhat locked in, Doan and Yamamoto — as well as Michael Carcone — worked to prove to management they are necessary roster pieces for a successful season.
The thing is, they’ve all made a pretty good case for themselves.
“I think all the guys we have right now are NHL players, that’s the way I see it,” head coach André Tourigny said. “We don’t have guys who don’t deserve to be on an NHL roster. They all deserve it. I really believe that.”
But that leaves three players fighting for two spots.
(Godofredo A. Vásquez | AP) Utah Hockey Club forward Kailer Yamamoto (56) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the third period of a preseason NHL hockey game against the San Jose Sharks, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Jose, Calif.
Yamamoto is on a professional tryout agreement with Utah. A PTO allows a player to try out for the team during training camp and potentially earn a contract before the start of the regular season.
The 25-year-old spent the 2023-24 season with the Seattle Kraken and posted 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) through 59 games. If Utah does not decide to sign Yamamoto, he can explore opportunities with other teams that may have been impressed with him during preseason.
Yamamoto has done everything in his power to claim a spot with Utah. He’s played on the first line, fourth line, power play, penalty kill and had a certain scrappiness to him that all good teams need.
“He can play every role. We put him in every situation during camp. … He can feel really good about himself,” Tourigny said. “What I liked the most about him was the amount of battles he won.”
Yamamoto played on the first line with Schmaltz and Barrett Hayton Saturday night. He finished the preseason with three goals in six games.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club forward Josh Doan (91) as Utah Hockey Club hosts the Los Angeles Kings, NHL pre-season hockey in Salt Lake City on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.
Doan has also made a push in training camp. The 22-year-old forward skated in 62 games with the team’s AHL affiliate the Tucson Roadrunners last season before getting called up by the Arizona Coyotes for the last 11 games of the NHL regular season. Doan had two goals in his debut and finished the stint with nine points (five goals, four assists).
Through six preseason games with Utah, Doan logged four points (one goal, three assists). If all goes as planned, Doan will be a name fans will know for a very long time. He is one of Utah’s top-ranked prospects and proved he can play — and contribute — at the NHL level.
“Coming down to the end of it, a lot of long days and long games,” Doan said of training camp. “Just focusing on your game, playing your game. Getting to know the guys as much as you can, getting comfortable in the room and working with the coaches. It’s all you can control. Control the controllables.”
Doan has one slight disadvantage when it comes to his odds of making the opening-night roster: he is the only player who would not need to clear waivers to go to the Tucson Roadrunners. He signed his entry-level contract with Arizona in March 2023 and has only played 11 total NHL games.
That is not the case for someone like Carcone. If Utah decided to send Carcone to the AHL, he would need to be put on waivers which means any other team in the league can claim his contract and rights within 24 hours. That’s a tall risk to take for a player who scored 21 goals in a character role last season for Arizona.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Michael Carcone (53), Utah Hockey Club, brings the puck down the ice, as Colorado Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard (49) defends, in NHL preseason action between the Utah Hockey Club and the Colorado Avalanche, at the Maverick Center, on Saturday Oct. 5, 2024.
Utah also has to account for forward Nick Bjugstad who missed training camp due to injury. He won’t be ready by opening night, but will likely return in the first month or two of the regular season.
Injuries will happen throughout the year, lineups will shuffle and these guys — if still in the Utah system — will get some time in the NHL through call-ups. But until then, a good, deserving player is going to be on the outside looking in.
“I expect them to be frustrated. I would be. I think they’re NHL players and you should expect to play. I know they’re all competitors and they all want to play,” Tourigny said. “It’s a really good problem to have. We will have a really good player who won’t play on opening night, and that’s good for the organization.”
Tourigny is right. Utah having to make hard decisions at the end of training camp shows the progress of the team’s rebuild. They’re reaping the benefits of the players and picks they collected and have legitimate depth because of it. Sometimes that means saying goodbye to someone who could have been a difference-maker.
