Guenther looks to 'keep improving' on hot start for Utah

Dylan Guenther understands he isn't going to score in all 82 games this season.

But the Utah Hockey Club forward is feeling confident so far after scoring five goals in his first three games, including back-to-back two-goal games to open the season. He's the fifth player ever, and the first since the NHL's inaugural season in 1917-18, to score multiple goals in a franchise's first two games, and he was named NHL First Star of the Week on Monday.

His goal streak ended in Utah's 3-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Monday, but he'll try to start another run when Utah completes a four-game road trip at the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; UTAH16, VICTORY+, KCOP-13).

"I think you always want to just keep improving," Guenther said. "To know that you had a good preseason, I think our team's trending in the right direction, we're all playing well. So it's definitely rewarding for sure."

The hot start is the continuation of a positive trend for Guenther, who scored 18 goals in 45 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season after being recalled from Tucson of the American Hockey League on Jan. 6.

He had 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 29 AHL games, and showed a more mature presence in the offensive zone.

"The space you get to shoot a puck in the NHL is so small, and he was used to junior, and then he ended up being sent down to the minors last year and kind of really perfecting his game down there," general manager Bill Armstrong said. "When he came up, he was ready. He really initiated more effort to go earn pucks. And that's a maturity. Now he can shoot a puck. Before he was just waiting to get a puck. Now he goes and earns the puck."

Earning all those pucks earned the 21-year-old something else: an eight-year contract he signed Sept. 20 that starts next season.

"The projection I see in him is he's going to be a top-end player, and that was important for us to make sure that we got him locked up for a long time," Armstrong said. "He's a core for this franchise. If we're going to win a championship, it's going to be with Dylan Guenther."

That kind of pressure can be tough to handle, but Guenther said he won't let outside noise determine how he plays.

"It brings kind of a different approach, I guess, a little bit more of a leadership role," he said. "To know that I'm going to be here for a long time, it's exciting. It's a new team, a new city, new franchise. The fan base has been super supportive, and, yeah, it's been a lot of fun. So I don't really worry about [the contract]. I just try to do whatever I can to be a little bit better every day."

Coach Andre Tourigny certainly has noticed that improvement, playing Guenther in all situations.

"The one thing Dylan has, is he is good in every phase of the game," Tourigny said. "He's really good at defending. He has a really good stick. He sees the ice well offensively and defensively. Takes a lot of pride in that. So that's a good step, because that means the coach will put you on the ice. And then when you're on the ice, and you have his talent, you have an opportunity, shoot the puck really well, but he does so many good things on the ice. That's the difference.

"It's just a matter of maturity and getting stronger and faster for him. He's doing that every day."

Guenther has been thriving on a line with 20-year-old second-year center Logan Cooley, who has assists on three of Guenther's five goals, including his overtime goal in a 5-4 win at the New York Islanders on Oct. 10.

"It's great," Guenther said. "We're different players. We kind of play well off each other. He can score too, and I can make plays. So it's a lot of fun. I think as we've become better friends off the ice it's helped our on-ice play too."

Being part of Utah's young core was a big reason Guenther signed long term, but it also was how quickly an entire hockey infrastructure was built from scratch by owners Ryan and Ashley Smith in just a few months following the franchise's move.

"I was really impressed by how fast they got everything going," he said. "Our [dressing] room is crazy nice at Delta Center, our practice facility is super nice, and they built it all in, like, a couple months. They've done a really good job. And I think when you have that kind of support and initiative from the top, it just trickles down to the rest of the team and you want to perform for them."

The support of a rapidly growing fan base and dedicated ownership has Guenther focused on helping Utah reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They're off to a 3-1-0 start, but last season the Coyotes were in position to be a wild card team in the Western Conference at the end of the 2023 portion of the schedule (19-14-2). Then they lost 20 of their next 24 games (4-17-3), including 14 straight (0-12-2) to miss the postseason for the fourth straight season.

"I think just going through that is important," Guenther said. "To win, you have to lose sometimes and learn. Even like [the Islanders game], we were down a couple times in the game. The resilience and to go through that early on, I think, shows the maturity of our team. Hopefully that's a good sign of success to come."