Utah Hockey Club ready for inaugural training camp

SALT LAKE CITY -- When Utah Hockey Club general manager Bill Armstrong walked through the team's new dressing room at Delta Center, he had one thought.

“I was like, 'Wow, we're really an NHL team,'” Armstrong said on Wednesday.

But this is not your typical first-year team. The Utah franchise was established by the NHL Board of Governors on April 18, with all assets from the Arizona Coyotes transferring to Utah.

That included Armstrong and a young roster that appears to be heading in the right direction.

“We’re really excited about the season,” Armstrong said. “What I can tell you is it's an exciting team. They're all bought in on the process. They're going to come every day and work hard."

Coach Andre Tourigny, whose team finished 36-41-5 last season, 21 points out of a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, said having most of that roster back is a plus.

“I like the stability in our lineup,” Tourigny said. “I like the number of players who are coming back. I like the fact we're not starting from half of the team; we're starting with a handful of players who will be new in our roster.”

But the team did make some key additions this offseason, most notably defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who was acquired in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 29.

“We're super excited to have Sergachev with us,” Tourigny said. “I liked my discussion with him because he's driven. He wants to be better, he wants to improve, he wants to contribute, and he wants to be a big part of the team… My expectation is to give him the opportunity to do that.”

Clayton Keller, who played his first eight NHL seasons in Arizona, said Utah is ready to take the next step this season.

“You're always itching to get back to training camp and get around the guys. You know that's when you have the most fun,” Keller said. “I think every year is kind of a new challenge. Last year we made a little bit of a push, and we learned a lot of things about our team... We definitely want to take that next step and make the playoffs.”

Utah gets on the ice for the first time in training camp Thursday, with the first regular-season game in franchise history coming on Oct. 5 against the Chicago Blackhawks.

“If we get better every day, we will be on the right track,” said Tourigny. “I use the law of one percent. If we can be one percent better tomorrow, perfect, we won the day. That's my only focus, to be one percent better every day.”

Although the team gets ready to go to work on the ice, the community is excited and ready to see the team make its debut.

“There’s clearly a huge buzz around our team, and there should be,” said forward Lawson Crouse. “I think in the past with Arizona a lot of things were up in the air… and it’s clear we now have a home so we can move on from all those distractions and just go play hockey and we're really looking forward to doing that.”

“Everywhere we go in the community, the enthusiasm and the immediate desire to talk about the team has been evident,” said Chris Armstrong, Utah’s President of Hockey Operations. “People will come up graciously and want to talk about the team and their enthusiasm or tell us that they bought tickets or merchandise. That just makes you want to compete harder and work harder every single day to deliver the best possible product and experience for the people here in Utah.”