Armstrong: ‘A truly magical experience’ to play in Utah

The Utah Hockey Club jumped out to a strong start in its inaugural season, beating Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 in their season opener on Tuesday.

The crowd at the Delta Center played a big role in Utah’s performance, and general manager Bill Armstrong says the emotions and energy from the fans will set the tone for the upcoming season.

“I can't explain it. The coaches, the players, the management, we all had tears in our eyes because it was truly emotional for us to get pulled out of Arizona but then really emotional when we got [to Utah],” Armstrong said on TSN Overdrive on Wednesday. “The fans just went crazy and it's so exciting for our players to see that and be wanted. They want NHL hockey and they're clear about it.  It's going to be a great advantage to play in front of 18,000 people cheering and going crazy.

“It set the tone for our team and I know we're going to get some energy from playing in that building. “The energy there has been incredible since the day we arrived. They're just psyched about hockey. It's going to be a truly magical experience.”

The franchise, formerly the Arizona Coyotes, has made the playoffs just once in the past 12 seasons, when they were eliminated in the first round of the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season in five games by the Colorado Avalanche.

Armstrong says the club is starting to come out of its long rebuild thanks to strong offseason acquisitions and the development of its own blue chip prospects. While he tempered expectations on making the postseason, the 54-year-old says he expects the team to take a leap forward this season.

"I think we're taking a step forward. We're starting to come out of the rebuild. We had some key pieces added at the draft with [John] Marino and [Mikhail] Sergachev and free agency day with [Ian] Cole and [Kevin] Stenlund,” said Armstrong. 

"Not many teams make the playoffs in the fourth year coming out of the rebuild but I would say we're hoping to play meaningful games. I think our team is going to be highly competitive."

Utah has a strong young core to build on centered around forwards Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, and 2024 first-round pick, Tij Iginla. The club recently locked up Guenther to an eight-year, $57.14 million contract, which Armstrong says is part of a new era for the club where he will no longer need to worry about having the resources to retain the franchises home-grown players.

“I give a lot of credit to our scouting staff for drafting Cooley, Guenther and [Janis] Moser already. And now we have Iginla and [Maveric] Lamoureux coming in. You truly don't want to be a GM where you get to the point where you have to sell off your players because you can't afford them. Your scouts do all that work and we got to a point, as an organization, where we couldn't afford to keep players. That would've been a terrible thing,” said Armstrong. “Now that I think we're into that second stage in Utah where you can see players growing in front of you, you know you're going to have the resources to pay them and assemble your team and fight for a championship.”

With those resources at his disposal, Armstrong says the team will eventually look to add a big-name free agent once the growing young core is ready to make a run at the Stanley Cup.

“There is going to be a point where we have to add a free agent. Our young kids have to grow organically and make that next step. When they do and our team makes that next step, then it will be the time to add through free agency and finish what we started,” said Armstrong. “There has to be a patience level. Just because you have all the money doesn't mean you want to spend it right now. Our team still has to grow and fight on its own.