3 bold predictions for Utah Hockey Club in 2024-25

Utah Hockey Club will play their first season in Salt Lake in 2024-25. After the 2023-24 NHL season, the former Arizona Coyotes’ assets were acquired by Utah. The Coyotes organization is now considered inactive, and Utah is considered an expansion team. They will play with their temporary name this season and receive a new name in 2025-26.

Heading into year four of a rebuild, Utah is ready to keep improving upon the previous three years, in which they did not make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. With the NHL regular season about to get underway, it’s time to look at what this season could bring. Here are three bold predictions for the 2024-25 Utah Hockey Club.

3. John Marino will have a huge bounce back year

Utah traded for defenseman John Marino in exchange for two draft picks from the New Jersey Devils. Marino played in New Jersey for two years after being traded by the Pittsburgh Penguins. In his first year with the Devils, Marino showed off his defensive prowess as the team’s most reliable defenseman. He followed it up with a very poor season where he just didn’t look like himself, making more mistakes and failing to shut down opponents. He was on the ice for 77 goals against at even strength. His GF%, measuring goals for vs. goals against, was 41.50, the lowest of his career by far.

Prediction here: Marino will bounce back in a big way this year. Sometimes a change of scenery is what it takes to bounce back from a bad year. It hasn’t gotten off to a great start, though, which is part of what makes this a bold prediction. He entered training camp with an upper-body injury and is considered week-to-week. But better days are coming. Once Marino is available to play, he will likely play on the second line. After the injury is behind him, he’ll be ready to take on the season.

When at his best, Marino can be a shutdown defenseman and a tough penalty killer with solid skating ability and puck moving. Marino is expected to pair with Juuso Valimaki, a two-way defenseman coming off a season of growth. It’s tough to build chemistry with a new partner and a new team, but Marino is built for the challenge. In 2024-25, Utah should get treated to the John Marino that Jersey knew in 2022-23.

2. Logan Cooley will score 30 goals

Logan Cooley was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in 2022 as the third-overall pick. It’s tough for a young player to meet expectations, and it’s even tougher on a team that doesn’t have playoff expectations. Despite this, Cooley was as advertised in his rookie season in the NHL. In 2023-24, Cooley scored 20 goals and racked up 24 assists for a 44-point season. He finished fifth in Calder Trophy voting. There’s no denying that expectations are high for his star to keep rising.

Prediction here: Cooley will score 30 goals in his second NHL season. That’s no easy feat, especially for a 20-year-old. To increase goals scored by 10 goals from one season to the next is a tall order. But Cooley has the skill to do it, and the team around him will be better this year than last year. He’s capable of a 30-goal season.

The relocation from Arizona to Utah is sure to be an adjustment for players, particularly a young player who just got settled last year. But this young center can overcome the circumstances. Cooley is expected to grow in his sophomore season, but the threat of a sophomore slump always looms. Will he avoid the sophomore slump and have a big season? Time will tell.

1. Utah will make the Stanley Cup Playoffs

This one is pretty out there but not impossible. There’s a lot of buzz around Utah HC, and it would be exciting to see their first season in Utah match the buzz. Expectations are that this team will be stronger than they have been in the previous few years during their rebuild. Head coach Andre Tourigny came over in the relocation and will continue to run the team.

Prediction here: Utah will make the playoffs. Their defense is stronger this season, with a lot riding on whether Marino bounces back and whether Juuso Valimaki continues an upward trajectory. Mikhail Sergachev and Sean Durzi are both strong defensemen and will see a lot of minutes. Connor Ingram is a reliable goaltender who should fare better with a stronger defense. The team has a lot of young talent among their forwards including Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther and Barrett Hayton.

This is a very young team that has a lot more growing to do. It would take a lot of momentum and some surprises along the way as a playoff berth is a longshot this season. There’s usually at least one team that really surprises us. It’s probably not Utah’s year to go far, but they’re getting closer to being a team that can in the years to come.

Utah Hockey Club opens the 2024-25 regular season at home on Oct. 8 against the Chicago Blackhawks.