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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Hockey Club center Nick Bjugstad thought he was ready to return to play. And on Friday morning, he got some confirmation.
Bjugstad took a hard hit from forward Liam O'Brien during morning practice, and when everything still felt fine, he knew he was good to go.
"He said, 'If I can survive that, I'm OK; I can play,'" head coach André Tourigny said. "That's a pretty hard hit."
Bjugstad will make his Utah Hockey Club debut on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings after missing training camp and the start of the season with an upper-body injury.
"That's good news," Tourigny said. "He's a big guy, plays with a lot of pride, has experience. Never a bad thing."
And the team is hopeful that Bjugstad's return can spark an offense that has gone dormant; Utah has scored just two regulation goals in its last three games. Bjugstad finished with 45 points (22 goals and 23 assists) in 73 games last season with the Arizona Coyotes, giving Utah another offensive threat.
Bjugstad will skate on the line with forwards Lawson Crouse and Matias Maccelli, reuniting a group that saw success together last season in Arizona.
"Big, skilled, fast, reliable all over the ice," Crouse said. "Obviously, excited to jump back into the lineup. It's great when you have guys excited to come in and play and make a difference."
Especially with the team on a two-game skid and searching for some answers. Utah's head coach believes Bjustrad's presence can help more than just on the ice.
"(Bjugstad) is a well-liked guy in the room," Tourigny said. "There's no bad day in his life. He's smiling every day. He's a high-tempo guy, so we're all happy to have him back."
After losing the last two games by a combined score of 9-1, the team is looking for any reason to smile.
To make room for Bjugstad, Utah put Kailer Yamamoto on waivers. If he clears waivers — as expected — he'll be assigned to the AHL's Tuscon Roadrunners. Yamamoto played in three games and didn't generate a point (his apparent equalizer against Boston was waved off after an offsides review).
"It was a tough decision," Tourigny said. "It's just too many players in the lineup. I think he played well."
With the changes, the team will be shifting around its forward lines (something Tourigny started to do during Thursday's loss). Utah will go with these lines on Saturday against the Kings:
- Clayton Keller, Barrett Hayton, Nick Schmaltz
- Josh Doan, Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther
- Matias Maccelli, Nick Bjugstad, Lawson Crouse
- Jack McBain, Kevin Stenlund, Alex Kerfoot
"I like when you have different ingredients on every line," Tourigny said. "I don't believe in three guys are the same on the same line. There's one puck, you cannot have three possession gus in the same line. Then someone doesn't have the puck, someone is feeling bad about his game or whatever, and you lose confidence. So it's a balance."
