'They deserve to fight together': Utah HC makes cap-clearing deal, keeps roster intact at deadline

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Hockey Club mostly stood pat as Friday's NHL trade deadline came and went.

There was talk leading into the day that Utah could make a big swing. After all, general manager Bill Armstrong assembled a treasure trove of assets and prospects as he methodically tore down and built the franchise back up. So with the team in the midst of a playoff chase, some thought the deadline may be the time to use some of those assets.

"If there was a deal out there that put us over the edge with a dynamic player, like a (Mikhail) Sergachev or something, we were all in," Armstrong said.

He didn't feel there was such a move available. So, instead, Utah looked ahead. The Hockey Club cleared out about $7.8 million of cap space by trading Shea Weber's dead contract, along with the rights to defenseman Victor Soderstrom and forward Aku Raty to Chicago for a 2026 fifth-round pick.

The move helped the Blackhawks get to the salary floor and gives Utah more space to make some moves in the future — be it in free agency or next year's deadline. Utah is now projected to have around $22 million in cap space this summer.

"What this does is allows us to accumulate some cap space, so maybe next year, at this time, if we need it down the stretch, we can actually go out and find a player that will fit in," Armstrong said. "So it just gives you a little bit more flexibility."

To be frank, he didn't think his team needed any extra reinforcements heading into the final run of the season. The Club has won four of its last five games and seven of its last 10 to enter the playoff picture.

The team enters Friday night just 3 points out of a final wild card spot in the West.

"Our team's been through a lot this year," Armstrong said. "I think, with all the injuries at the start, and then you watch how they fight, they deserve to fight together, and that's what they've earned the right to do."

While Friday may have been mostly quiet on the Utah front (unlike the rest of the league, which saw stars Mikko Rantanen and Brad Marchand move teams), Armstrong said that was mostly because Utah did its work early.

The Hockey Club traded for Sergachev and John Marino in the summer, and then traded for Olli Määttä and added Nick DeSimone off waivers early in the season. You could even consider Sean Durzi, who just recently returned from an injury, as a semi-addition, too.

"I like where our group's at," Armstrong said. "And the other thing, you don't really want to go in there with about 20 games left, try and throw something together and see if it works. We're going on the ice right now with what we know works."

But what about the things that haven't worked? Forward Matias Maccelli is having a down season (18 points in 52 games) and has been a healthy scratch for the last seven games heading into Friday's contest in Chicago. It had been speculated that he could be on the trade block.

What's his future look like in Utah?

"Matias is a good player and he's found himself in a little bit of a rut here," Armstrong said.

But Armstrong provided a positive spin on things. When he was the assistant general manager in St. Louis, forward Jaden Schwartz had a rough season in 2018-19, but then was one of the Blues' best players in the playoffs during their run to the Stanley Cup.

The lesson: Things can always turn around.

"You never know," he said.

Armstrong also expressed confidence in goaltender Connor Ingram, who has also had his struggles this season.

"In this day and age, there are so many games played, there are back to backs — you need two good goaltenders," Armstrong said. "So we expect Ingy, when it's his turn, to go in there and be a rock star and get us to win."

In the end, instead of looking for changes, Utah used the week of the deadline to keep things the same. Armstrong signed four players — Karel Vejmelka, Ian Cole, Alex Kerfoot and Määttä — to extensions and kept the entire locker room completely intact.

That was a nice change from the Arizona days when the franchise often served as a dumping ground for bad contracts. On Friday, it was Utah doing the dumping.

"It's good to be on that side," Armstrong said.

But he made it clear Utah is still only at the beginning of its climb back up.

"If you look at Logan Cooley, you look at Josh Doan and Guenther and our young players, we have to wait to a certain extent until they are becoming at the best they can be and that's going to be a few years from now," he said. "That's not right now. So there has to be a patience level as we let them grow into becoming great players."

At that time, the deadline should be a bit more exciting.

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