Captain Clayton Keller of Utah Hockey Club scores a second period goal at Madison Square Garden on October 12, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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Not even the bright lights of Broadway could dim the momentum of the NHL’s newest franchise.
On Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, new captain Clayton Keller was the overtime hero as the Utah Hockey Club defeated Igor Shesterkin and the New York Rangers by a score of 6-5.
After a 5-2 triumph over the Chicago Blackhawks in their home opener last Tuesday and a 5-4 overtime win over the New York Islanders on Thursday, Utah has staked an early claim on first place in the tough Central Division — although the Dallas Stars and Winnipeg Jets are also off to perfect starts, with 2-0-0 records.
Still, it’s an impressive on-ice debut for the franchise after a whirlwind off-season move from Arizona. The team’s only playoff appearance in its last 12 years in the desert came in the expanded 24-team bubble during the summer of 2020.
It’s a terrific sign that Utah’s young stars are leading the way. With six points in three games, Keller, 26, is tied for the NHL scoring lead through Saturday’s games. Dylan Guenther, 21, has a league-leading five goals and Logan Cooley, 20, is tied for the league lead with five assists.
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Guenther’s breakout is especially timely. Currently in the last year of his entry-level contract, the Edmonton native inked a rich eight-year contract extension with a cap hit of $7.14 million per season on Sept. 20. Utah boldly locked up its ninth-overall pick from 2021 off a body of work that included just 78 total NHL games, where Guenther put up 24 goals and 50 points.
It’s early days. But with the league’s salary cap expected to rise significantly over the next few seasons, Guenther’s deal could become one of the league’s best bargains even before it takes effect in 2025-26.
Utah’s key players are all under contract at least through next season, which will give the new fanbase some time to get to know them. And according to PuckPedia, the club currently has more than $8 million in available salary-cap space. That leaves room to add more talent as the season goes along, further strengthening the roster ahead of a potential first-year playoff appearance in the brand-new market.
For Game 1, the fans were out in force. While the Delta Center’s capacity for hockey is listed at 11,131 due to the current seating configuration at the basketball-first arena, 16,020 fans packed in to witness history as the club leveraged what it’s calling its ‘single goal view seating’ in the upper bowl.
And while the club earned points with fans across the league by announcing lower-than-usual prices for some of its concessions, it still sold $120,000 worth of beer at full prices on Tuesday. That’s more than any previous NHL exhibition game or NBA Utah Jazz game, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Merchandise sales also eclipsed venue records, even though the accelerated timeline to the franchise’s debut means that jerseys aren’t expected to be available for fan purchase until November.
The first goal in Utah franchise history came off Guenther’s stick on Tuesday night, just 4:56 into the first period of Game 1.
After playing his home games in the 4,600-seat Mullett Arena at Arizona State University for his first two NHL seasons, the 6’1” right-winger marvelled at the raucous environment in his new home.
“That building was special,” he said after the game. “That was a ton a fun, a lot of fun to play in front of that crowd. … If the building stays like that all year, it’s a huge advantage for us.”
Keller concurred.
“Just a super fun game to be a part of,” he said. “The fans were awesome since warmups all the way to the last shift there. We couldn’t be more excited to play in front of them for the rest of the year.”
Utah’s road trip will continue Monday with a Columbus Day matinee at the Prudential Center against the New Jersey Devils (1 p.m. ET), then wrap up against the Ducks in Anaheim on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET).
Then, Utah will play five of its next six games at home, starting with the Boston Bruins next Saturday, Oct. 19 (9 p.m. ET).