President of Hockey Operations Chris Armstrong and General Manager Bill Armstrong
Chris Armstrong on building a winning team in Utah:
“It’s an ongoing process we’re building towards sustaining championship contending success. That takes time. What I love about what everybody’s brought to the table across the organization is the excitement, enthusiasm for building something new and building something meaningful (for) the people here in Utah, to represent this state. We talked about it again in this meeting this morning with the players. There’s so much pride here that Utah has an NHL team. We feel it, people care, they show up. It’s a tremendous source of motivation for everything that we do to continue to push and to get better and to give that love and enthusiasm back to our fans, to the community.”
Bill Armstrong gave an update on Logan Cooley contract negotiations:
“We’ve had great conversations with Logan and his side, and they’ve been tremendously helpful and professional and Logan, as a young man, has been nothing but great. So, we’ll move (with it), there’s no rush. It’s one of those things that’ll happen. It’s just at our time right now, there’s nobody that’s kind of made that step. I think there’s more data points that’ll come in that will make the whole league feel better about the contracts that they’re offering that era of player that got drafted at that time.”
Chris Armstrong on Clayton Keller’s first season as Captain and his leadership:
“I think it was one of the most under the radar 90-point seasons in the league. It’s completely validated. Our belief that Keller would be able to handle the responsibility of being the captain, I commend him for the way that he handled that responsibility. The way that he reached out for guidance and help and support in that role. And the way that he handled the moments throughout the season where maybe things weren’t necessarily going the way he would like them to for himself personally, but was still able to be the leader we needed him to be, and find his game through those tougher moments. We hope he can repeat and improve on his production but sometimes there’s more value in what he can do as a leader and how he can help us move this group forward and get more out of everybody else.”
Bill Armstrong on heading into training camp for year two:
“I feel like we’ve been here for 15 years. I look out and I see the fan base with the jerseys on (it’s) enchanting. It’s unbelievable how it’s taken shape, the passion for hockey here has been incredible. I think we are settled a little bit more and the team’s taking a step. You’re a little bit more anxious at this time in a good way. It’s almost like it’s the night before Christmas. You want to see what’s underneath the tree.”