SALT LAKE CITY- The Utah Hockey Club is wrapping up its first season in Salt Lake City tonight on the road against St. Louis with a chance to play spoiler to a Blues team that is battling to get into the playoffs.
Before the puck drops in The Lou, we have another Utah Hockey Club player to get to know, defenseman Michael Kesselring.
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“It’s been awesome… Everybody is really excited to come back and keep building on it. Our fans deserve some playoff hockey.”@utahhockeyclub Michael Kesselring on what being part of this inaugural season has meant to him pic.twitter.com/KjRxEIXtn2
— Utah Hockey Club PR (@UtahHC_PR) April 15, 2025
Utah’s Michael Kesselring
Michael Kesselring is from New Hampton, New Hampshire in the Upper Northeast, an area of the country that loves its hockey.
In high school, Kesselring played for the Des Moines Buccaneers and theFargo Force, Tier I junior hockey teams in Iowa and North Dakota respectively.
After his time in the USHL, Michael was ranked the 75th-best North American Skater by NHL Central Scouting. His skill had him hearing his name on draft night as the Edmonton Oilers selected Michael Kesselring 164th overall in 2018.
Before going pro, Kesselring took some time to develop at the collegiate level, taking his talents to Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. During his freshman year, he played in all 34 games for the Huskies and posted two goals and three assists from the blue line.
Michael decided it was time to move up during his sophomore year, and left for the Bakersfield Condors, the Oilers AHL affiliate, halfway through the season.
Kesselring spent two and a half seasons in Bakersfield where he 16 total goals, 13 of them coming in his final year with the Condors. His breakout season in 2022-23, where he racked up 22 points in 49 games, caught the attention of the Arizona Coyotes.
Despite being drafted by Edmonton, Michael never suited up for their senior team, and on March 2, 2023, he was traded to the Coyotes. Immediately following the trade, Kesselring split his time pretty evenly between the Roadrunners and Coyotes for the remaining two months of the season.
In 2023-24, Michael spent the majority of the season with the senior squad, only dipping down to the AHL for six games.
On December 11, 2023, Michael Kesselring scored his first career NHL goal against the Buffalo Sabers, assisted by Logan Cooley.
🚨 FIRST NHL GOAL 🚨
Michael Kesselring buries off the rush and has a new souvenir. 🐺 pic.twitter.com/cN2KGbcQsX
— NHL (@NHL) December 12, 2023
That season, Kesselring scored five goals and dished out 16 assists for a total of 21 points.
Now, in 2024-25, Michael Kesselring is expected to play in all 82 games for the Utah Hockey Club. He has a season-high in goals (7), assists (22), and points (29), and will have the chance to get to the 30-point mark for the first time in his young career tonight against the Blues.
Kesselring has one year remaining on his current contract and is set to become a restricted free agent at the end of next season, but he could very well sign an extension any time between now and then.
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Utah Hockey Club Schedule
The Utah Hockey Club will wrap up its inaugural season tonight against the St. Louis Blues. Puck drop is set for 6:00 p.m. MT.
The Blues are only holding onto the last Wildcard spot in the Western Conference by two points, but the Calgary Flames, who are directly below them in the standings, have a game in hand.
This means that if the Utah Hockey Club beats the St. Louis Blues tonight, and then the Calgary Flames win their remaining two games, the Blues would miss the playoffs.
Even though the Utah Hockey Club has already been eliminated from playoff contention, they will have one more shot to ruin another team’s chances tonight.
Tanner Tripp is a sports writer for KSL Sports covering all teams across the state of Utah. Follow him on X @tanner_tripp and Instagram @tanner.tripp here.
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