The Utah Hockey Club, the NHL team formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes that recently moved to Utah, has yet to lace up their skates for a game. But this week they’ve touched down in Park City, where they’ll be hosting their prospect development camp.
While in town, star defenseman Sean Durzai’s contract signing press conference was held Monday afternoon at Hotel Park City. The development camp will run through Friday in Park City and Salt Lake City.
Monday marked the first day of the development camp, one of many held across the league this week. 32 players geared up to train with the club’s development staff during two separate sessions.
The club selected 11 players in its inaugural draft held in Las Vegas this past weekend. Immediately following the draft, ten of these players were brought to Park City, on the roster for this week’s development camp.
The NHL Utah Hockey Club held it’s first development camp practice Monday at the Park City Ice Rink. In the white jersey is 2022 second round draftee Artem Duda from Kostroma, Russia getting some skating drill advice from Utah Hockey Club Skating Coach Lars Hepso.
The prospects partook in skating, goaltending and offensive exercises during the second practice session Monday. They were on-ice Monday and Tuesday, and will focus on off-ice training Wednesday and Thursday. The week will conclude with a scrimmage Friday at 1 p.m. at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
The camp scrimmage is free to attend.
Without a finished home practice rink in Salt Lake City, the club was welcomed to Park City Ice Arena for their initial development camp.
“I don’t know how it came up, but I just thought we don’t have a rink done down there,” said Utah Hockey Club’s General Manager Bill Armstrong on hosting the camp in Park City. “Next, we’re here, and it’s really unique place to have it. … There’s mountains everywhere, and there just so happens to be a rink.”
Armstrong said the club loves the state’s Olympic-fitted rinks for summer training, with their extra space for on-ice work. He said the club has also felt the love around town.
The NHL Utah Hockey Club held it’s first development camp practice Monday at the Park City Ice Arena. 2022 first round draft pick Miko Matikka from Helsinki Finland in Monday morning’s skating drills. Matikka is a University of Denver forward.
“It has been a great, warm welcome in here,” Armstrong said. “What grabs our heart is how excited people are for hockey, and when they see us walking into a restaurant with the colors on they get so excited. … Even going to Starbucks this morning, people are like, ‘oh my god;’ it’s an exciting time for us here.”
Armstrong is hopeful the club can return to Park City in the future. He encouraged people to come out and watch them practice Tuesday, with 9:30 to 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on-ice sessions. He also hopes Parkites can make it to games this season, given the quick drive to the Delta Center.
While Armstrong said it may take the club a few years to make the playoffs, he said they’ll be young, talented and up-and-coming.
Some of these young prospects at this week’s camp include former, first-round selections Conor Geekie, Maveric Lamoureux and Dmitriy Simashev. Utah’s first first-round pick, and sixth overall, Tij Iginla was also on the ice, as was recent signee Miko Matikka.
The club’s Director of Player Development Lee Stempniak is in charge of developing the prospects. He’s been with the club, formerly the Arizona Coyotes, for a few years now, and said this group is his most talented. He said he’s excited to be coaching nice, hard working and coachable players.
Stempniak noted both the skillsets and competitiveness as reasons why his first-round picks from this year looked so good on-ice. Utah also selected forward Cole Beaudoin with the 24th overall pick.
The central focus of camp is teaching intricacies of the game that the players can use throughout their upcoming seasons. Most of the camp’s players will play their 2024-25 seasons in college, development or foreign leagues. Matikka signed a three year deal Monday, and is expected to head to Utah’s AHL-affiliate in Tucson.
“(I’m) finding my voice a little bit as a coach,” said Stempniak. “A much smaller group this year. … I think last year we had 48 players, this year we have 31 (one missing Monday due to delayed flight), so it feels like you get a lot more time with the players.”
Stempniak is in his second year leading camp, along with a staff of three more. He said he feels the understanding of each coaches’ strengths is leading to a better camp this year, and that everyone’s been handling the play at altitude in Park City well. He mentioned it being nice to have everyone in one small and beautiful area.
“It’s a really special time for the development staff, it’s the one time we have all our players here,” added Stempniak. “You get to know them, you get to see them form bonds with each other, and they go off and see them come back the next year. … It’s like they’re picking up, like they never missed each other.”
Stempniak said the camp players will be some of the guys on the club team in the future when they’re contending for Stanley Cups. He added it’s important for the guys to gel and begin building winning habits together.
He mentioned the standards and learning curves to the professional game as reasons why the transition is a difficult one to make, especially fast. Stempniak didn’t lay out any specific timelines for when to see some of these players on Utah Hockey Club ice.
Matikka could be one of the quicker prospects to the NHL-level for Utah. A 2022 third round pick by the Coyotes, the Denver University freshman had 20 goals this season for the national champions.
The player said he had fun Monday at the second session of camp, saying his experience playing at Denver helped him manage the elevation. Matikka also said that time at Denver under Head Coach David Carle helped him land his three-year, entry-level deal.
“I love that place, and I’m really happy we got to win for those fans in the city of Denver,” he said.
Despite the changes, moving to Utah has been good for the player.
“It’s been a good three months, you couldn’t write it better,” said Matikka. “It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions, and a lot of happiness for me and my family.”
Matikka said the people at Utah’s development camps are some of the best in the league. He said he feels he’s made a big leap since his first camp, and now he’s trying to get better each day, excited to be a part of the club’s start here in Utah.
“It’s something that I did not expect when I got drafted by Arizona, but just trying to make the most of this whole situation,” Matikka added. “I’m really excited, and I think we can do great things here.”
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