Put yourself in Mikhail Sergachev’s shoes for a moment.
In the summer of 2024, while carrying out the trash at his $10 million oceanside mansion in Florida, he found out he’d been traded. He’d be leaving the team that raised him, the one that had afforded him two Stanley Cup rings and a $68 million contract, to go to a winter city in a state he’d never been to.
Oh, and the trade happened the day before his no-trade clause kicked in.
It would have been safe to assume he wasn’t thrilled. But, less than a year later, he was sitting in a room full of Utah Hockey Club media, raving about his new state.
“Utah is my home now,” he said. “I could live here after I’m retired. I love this place. People are very nice. It’s great.”
While the rest of the team had a little more notice before being shipped to Utah, a lot of them were in similar situations: deep roots planted in Arizona, where they enjoyed sunny weather and year-round golf. But the majority of the 26 exit interviews yielded the same sentiment: Utah is home now.
“Obviously any move like that’s not easy,” said associate captain Lawson Crouse, who previously held the title as the longest-tenured Coyote. “But I will say, from top down — management, ownership — they made the move as easy as it could have been on us.”
He noted that the community made every home game special.
“The fans all season have been tremendous,” he said. “It’s the loudest rink in the league when we play.”
“For us players here, we don’t take it for granted,” he continued. “I think that energy that they bring really pushed us forward and just the love and support that we got from them all season. I can’t wait to see where that goes in the future.”
Karel Vejmelka, who started the season as a backup goalie and ended it as the team MVP, indicated his comfort level by signing a five-year contract extension.
“I just love to play here,” he said. “It’s already my home and just the community and the hockey fans are great.”
“I love Utah as a country,” he added. “It’s really, really easy to live here and I really like to spend some time outside when I have some days off. It’s really unique, the nature here, and I just love to be outside.”
It’s well-documented that top NBA free agents have shown little interest in signing in Utah, but don’t take that to mean NHL players will be the same.
In the NBA, players tend to be drawn to big markets: Those teams tend to have higher payrolls, brighter spotlights and more success. In the NHL, virtually every team has the ability to spend to the cap, media attention is seen as a drawback, and any market can build a contending team.
Using data from the most recent U.S. census, the 16 smallest markets in terms of metro area population have won the Stanley Cup seven of the last 10 years. Those same cities attracted some of the biggest free agents last summer, including Jake Guentzel, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Brady Skjei and Sean Monahan.
In the NHL, the top free agents typically care far more about lifestyle and winning than attention and glory.
The Utah lifestyle includes a family-friendly culture, beautiful scenery, a mild climate and light traffic — all of which have been mentioned by Utah HC players throughout the season. The taxes aren’t bad, in comparison to many teams around the league, which is another factor that weighs heavily into many players’ decisions on where to sign.
And as for winning, Utah is trending in the right direction.
When asked whether he thinks free agents will want to sign in Utah, Minnesota Wild forward Frédérick Gaudreau did not mince words.
“I think 100%, for sure,” he said. “What I heard is the guys are being treated really well and, like I said, the mountains, for me, sells everything.”
A number of other visiting players expressed similar sentiments throughout the season.
Patrick Kane on his first visit to Utah:
“Seems pretty cool. Like, easy to walk around, easy to get to places, obviously beautiful views with the mountains. Looking up and seeing those is pretty incredible.”
He also said there’s positive chatter going around the league about…
Realistically, Utah is probably one top-six scorer away from a wild card spot.
It missed the playoffs by seven points this year, meaning four more wins would have extended the season. UHC lost by just one goal 17 times (plus another handful of losses that would have been by one goal without empty-netters).
Having another scorer in close situations like those would probably have gotten them the few more wins they needed to secure a playoff spot.
The pending unrestricted free agent list includes a dozen or more players that could slide into a role like that. Whether the rumblings of a Mitch Marner type are true, or they opt for a more cost-effective option like Mikael Granlund, there are plenty of options.
