Utah HC’s highest offseason priority needs to be McBain, Cooley & Young Prospects – Hockey Writer – Utah Hockey Club

Utah Hockey Club is in a unique position with a highly competitive roster, entering the 2024-25 season to become a third-year team in the National Hockey League (NHL). The organization is also full of youthful prospects, all upcoming first-round picks, and a total of nine picks in the second and third rounds of the subsequent three drafts.

Top to bottom, the roster, prospect pool and all the draft capitals will make Utah one of the healthiest organizations in the NHL. With 19 players next season, Utah’s move is expected to be restricted during the offseason. However, they do have some key businesses to do.

Let’s discuss Utah’s top priorities to the offseason.

Re-signed Jack McBin

Jack McBain won a fanatical start in Utah, with 10 of his 13 goals before the calendar rises to 2025. In this win, McBain scored in a totally unsustainable 25.32% of his shooting percentage, so his lack of offense in Utah’s last 45 games shouldn’t be shocking.

Regardless of how production fell, McBain created a new career in Utah’s inaugural season goals and scored with 13 goals and 27 points. This marks McBain proposed three seasons of 25 or more in the bottom six-point role without much power playback time.

Related: Utah HC can’t afford Jack McBin in offseason

He has been very reliable, with 231 of the 246 games in Arizona Coyotes/Utah over the past three seasons, including all 82 seasons this season. This is a rare feat for players who play like McBain. McBain ranked 34th in every 60 minutes of shooting percentage among players who recorded 100 minutes on the ice this season and ranked the highest 60% of forward balls. (Excerpt from “NHL Player Card”, Track and Field, April 18, 2025).

Although McBay’s basic numbers didn’t get people’s attention, he influenced the game in various other ways, making him a valuable piece to keep going. Last season, Utah was desperate to lack his 6-foot-3 and 203 pounds. He performed well in pre-trial, with an average pressure of 1.24 per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per 60 minutes per (Player card, all three areas, April 18, 2025), McBain fought eight times last season to defend teammates or try to change the momentum of the game.

McBain will be an excellent fourth-line option at the age of 25, and he proves his ability to show his roster when injured bug bites. Utah needs him back to the locker room next season and needs to raise prices by tendering McBing to provide forms when other teams have the opportunity to limit free agents.

Extended Logan Coley’s contract

Logan Cooley still has a year on his entry-level contract, but will have a big pay raise after the 2025-26 season. However, Utah will be able to start contract negotiations with Cooley after the July 1 hit, as the NHL allows teams to negotiate with players in the remaining deals officially dropped to a season.

Curly ranked third in the 2022 NHL admission draft and scored 44 points in his rookie season with the Coyotes. He strides forward again last season, scoring 65 points in 75 games and 69 points in 82 games with Mitch Marner in the NHL sophomore season.

Eventually, in the final year of his entry-level contract, Marner scored 94 points and greatly improved his value as he could initially sign an extension in Toronto to achieve finalization of the deal. Thanks to his two NHL seasons, he earned the first six minutes of play time, and Utah is expected to shine in free agents to enhance their top six forwards. I haven’t seen Cooley have over 90 points next season because of the talent of this team. Utah needs to determine the deal as soon as possible to ensure Cooley’s future value further increases.

Leave room for top prospects

Utah has many prospects and they are almost ready to crack the NHL roster. The problem is that if Utah doesn’t issue any roster players in the offseason, Utah has only four rosters. While the issue that every team wants to have is an issue, Utah must balance bringing talent to improve this team while still giving potential clients the opportunity to make an impact at the NHL level.

Going into next season, Utah will have Maveric Lamoureux – he looks great in his first 15 NHL games against Utah.

We’ve seen Lamoureux have an impact at the NHL level, and the other three are also selected in the first round, and you can expect them to compete for the roster. Although Utah cannot get into training camp, if these players need extra time to develop, they need honest opportunities to compete for the team’s position. Utah has contracts with 11 forwards and six defenders, and Utah doesn’t need a lot of action to fill its depth. These prospects should have an impact early in the season. If Utah needs to spin, then the depth forward can be used in the trade market throughout the season, and Utah certainly has a draft capital to take these moves.

Utah finds itself in a unique position this offseason and needs to take an influential move to help the team take a step forward and take the playoffs in the playoffs while avoiding over-promotion and hindering the development of their highest prospects. Although they want to take a big move in the offseason, Utah has some internal deals to participate before scouring for missing pieces.