If the return of the NHL seems to be slipping a little under the radar – not for you, of course; you’ve been studying Lauren’s preview like it’s the Dead Sea Scrolls – blame it on the season’s soft launch. Is it really Opening Day if there are five separate Opening Days depending on the team? Some clubs won’t play their first meaningful hockey until Friday, a full week after the boys went after it in Prague. It doesn’t help that many of the games so far, including the ones in the Czech Republic and Tuesday night’s tripleheader, have involved teams that still sound a little fake to me: the “Utah Hockey Club,” the “Seattle Kraken,” the ‘Buffalo Sabres.”

But it’s real action during the regular season, and I’ve come with video to prove it. The Utah Hockey Fellas, of course, are the old Arizona Coyotes in all but name. (They’re all the same players, but the history and intellectual property are still owned by Alex Meruelo, at least until 2029. Those Coyotes also own the history of the original Winnipeg Jets, not to be confused with the current Winnipeg Jets, who own of the history of the Atlanta Thrashers Isn’t sports fun?) So this isn’t an expansion roster – despite the temporary lack of a name and the lease in a building that can only seat about 11,000 for hockey after a hasty first round of renovations – and It won’t be dog shit, or at least not more dog shit than the Coyotes. This is a real big-boy hockey team, and the Salt Lake City fans, who came in droves to buy season tickets, were ready to welcome them. In their first game, they hosted the Blackhawks (who Are dogshit), Dylan Guenther made sure the fans didn’t have to wait longer than five minutes.

I’m officially designating Guenther as one of my Western Conference guys we should pay moderate attention to. The 21-year-old right wing, selected ninth overall in 2021, received his first real call-up as an injury replacement last January but immediately showed enough pop that he wouldn’t be sent back down. In the 45 games to end the season, he scored 18 goals and 17 assists. He has a dangerous shot and likes to line up from long range; there is more than a little Stamkos in his hockey DNA. Playing on a line centered by Logan Cooley, who assisted on both of Guenther’s goals (including an empty-netter) in a 5-2 win, he’ll get a lot of good looks, and I can’t imagine he’ll score many of his goals changes. them down. Utah already has quite a bit of faith in this guy, signing him to an eight-year extension worth $57 million last month.

While I try not to get it at excited about a win over Chicago, maybe UHC would be…pretty good? Or at least certainly not terrible. The forward line, led by Guenther, Cooley, Lawson Crouse and team captain Clayton Keller, is young and talented and can trade goals with anyone. Their defense, improved by the addition of Mikhail Sergachev, could be useful. Purpose is still a bit of a question mark. But in a Central Division where nothing is certain except Colorado and Dallas, they could very easily be in the second-tier pack fighting for a playoff spot.

And they have a good, sturdy target horn. The lake is doing well.