November 22, 2024 | 12:21pm ET
TheFourthPeriod.com

UTAH COULD LOOK TO MOVE VETERAN PIECES

Alex Kerfoot, forward

The Utah Hockey Club are near the bottom of the Western Conference, currently posting a 7-9-3 record in their first 19 games.

Riddled with injuries on the backend, Utah has struggled to put together a consistent winning run this season. While Utah GM Bill Armstrong has plenty of salary cap space to play with, if he chooses to add to his roster, he may look to sell off some pieces if his team cannot climb into the wildcard race later this season.

For Stanley Cup contenders in need of depth pieces to add to their bottom-six forward corps or to their blueline, Utah has multiple pieces that could become available as the season progresses.

Utah forwards Alex Kerfoot, Nick Bjugstad and Michael Carcone are eligible to become unrestricted free agents in the summer, as are goaltender Karel Vejmelka and defencemen Ian Cole, Robert Bortuzzo and Olli Maatta, whom Utah acquired from the Detroit Red Wings last month.

Kerfoot owns a 10-team no-trade list and will have some say in where he ends up, if dealt, while the other seven players on expiring contracts do not own any no-trade protection.

Though the mandate from ownership is to compete, as the franchise is in its first season in Salt Lake City, losing John Marino and Sean Durzi on the blueline has proven to be troubling for this young squad.

Utah has all three of its salary retention slots still available if Armstrong opts to eat any salary on any of the players he decides to trade, if he is incentivized to do so.