Utah GM Armstrong talks Trade Deadline approach, growth of young players in Q&A with NHL.com

LOS ANGELES -- The Utah Hockey Club had a goal.

This time of the season needed to matter to Utah, established as an NHL franchise following approval from the NHL Board of Governors on April 18, when it acquired the hockey assets of the inactive Arizona Coyotes and relocated executives, coaches, players and staff members to Salt Lake City.

"When we rolled into Utah, we kind of said, 'We want to be in a position down the stretch where we're playing meaningful games," Utah general manager Bill Armstrong said prior to a 5-3 loss at the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. "We're in the build right now, as we call it. We're four years in and we're making a lot of progress."

Utah (26-24-9) is playing meaningful games. Its 61 points are three behind the Calgary Flames for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

And the good news doesn't stop there.

"Right now, we've got a bit of momentum because our guys are coming back in the lineup," Armstrong said. We're getting healthy and it's at the right time of the year to get healthy, so I like where we're at.

"I call it being a healthy organization where you have your cap under control, you have prospects coming in and you have a good team on the ice. It's not a perfect team. it's not a team that's in its window to win a Stanley Cup yet, but what we've done is we've put ourselves in an opportunity to compete for a playoff spot."

NHL.com talked with Armstrong about getting started in Utah, steps taken in a rebuild and the approach toward the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline on March 7.

How have the first few months been in Utah?

"It's been amazing. I think that our players have loved the experience of, first of all, being loved. From the moment we got there until now, it has been an incredible experience as a player to walk in, whether you're at practice and there are 2,000 people in the stands, or you show up and it's sold out to play in a huge game. It's been amazing.

"The other aspect is our owner (Ryan Smith, who also owns the Utah Jazz). I mean, he has sunk a lot of time and effort and money into making it an incredible organization from the planes we fly to the hotels we stay at to our temporary practice facility to our new facility that will open, state of the art, Sept. 1. All these little things have added up and I think our players are very fortunate and they know it. They're very grateful for that opportunity to play for him and the state of Utah and the city of Salt Lake."

Two of your young forwards, Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley, are having good seasons. How are they bringing that young energy and production to the group?

"That's really interesting you ask that. I was doing a podcast the other day and I had to look up their exact stats and I was like, 'Oh my God, these guys are under 22 and they have 40 points already on the season (Cooley has 45, Guenther 43). That's a heck of a year.' We're the only team in the NHL with two young guys like that, that have 40 points (each). They've been great. They both made huge strides.

"Guenther's consistency has improved, and Cooley is playing a 200-foot game from both sides of the puck, offensively and defensively, killing penalties and is on the No. 1 power play, so that's a lot for a young man to handle. He's done a great job with that."

Guenther on Sept. 20 signed an eight-year contract that begins next season. A big deal for a 21-year-old can be a lot. How's he handling it?

"We had some money talks, him and I. I told him he had to be a role model with his money and not let it affect his day-to-day thought process where you wake up every morning and go, 'I should work hard. Ah I have money in the bank.' You can't think that way. You have to be thinking about, 'Hey, how do I get better every day? How do I get on the ice and help this organization have higher standards and winning a championship? How do I do that?' Those are your first thoughts. He's been good and he's really taken a step."

Speaking of steps, what's the biggest one you've taken during this rebuild over the past four years?

"The biggest step is probably when we landed (defenseman Mikhail) Sergachev (from the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 29). He's won a Cup, he's in our age bracket (26), he's a premier defenseman and they're almost impossible to get. So that was kind of a building block that changed.

"We were looking at the board, we didn't have one D set assigned, so here we were. There was a blank board in front of us. We had a pretty good forward group and a coach (Andre Tourigny) that was hungry to make a step in an organization for all these fans that hadn't seen us. So, we get into that mode, and we were able to acquire him and (John) Marino (from the New Jersey Devils on June 29). Then Michael Kesselring has taken a step for us. That was probably the biggest building block we've had go in that's been a difference maker."

With that said, we're about two weeks from the trade deadline. What may Utah do?

"I'll tell you exactly where we are: We're not buyers and we're not sellers. The reason we're in that position is because we acquired Kevin Stenlund (signed as a free agent July 1), Marino and Sergachev. We did a lot of our shopping in the summer. Plus, we added Olli Maatta (acquired from the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 29) and Nick DeSimone (claimed off waivers from New Jersey on Jan. 5). We're in a position where, unless something is dynamic that can help us when we get to our window to win, we probably won't make a move unless something changes from now to then."

So you're in good shape?

"We're not a perfect organization. We're right where we're supposed to be. We're trying to take a step here and that's not an easy thing to do at this time of the year, but this is great for our guys. We're in the pressure cooker and pressure makes diamonds."

Even if you hadn't made all those moves it's where you are in the standings, right? It's not an easy spot.

"Yeah, and that's the hard part of doing it, but we're also in a position (that) for a number of years in a row we picked high. Not only did we pick high, we picked with a massive amount of picks to speed up where we are and used some of that to get the Sergachevs of the world or the Marinos of the world. Now we're in a position where we want to play a little bit, see how good we are down the stretch here and let's see where we can go."