For the first time since the Arizona Coyotes packed up and moved to Salt Lake City, the Edmonton Oilers will face the new version of the team known temporarily as the Utah Hockey Club. This will be the beginning of a three-game road trip through Utah, Colorado, and Vegas for the Oilers, while Utah will be returning home from a four-game trip in the Eastern Conference.

1. Moving the Coyotes to Utah was a much-needed fresh start for an organization that had been struggling forever. During 27 seasons playing in Arizona, the organization couldn’t generate interest because of a perenially mediocre team and a stadium out in the middle of nowhere. The Coyotes made the playoffs nine times and only once did they advance beyond the first round.

The Utah Hockey Club is operating as though it’s a new expansion franchise without keeping any of the previous history attached to either the Coyotes or the original version of the Winnipeg Jets who moved to the desert in the mid-1990s. Winnipeg got another team a little over a decade later when the Atlanta Thrashers moved north and they brought back to life a new version of the Jets. It’s difficult to see the NHL giving Arizona another chance, especially with markets like Houston, Quebec City, and even Atlanta presenting better options.

The organization is taking its time in selecting a name, which is a lesson learned from Utah’s National Basketball Association franchise. After five seasons in New Orleans, the Jazz moved to Salt Lake City ahead of the 1978-79 campaign. There apparently wasn’t enough time to change the name, so the team just rolled with being called the Utah Jazz despite the state not being known at all for music.

2. General manager Bill Armstrong swung some big deals in the summer to help improve the roster coming from Arizona for the inaugural season in Utah. He capitalized on the salary cap situation of the Tampa Bay Lightning and acquired top-pairing defender Mikhail Sergachev while also adding John Marino from the New Jersey Devils for a couple of second-round picks.

The team got off to a three-game winning streak to start the season but they’ve slowed down since and currently own a 9-10-3 record, good for 13th in the Western Conference standings. They’re 4-4-1 at the Delta Centre and they’re 5-6-2 on the road.

3. A challenge for Utah this season has been injuries to their blueline. Marino had surgery in the summer and hasn’t made his debut yet and top-pairing defender Sean Durzi was injured in the team’s fourth game of the season and won’t be back for months after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Utah acquired Olli Maatta from the Detroit Red Wings shortly after Durzi was injured and he’s been playing on the top pairing with Mikhail Sergachev. Top prospect Maveric Lamoreux, who the Coyotes selected 29th overall in the 2022 draft, was called up in late October and has been playing with veteran defenceman Ian Cole.

Former Oilers prospect Michael Kesselring has stepped up his play amid Utah’s injuries. The 24-year-old right-handed blueliner has three goals and 11 points over 22 games and is logging 19:10 per night on average. Edmonton’s sixth-round pick from the 2018 draft was moved to Arizona ahead of the 2022 trade deadline along with a draft pick for Nick Bjugstad and Cam Dineen.

4. Despite missing a couple of top-four defencemen, Utah’s team defence has been solid this season, as the team ranks in the top third in the league in suppressing shots on goal and scoring chances at even strength. The team’s goaltending duo has combined for a .895 save percentage, with Karel Vejmelka leading the way with a .922 save percentage in 11 appearances and Connor Ingram struggling to an .871 save percentage in 13 games.

Utah placed Ingram on the Injured Reserve on Wednesday because of an upper-body injury so it seems likely that Vejmelka will start against the Oilers. Coming up in place of Ingram is Jaxson Stauber, who has a .930 save percentage in seven AHL games this season.

5. As was often the case with the Coyotes, Utah is having a difficult time scoring goals. You can take the team out of the desert, but you can’t take the desert out of the team.

Utah ranks 26th in the league with 60 goals scored, an average of just 2.7 goals per game. Edmonton native and former Oil King Dylan Guenther is leading the way with 10 goals and his linemates Jack McBain and Logan Cooley have scored eight and four. The top line of Clayton Keller, Barrett Hayton, and Nick Schmaltz has combined for only 11 goals through 22 games.

Schmaltz has 17 points, which seems normal at a glance, but he’s thrown 44 shots on goal and hasn’t scored once. That’s a massive dry spell for a player who’s reached the 20-goal mark in each of the past three seasons. Keller scored 33 goals last year and 37 the year before that but is currently on pace to score just over 20 this season. Utah needs more scoring from these two players if they’re going to make any noise.

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