Game plan: Utah Hockey Club to take on Carolina Hurricanes

Next up for the Utah Hockey Club will be one of its toughest tests yet: the fourth-place Carolina Hurricanes, who come to town on Wednesday.
The Hurricanes have won the most games of any team since the NHL resumed play after the pandemic. They have made the playoffs six years in a row and have reached the Conference Final twice in that span.
This is a good team that refuses to quit.
“Carolina is probably the toughest team to play against in terms of possession and making plays,” said Utah HC head coach André Tourigny after practice on Tuesday. “They apply so much pressure on the puck carrier. It will will be a good test for us, but we’re confident (that with) the way we play defensively, we can be in every game.”
Fresh off a new contract, Martin Necas has dominated the Hurricanes’ scoresheet. He has 24 points already — 10 more than the next-highest scorer on the team. He’s tied for third place in the league in scoring.
That being said, off-season addition Jack Roslovic leads the team in goals with nine. Roslovic had struggled to find his footing on some of his other NHL teams, but through 14 games this year he looks like a steal. He’s on a one-year contract worth $2.8 million, so if he can keep this pace up he might score a payday in the summer.
And, of course, you can’t miss an opportunity to see Brent Burns, one of the league’s biggest personalities over the last two decades. Read more about him in this recent Deseret News article.
Tourigny said after practice on Tuesday that he likes the way his team has improved defensively, but he doesn’t like that it has come at the price of offense.
“We’ve improved a lot lately defensively,” he said. “Our offense (has) suffered from it. So we need to have the right balance of playing good defense but still making plays and playing confidently offensively and being creative offensively.”
In an attempt to remedy this, Tourigny has decided to alter the lines.
Nick Bjugstad will jump up to the top line with Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz. Barrett Hayton will center Lawson Crouse and Alex Kerfoot.
On defense, Michael Kesselring and Olli Määttä will swap spots, meaning the top pairing will consist of Mikhail Sergachev and Määttä, while the second pairing will have Kesselring with Juuso Välimäki.
Tourigny alluded to the underlying numbers as the primary reason for the change. He says that since Määttä came to Utah, every defense partner he’s had has been above 50% in expected goals. He believes pairing Määttä with Sergachev will give the latter more offensive opportunities.
“We want Sergy to have the puck even more,” he said.
Between the pipes, Karel Vejmelka will get the start. By pure coincidence, Utah HC has scored just one goal in the 11 periods Vejmelka has played this season. Tuesday’s adjustments are designed to change that.
Utah HC defenseman Ian Cole played for the Hurricanes in the 2021-22 season. In 75 games, he scored two goals and 19 points. He also added 83 penalty minutes — the second-highest number of his career. The team lost in game seven of the Conference Semi-Final to the New York Rangers that year.
The only other former Hurricane Utah has is hockey public relations manager David Piper. He worked with the Hurricanes from 2018 until the end of last season and has some great stories of his time there.
In 1997, the Hartford Whalers relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina, to become the Hurricanes. The Whalers had faced a number of issues, but it suffices to say that they weren’t making enough money — not unlike the Arizona Coyotes’ move to Utah this year.
The team won one round of playoff hockey during its 18 years in Hartford. In their sixth year in Carolina, the Hurricanes lost in the Stanley Cup final. They would go on to win the Cup three years later.
Rod Brind’Amour, who captained the Hurricanes when they won the Cup, is now the head coach of the team.