The Utah Hockey Club recently lost one of its top forwards, Dylan Guenther, to a lower-body injury suffered against the Florida Panthers. The injury occurred when Guenther collided with Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov, putting Guenther on injured reserve. With this, Utah is now without its leading goal scorer and one of the team’s power play specialists. The 21-year-old winger is expected to return sometime in February after registering 34 points in 40 games, including 16 goals. There are many aspects of the team that will miss Guenther’s presence and other Utah forwards will need to step up amid the top forward’s absence.
The Power Play
During the month of December, Utah had one of the top power plays in the NHL. It was a big reason for the team’s string of wins at the time. Prior to the new year, Utah scored 11 power play goals in 12 games. Guenther leads all of Utah with seven power play goals and his shoot-first mentality plays a large part in that. He’s also second behind Clayton Keller for the team lead in power play points with 16 and is second on Utah with 98 shots on goal. Utah will have to work harder if they wish to stay hot on the power play, which is now 14th in the league at 21.8%.
Guenther was on Utah’s top power play unit this season, but Josh Doan has taken his place for now. The top unit now consists of Keller, Doan, Logan Cooley, Mikhail Sergachev, and Nick Schmaltz. They most recently scored a power play goal in Thursday’s 5-3 defeat to the New York Rangers, which made it two straight games with a pp goal. The loss of Guenther on Utah’s power play can’t be understated. Perhaps Keller and Cooley can carry the load, but Utah loses a scoring threat and it could negatively affect Utah’s pp.
Yeah, this kid is good
And what a pass by the Captain! pic.twitter.com/X2Jv6R5ieL
— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) January 17, 2025
Who Will Need to Step Up
Without Guenther, a few other Utah forwards will need to play at a higher level to cover for his absence. As the team’s top line right-winger, Schmaltz needs to figure out how to find the back of the net more often. The 28-year-old has only scored eight goals this season, despite having 34 points in 44 games. Unlike Guenther, Schmaltz is a pass-first player that’s less likely to shoot the puck when the opportunity is available. He has just three goals in the last 13 games, including a two-game goal streak and his 8.7 shooting percentage reflects that. Schmaltz also has the worst plus/minus rating on Utah with a -13.
Everyone knows what Keller is capable of doing already, but he will most certainly be needed with Guenther out. As the team’s best player and captain, Keller’s expected to do just about everything offensively. He already leads Utah with 44 points, including a team-high 30 assists and 108 shots on goal. Keller, Schmaltz and Barrett Hayton make up Utah’s first line and Keller is the line’s driving force. As a line, the trio leads Utah in goals with 16 and in shot attempts with 408. There’s no doubt that Keller will be relied on even more with the team’s leading goal scorer out indefinitely.
Utah struggled at the end of December and it’s continuing into the new year. The team’s only won once in its past six games, giving up 20 goals in that span. The power play continues to produce, but it won’t matter if Utah is unable to keep the puck out of the net. Losing Guenther doesn’t help and Utah will have to play without him going forward. They have the talent to weather the storm, now it’s about powering through it and contributing more.
Main Photo: Rob Gray-Imagn Images
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