How should Utah build a contender in modeling the current playoff teams?
Utah never seemed to find stable footing when they were in the Desert as the Arizona Coyotes, especially in terms of being a perennial playoff contender.
Their best playoff run came in 2012, when the Coyotes went to the Western Conference Final, losing in five games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings. In all other appearances, the Coyotes never made it past the first round of the playoffs.
So it begs the question on this Tuesday, "what does Utah need to do to get out of rebuilding purgatory?"
The answer seems pretty clear: Establish an identity.
Throughout their time with Rick Tocchet as the head coach, whose Vancouver Canucks were eliminated last night by the Edmonton Oilers, the Coyotes were a physical, blue-collar team.
When Dave Tippett was the head coach, they leaned heavily on the physicality and skill, led by captain Shane Doan and Martin Hanzal, along with Ray Whitney wreaking havoc on the fourth line.
Under Andre Tourigny, they have plenty of talent, but they don't have an identity.
Lawson Crouse had a promising start to his career, but it's petered out in recent years, and he's turned into more of a checking-line forward rather than a power forward.
Clayton Keller is a young talent with plenty of potential, and he's starting to come into his own after back-to-back 30-goal seasons.
But who's going to be the other pieces around them?
Nick Bjugstad is 31 years old, and he's been inconsistent outside of a 22-goal season this past year.
Alex Kerfoot has emerged as a depth scoring option, but he's not going to get you consistent 20- to 30-goal seasons.
And furthermore, who's the captain of this team?
Utah has not had a captain since 2021, when they traded away Oliver Ekman-Larsson. That may need to be their ultimate goal to start to establish that identity.
In short, Utah has a lot of work to do to create a playoff contender. From crowning a captain to finding a core to build around, Ryan Smith, Chris Armstrong, and Bill Armstrong have a busy summer ahead to try and finally get their new team on stable footing.