32 Teams, 32 Players: Dylan Guenther

We continue our look at one intriguing player on every NHL team with forward Dylan Guenther, a rising star for the Utah Hockey Club.

We are inching our way toward the start of the 2024-25 NHL season, and as we get closer we are going to highlight one player on each team that stands out for the season. What kind of player? Well, a player that could make a difference, be an X-factor, be on the verge of a breakout, or just simply be a player under the microscope and needing to have a big season.

Basically — which player do I think is the most fascinating on each team.

We are not going in any particularly order and continue today with Dylan Guenther of the Utah Hockey Club.

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Let me just start off by saying I truly feel bad for the hockey fans in Arizona. They do exist, and they were given such a raw deal over the past 10-15 years by constantly being jerked around by a brutal arena situation and an even worse ownership situation. They may not have been a huge fan base, but they cared and anybody losing their team sucks. They deserved better.

Having said that, the move from Arizona to Utah looks to be a pretty big positive for the players and there seems to be a real effort to try and do something that did not happen with the Coyotes over the better part of the past decade.

Win.

New state. New city. New owners. New name. New expectations.

The offseason got off to a promising start with the trades for defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino, giving the Utah Hockey Club what should be an extremely formidable defense that might be able to push them closer to serious playoff contention.

Especially if they get some big breakouts from some of their young forwards.

Clayton Keller is the veteran of that group and a legit top-line scorer.

Nick Schmaltz and Lawson Crouse are viable top-six options.

There is some talent here. What they need, however, is for a player or two to emerge as a true cornerstone player. They have a couple of options.

Logan Cooley, the No. 3 overall pick from the 2022 NHL Draft is certainly one of them, especially after a promising rookie campaign that saw him 20 goals with 44 points in his first taste of NHL action. He had a slow start to the season, but really started to take off as the season went on. Especially from a goal-scoring perspective.

But the player we are going to focus on here is 21-year-old Dylan Guenther, the No. 9 overall pick from the 2021 NHL Draft. Especially after he was in the news this week for signing a new eight-year contract extension that does not kick in until next season.

It has a chance to be an absolutely massive steal for a rising star in the league.

Let’s talk about it.