Utah Hockey Club shockingly sign young player to $58 million deal: has never scored more than 35 points

Despite not playing an official NHL game yet, the Utah Hockey Club have been no strangers to big moves early in their life cycle, as they landed Tij Iginla in the first-round of the 2024 NHL Draft while also adding Sean Durzi, John Marino and Mikhail Sergachev in their first off-season. Now, they've made a surprising move, as the team are closing in on an eight-year extension for rising star Dylan Guenther.

According to top NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman, the deal would pay the 21-year old Edmonton native just over $7 million per season, despite not yet proving himself at the NHL level. In two NHL seasons, Guenther has tallied 24 goals and 50 points in just 78 games played, and with so much raw talent, it makes sense that they would look to lock him up as soon as they could.

With the likes of Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley and Josh Doan also in the forward group, it's safe to say that there's few teams in the Western Conference with a brighter future that the Utah Hockey Club. Now, the pressure is on Guenther to turn this potential into production and success at the NHL level, and if he can do that, there's no reason why they can't be fighting for a Wild Card spot during the 2024/25 season.