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Bill Armstrong

Utah Inquiring On Ivan Provorov, Other Teams Interested

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In today’s rendition of Early Trading with TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the insider shares that the Utah Hockey Club general manager, Bill Armstrong, has been working the phones to fill the void left by Sean Durzi and John Marino’s injuries. Specifically, LeBrun reports Armstrong has checked in on Columbus Blue Jackets’ defenseman Ivan Provorov although other teams remain interested.

It would be surprising to see Provorov moved at this point in the regular season unless Don Waddell receives an offer he can’t refuse. The Russian defenseman would be a dream trade candidate for any rebuilding team’s general manager. He’s a top-four defenseman set to hit unrestricted free agency next summer with no trade protection in his contract. Assuming he’ll head for greener pastures next offseason, nobody would fault the Blue Jackets for taking him down to the wire of the trade deadline season to reap the best possible return.

The NHL’s newest franchise might be the one to make that offer early in the year out of pure desperation. Durzi and Marino’s surgeries will keep them out for much of the regular season, putting glaring holes in Utah’s blue line. They currently sit fourth in the Central Division standings through seven games and have a legitimate pathway toward the Stanley Cup playoffs should the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators continue their struggles out of the gates.

Not only does Utah need to add a top-four blue liner but they also represent a strong trade partner for Columbus. Armstrong has spent the last couple of years stockpiling draft capital during his tenure with the Arizona Coyotes and has 26 draft selections in the next three NHL Drafts. Utah may hesitate to part with a first-round pick for Provorov but has several second-round selections to dangle.

Utah could also help the Blue Jackets in areas outside of the draft. Forward Michael Carcone is an obvious low-cost trade chip. He’s only managed three games with Utah to start the 2024-25 NHL season but is coming off a year in which he scored 21 goals in 74 contests. Columbus has been one of the highest-scoring teams to start the year and Carcone should add to this strength with increased usage.

They could also help Columbus get over the salary cap floor with the existing contract of defenseman Shea Weber. Utah has Weber’s $7.857MM salary on LTIR but the Blue Jackets have the financial flexibility to activate him for the rest of the 2024-25 season. Carrying all of Weber’s salary and retaining a decent chunk of Provorov’s would allow Columbus to move out other pending unrestricted free agents at the deadline without having to take back much salary in any future trade.

NHL Utah Announces Offseason Plans

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Speaking with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, NHL Utah General Manager, Bill Armstrong delves into his thought process heading into the offseason (Subscription Required). Heading into Year 4 of a rebuild that began with the Arizona Coyotes, Armstrong is again looking to supplement the organization’s young core.

Last summer, Armstrong strictly kept to short-term deals, bringing in Alexander Kerfoot, Jason Zucker, Matt Dumba, Nick Bjugstad, and Travis Dermott to no longer than a two-year contract. Judging from his interview with LeBrun, it appears that Armstrong is taking a conservative approach to this year’s free agency when he said, “Just because you have all that cap money doesn’t mean you have to make bad decisions and fill up your cap and all of sudden five years from now when you need the space, you don’t have it. So it’s really important, good decisions, healthy decisions, that can help this group grow and improve the team without sacrificing the future“.

However, with $40MM in cap space thanks to the contract of Jakub Voracek and Bryan Little coming to an end, NHL Utah may be shopping at the higher end of the free agent market this offseason — even if it is on short-term deals. Although they have not been linked to Utah meaningfully, Steven Stamkos, Tyler Toffoli, and Jonathan Marchessault all represent quality options that may be interested in a two- to three-year deal.

Armstrong is also expected to weaponize his cap space via the trade market this summer, telling Lebrun, “We can help them and give them a pick in return, much like we’ve done in the past. There’s going to be a lot of things that come our way because of the simple fact that we can take cap dollars“. Similarly to last offseason, Armstrong was able to flip a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft to secure the signing rights of defenseman Sean Durzi from the Los Angeles Kings.

As with any offseason, there are once again going to be cap-strapped teams looking to deal the signing rights of certain players; something Utah will be able to capitalize on. With 13 picks heading into this year’s NHL Draft, Utah may opt to deal from this collection to acquire an NHL-proven player in return.

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