Confirmed Signing with Link: [UTA] F Dylan Guenther signs extension with the Utah Hockey Club (8 years, $7.14M AAV; begins 2025-26)

[Breakers]

Well Canucks fans certainly know all about Guenther



The silver lining is this was the trade that got his ass fired

You think Vancouver would selected him?

Vancouver has the worst CHL scouting in the league.
If they made that pick and it was from the CHL it would have been the biggest bust

 

[GreeningOil]

You've spent enough time here to make 16,000 posts but never heard of Dylan Guenther?

They’re not alone. I’ve never heard that name either. At least I’ve never heard about him being a star player.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Maybe it says more about me but I've never even heard of him.

9th overall pick in 2021

I had to look up his stats to see what kind of career he had so far but you should have at least known who the kid was

 

[tuxonpups]

Utah has a hockey team??

 

[Fatass]

Utah has a hockey team??

They won’t for long if they make any more of these kinds of signings.

 

[MXD]

Why are you so invested in his post? Seems like there are always know it alls on this site that want everyone to know how much they follow hockey. Cool dude, not everyone knows everything about every player in the league. You and others are the ones who made it combative.

... And why are you so invested in that user? Drop the offended virgin act and f***ing let it go.

 

[Dog]

Sounds like alot but contract could be okay later. The contract is to age 30 they made sure won't be any problems for years.

 

[yzerman]

Utah has a hockey team??

No salt lake city

 

[Half Clapper]

It's good that the franchise uses the A as a developing league. It's telling that the last 2 seasons he didn't play 82 games in each. Not that he couldn't, but that his game & body wasn't mature enough and not taking any chances that he picks up any bad habits like forcing his game, treating it like a job, and letting his defense lapse. IMO, the real reason that BA signed him now is he is convinced that Dylan can play the full season with a winner's mentality and next year when the contract starts, it will look like a bargain, a young 1st line scoring RWer with a cap hit of just over $7M. And then it's time to sign Cooley...

I love your enthusiasm but this guy hasn't proven to be a 2nd line winger yet, let alone a 1st. You need to pump the brakes a bit man. The kid has barely scored at even strength and went on a hot run last year in garbage time of the NHL season. At times Guenther looks very pedestrian on the ice; including at the World Juniors, World Championships, and in the Memorial Cup.

I think he needs to work on his consistency issues, and rewarding a player this amount of doe early on can alter his work ethic. I think you should earn that amount of money first. I would have preferred this contract to be signed next summer after he at least puts up a 60+ point season.

 

[rt]

Coming back to this thread in 8 months should be interesting.

 

[MessierII]

I don’t know that I love this one. He will probably work out but he’s proven literally nothing.

 

[Heldig]

I get the reason for locking up young talent at what could be a bargain cap hit down the road, but a few of these are absolutely going to burn teams

Yes, it is a risky trend happening in the league right now. This one maybe a bigger risk given he has not even played 82 games yet.

It is going to be interesting to see how these top young guns - that signed massive deals coming out of their entry level contracts - fair in their 3rd contract.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I’d say it’s less of a gamble that he will be worth his contract in his prime than when GMs overpay for UFAs that will be on the decline mid way through their deals.

Funny thing is, he's set up to be the 2nd part of this when he needs his next one.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

NHL finally catching up to how contracts should work. Solid deal.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Funny thing is, he's set up to be the 2nd part of this when he needs his next one.

Also could be true but at least maybe the player/team doesn’t feel the need to overcompensate on the next contract. As a Habs fan at one point we had Price, Pacioretty and Gallagher on sweet team friendly deals and never even spent to the Cap to surround them with enough talent to win and then overpaid Price and Gallagher to contracts they would never live up to

 

[IslesNorway]

Who?

 

[TheBeard]

NHL finally catching up to how contracts should work. Solid deal.

Right?? Like this is how GMs should operate - trusting potential instead of rewarding past performance. That's for scared GMs afraid to stake their reputation to a player's potential and rarely does it pay off. In 4 years if Dylan maintains his trajectory this deal will be seen as one of the savvier deals in the NHL.

 

[Bacon Artemi Bravo]

Something about the NHL has been broken, where unknowns like this with very little proven success are handed these types of contracts.

Its Utah. They need to take risks like this because it’s much more difficult to retain talent in small markets.

 

[LOFIN]

Its Utah. They need to take risks like this because it’s much more difficult to retain talent in small markets.

It has nothing to do with that. It's about a GM trying to make a bet that this player would eventually turn into a +10M player, and lock him up before that.

 

[TheBeard]

It has nothing to do with that. It's about a GM trying to make a bet that this player would eventually turn into a +10M player, and lock him up before that.

This.most GMs reward past performances and pay accordingly which means in order for that contract to measure up the player needs to maintain the same level of production. Dylan performed like a 5 million dollar player with a ceiling of a 10 million dollar one (inflated accordingly to the rapid rise of the cap). Those are the kinds of risks GMs with confidence in their staff and in themselves will take.

 

[Bacon Artemi Bravo]

It has nothing to do with that. It's about a GM trying to make a bet that this player would eventually turn into a +10M player, and lock him up before that.

It would be completely different math for a top team that’s near the salary cap. It’s a high risk high reward move, of course they want him to turn out to be a $10m player, but they also are a bottom barrel destination and should be trying whatever they can to lock in talent long term.

 

[LOFIN]

It would be completely different math for a top team that’s near the salary cap. It’s a high risk high reward move, of course they want him to turn out to be a $10m player, but they also are a bottom barrel destination and should be trying whatever they can to lock in talent long term.

Yeah sure, but this is also done by other teams in better markets. Besides, the guy is an RFA, he can't just leave.

 

[PROUD PAPA]

An interesting signing indeed.

 

[Jared Dunn]

That’s why I’m kinda surprised he didn’t sign a bridge deal… but then again it would be pretty damn tough to say NO to this contract he just signed at the age of 21

Obviously Utah is taking on the bigger risk but he's been in the system for three years now and they know and like the player. There's risk on his end too, if he scored at a similar or better pace this upcoming season his AAV probably shifts above 8 million, or he bridges himself a couple years to around 10. People knocked J.Hughes at the time, Stutzle, Sanderson, they're actively knocking Slafkovsky etc... just add another to the list, the smart move is locking up stars early

 

[Jared Dunn]

All contracts are a gamble, some are smarter than others.

I think in this case, while there's a good chance he lives up to the contract, there's little chance he exceeds it and there's also a decent chance he doesn't live up to it. So it seems like the risk is far more on Utah's side than the players. So I consider it a bad contract, for now.

There is a MASSIVE chance he exceeds it. If he's a 40 goal scorer at literally any point of this contract he's exceeding it - with cap increases this might be the going rate for 30-30 in legit two years