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

[KJoe88]

Lmao what

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

This is a bit ridiculous. Maybe it works out, maybe it doesn't, but I hate this either way.

The guy has 50 career points. I'm not questioning his character in any way, but for a young player earning your first big pay day is always one motivating factor. He didn't even have to play a full season...

 

[innitfam]

Guenther looks great and will probably be worth the AAV given his skill level. Just kinda wild to see a player with 78 GP get a 57M bag. Two half seasons of play.

 

[Canis Latrans]

He scores at will, plays defense, and was on the penalty kill by season's end. He's not just being locked up for being a goal-scoring threat; that he is so well-rounded in such a short-stint bodes well and justifies the risk. The contract could age to be one of the biggest steals in not too long.

 

[StreetHawk]

Guenther looks great and will probably be worth the AAV given his skill level. Just kinda wild to see a player with 78 GP get a 57M bag. Two half seasons of play.

Not really an outlier anymore. Sanderson, Power, Faber all signed after 1 full NHL season. Guenther, at first, I was like, he's eligible to sign? But, 22/23 he burned an elc year but was returned to the W, thus with just 33 games (under half a season) he didn't accrue a year towards UFA. So, only has 1 year accrued under his belt (last season). Still has 5 RFA years left after his elc.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Utah has the same idea that Buffalo had when they gave Tage Thompson that huge deal after his breakout year in 2021-2022. He signed that 7 year, $50 million deal after only having that 1 great year (68 points in 78 games) and proceeded to put up nearly a 50-50 season the next year. Had they waited a year, Thompson's deal would have probably gone from $7 million AAV to $10 million AAV.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Insane. How much higher would it be if he repeated his productivity in 24-25?

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

 

[Breakers]

Not even an 82 game sample and 8 years is presented

LOL

 

[superdeluxe]

Fair risk to both sides. If Gunner continues to progress, then you got a value in the backhalf from the teams perspective

 

[AZviaNJ]

Surprised

He scores at will, plays defense, and was on the penalty kill by season's end. He's not just being locked up for being a goal-scoring threat; that he is so well-rounded in such a short-stint bodes well and justifies the risk. The contract could age to be one of the biggest steals in not too long.

Utah has terrific setup guys in Keller, Schmaltz and Maccelli but lack for pure goal scorers.

Enter Guenther.

 

[LOFIN]

Fair risk to both sides. If Gunner continues to progress, then you got a value in the backhalf from the teams perspective

I get what you mean. By playing out his cards differently, Guenther could actually make more money in the next 9 years by betting on himself.

But let's just not call it a risk, when you secure 50 million dollars without even playing a single full season in the NHL shall we?

 

[AZviaNJ]

Utah has the same idea that Buffalo had when they gave Tage Thompson that huge deal after his breakout year in 2021-2022. He signed that 7 year, $50 million deal after only having that 1 great year (68 points in 78 games) and proceeded to put up nearly a 50-50 season the next year. Had they waited a year, Thompson's deal would have probably gone from $7 million AAV to $10 million AAV.

 

[wingsfan17]

Talk about a contract year. Wasn’t even in the NHL until January this season and ends up with $50M+. Good for him.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Why? Draft picks outside of your own team after are all gravy after like #6 overall. This guy has played almost as much in the AHL during the last two years as in the show.

So I'm sorry that I've not paid more attention to a guy who hasn't even been an NHL regular, who is yet going to be making more than 50M bucks guaranteed during the next 9 years.

should pay attention to more than just your team. contract is little rich for now but will likely age very nicely.

Might seem a bit risky in that it's maybe 4 months too early but 7x7 is basically the new 6x6. And more and more teams are realizing it's better to lock up potential franchise cornerstones than risk having them walk to free agency via short to medium length deals like Calgary stupidly did.

it can be fine if u leave atleast one RFA year, but then again they can just sign 1x and walk to UFA. its medium risk for high reward.

 

[LeafGrief]

Some teams are going to get burned on these big money, long term deals for young guys. Might not be this one, will probably be a Sabre if history has taught us anything, but there are always duds. Committing $57m to a 21 year old with 45 career games is wild, regardless of pedigree.

 

[895]

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.

 

[Laphroaig]

Smart move by the player and the team.

 

[bellringer77]

Is he gonna be sorta what people hoped Mantha would be?

 

[Three On Zero]

Tough to make a call on it today, but that's a lot of risk. If he's your #1RW three years from now, that's a decent AAV. But if he gets passed on the depth chart and he's a second liner, your payroll is probably going to be higher than you want it to be.

7m for a 2nd liner is going to be the normal three years for now. It’s a risky contract but if he stays a top 6 forward, it’ll pay off.

 

[Moist ReadOnly]

It really wasn't. I legit had to EliteProspect that guy up, because

- He had been playing in Arizona
- He has not even played a full season in the NHL
- He is not a top-5 pick

I'm sorry if that offended you, that I didn't know one of the over thousand of players in the league.

Thats fine that you didnt know him - but to make a post saying that, in a thread specifically about him, is only a negative toward him and others who are fans of his

Instead, going on EliteProspects and then saying nothing or something along the lines of 'didnt know who he was but seems he did well last year and lets see if hes worth that money'

Heck, even just saying 'Utah fans, is he worth it?' is sufficient. Really no need to make point to everyone that you didnt know who it was, unless youre going to make it seem friendly instead of combative

 

[The Nuge]

Seems like a smart gamble. If you bridge him, it’s probably going to cost an extra million or two to lock him up

 

[Kaladin]

Ridiculous contract. Huge bet. Needed at least a full season of sample size.

 

[Petes2424]

Guess nobody told Armstrong they don’t have to pull their pants down anymore.

These are those scary deals that WILL bite teams. It’s only a matter of time. It may or may not be him, but it’s gonna happen.

You just can’t be giving wealth contracts to kids who’ve never even played an NHL season yet. It’s horrible business in a cap environment for two reasons. First for your own cap, but for other teams as well. So if Marco Kasper is a PPG in the AHL this year, you just hand him $7 million a year next September, to go into effect the following year?

As we all say “no”, he’s now gonna ask for it, and have firm ground to stand on.

 

[RedHawkDown]

This makes the Raymond deal look like a huge steal

 

[Mosby]

I haven't heard of him either lol I had to look him up.

Is it not possible maybe some guys especially players on *Arizona that only played 40ish games fly under the radar for some?

He was a Top 10 pick 3 years ago, he scored the OT winner for Canada to win Gold at the World Juniors, and he was the 1st overall pick in the WHL Draft.