LAS VEGAS– The Utah hockey club accelerated its rebuild by bolstering its back end with two trades Saturday, including a blockbuster that brought Mikhail Sergachev to the NHL’s new market.
“He’s definitely our number one defender,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said of Sergachev.
Utah acquired Sergachev, 26, from the Tampa Bay Lightning for defenseman JJ Moser, forward Conor Geekie, the No. 199 pick in the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft and a draft pick second round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
He also acquired 27-year-old defenseman John Marino and the No. 153 pick in the 2024 draft from the New Jersey Devils for the 49th overall pick this year and a second-round pick in the 2025 draft.
“I think they can have a big impact on our organization,” Utah general manager Bill Armstrong said. “They can both move the puck. They’re both fantastic. They can play huge minutes. They’re both going to be good pieces for us to move forward.”
Sergachev is Utah’s big catch, the best defenseman the team formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes hasn’t had since Oliver Ekman-Larsson was in his prime in the 2010s.
Sergachev has seven years remaining on his contract with an average annual value of $8.5 million. There was no salary retention in the trade, so Utah is responsible for Sergachev’s entire contract.
“That’s the reason for the deal, we wanted to solidify that high-end ‘D’,” Armstrong said. “He’s got a good, big body, plays hard, blocks shots, can play offense and defense and he’s won. He’s got a lot to bring to our culture.”
Injuries, including a broken leg on Feb. 7 that ended the regular season, limited Sergachev to 34 games this season. He had 19 points (two goals, 17 assists) and one assist in two games after returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
He has an NHL-high 64 points (10 goals, 54 assists) in 79 games in 2022-23.
Sergachev has 257 points (48 goals, 209 assists) in 475 games, including 471 with the Lightning, who acquired him in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on June 15, 2017. He has won the Stanley Cup twice, in 2020 and 2021, and has 34 points (nine goals, 25 assists) in 100 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
“He has a lot of tools that we really like,” Tourigny said.
Marino has three years remaining on his contract with an annual average of $4.5 million. He has 25 points (four goals, 21 assists) in 75 games with the Devils this season after collecting 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in 64 games in 2022-23, while posting a +21 rating. . He was -6 this season.
He had 107 points (18 goals, 89 assists) in 328 NHL games.
“It’s exciting for us to know that you have Marino and Sergachev instead of going into free agency,” Armstrong said. “Sometimes there’s good in free agency, but if you fill in three holes, it’s pretty difficult. I think we’ve taken a good step in the right direction.”
The trades for Sergachev and Marino come less than 24 hours after Armstrong spoke Friday after the first round of the draft about the need to be patient in the rebuild despite being at the salary cap and motivated by an enthusiastic fan base in Salt Lake City.
But he spoke of hesitation about entering the free-agent market on Monday.
“It doesn’t help us,” Armstrong said Friday. “We have to grow our team organically. We have to grow naturally. We have to be patient.”
Armstrong said Utah still needs to be patient before thinking it’s close to being a Stanley Cup contender, but the importance of acquiring Sergachev and Marino aside from their obvious ability to make them a better team, is that they are young enough to integrate. Utah’s long-term plans.
They fit into the age bracket of Utah’s young veteran core that includes forwards Clayton Keller (25), Nick Schmaltz (28) and Lawson Crouse (27), defensemen Sean Durzi (25), Juuso Valimaki (25) and Michael Kesselring (24), and goalkeepers Karel Vejmelka (28) and Connor Ingram (27).
Kesselring signed a two-year contract with Utah on Friday. Valimaki signed a two-year contract on Saturday. Durzi is a pending restricted free agent who is expected to re-sign with Utah.
“Everyone is in the same age group and they can move forward together,” Armstrong said.
Utah also used the draft capital it had acquired since Armstrong took over as the Coyotes’ general manager on Sept. 17, 2020, to improve now.
Geekie was selected 11th overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. The 20-year-old played in the Western Hockey League this season.
Moser was selected 60th overall in the 2021 draft. He has 72 points (16 goals, 56 assists) in 205 NHL games.
The No. 49 pick that went to the Devils was one of four Utah picks in the first two rounds of this year’s draft. The 2025 second-round pick traded to New Jersey was one of three Utah picks in the first two rounds next year.
“You’re going into year four (of rebuilding) and you’re getting to the point where you’re starting to build now,” Armstrong said. “A good team that’s contending for the Stanley Cup or winning the Stanley Cup, almost 50 percent of it is traded. We’re going to get those good players and those picks, but we’re also going to have to move them for our holes and our needs. That’s something we identified this year.”
That doesn’t change Utah’s plans for free agency, with the market opening Monday with the potential for some big-name prospects, such as Jake Guentzel, Patrick Kane, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Sam Reinhart.
Armstrong said Utah still needs to add a few players to strengthen the roster, but he balks at the idea of giving away long-term contracts in free agency.
Utah still aims to build a consistent, durable Stanley Cup contender throughout the draft and, if necessary, spread impact players like Sergachev and Marino around the growing young core of forwards Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, Matias Maccelli, Josh Doan and several more, less Geekie-y prospects now.
They added to that by selecting forwards Tij Iginla (No. 6) and Cole Beaudoin (No. 24) in the first round of the 2024 draft on Friday.
“We still have a few steps to take, but this definitely takes us a step in the right direction,” Armstrong said. “I think it makes us a better team than last year.”
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