Utah signs young winger to massive long-term extension

The Utah Hockey Club has signed forward Dylan Guenther to an eight-year extension, according to a team announcement. The organization does not typically share financial details, but Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports shares that it will be a $7.143M cap hit for Guenther making the total value just north of $57.14M.

It’s the richest deal the franchise has signed since being birthed from the ashes of the Arizona Coyotes. He’ll be the team’s second-highest-paid forward starting next season, trailing Clayton Keller’s $7.15M cap hit by a slim margin.

Guenther, 21, was projected as a future cornerstone piece for the Coyotes when they drafted him ninth overall in 2021. That hasn’t changed since the move to Utah this offseason, but it’s still a considerable chunk of change for a player who’s yet to remain on an NHL roster for an entire regular season.

After spending his post-draft campaign entirely in juniors with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings, Guenther cracked the Coyotes’ opening night roster for 2022-23. He churned out solid numbers for a 19-year-old winger on a rebuilding team, scoring six goals and adding nine assists for 15 points in 33 games.

But with Guenther averaging third-line minutes at best, seeing 13:07 per game, the Coyotes returned Guenther to juniors in February with the bigger picture in mind. That wasn’t surprising, but it was eyebrow-raising to see him left off the opening-night roster last season. The Edmonton native was assigned to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners as part of Arizona’s final cuts.

Quickly, the 6-foot-2 winger showed he’d outgrown the farm. He opened the campaign with 28 points in 29 games for the Roadrunners before being recalled in January.

Guenther spent the back half of 2023-24 in the NHL, where he quickly proved he was ready to shoulder top-six minutes. He scored 18 goals and 17 assists for 35 points in 45 games, posting above-average possession metrics while averaging 16:17 per game. Had he spent all 82 games in the majors, he would have scored 64 points, placing him second on the team behind Keller’s 76.

There’s no question about Guenther’s standing in the Utah organization entering this season. He’ll be on the opening-night roster, likely slotting in behind Keller as the team’s second-line right wing. But a max-term commitment making him one of the team’s highest-paid players is risky for someone with less than a full season’s worth of experience, high as his ceiling may be.

It could certainly end up being a bargain deal for Utah if Guenther checks in as a perennial 70-point winger, especially as the salary cap rises. However, a looming extension places a great deal of immediate pressure on Guenther to live up to that cap hit starting this season.

An eight-year deal walks Guenther to unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2033, when he’ll be 30 years old. If there’s any trade protection coming as part of the extension, it can’t go into effect until the 2030-31 season at the earliest, when he otherwise would have been eligible to first test the UFA market.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report Utah and Guenther were nearing an eight-year agreement with an AAV close to $7M.