Utah Hockey Club Weighing All Defensive Options

The Utah Hockey Club need some reinforcements on the backend. Though GM Bill Armstrong is constantly scouting and looking to improve his hockey club, he did not think it would happen so soon as he tried to build a winner for owner Ryan Smith.

However, the club announced on Wednesday that defensemen John Marino and Sean Durzi will miss significant time. Durzi will be out for four to six months after having surgery on his right shoulder. Marino will be out three to four months after surgery on his lower back.

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As Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period said on Wednesday’s Sirius XM Power Play segment with Steve Kouleas and Martin Biron about the situation with the Utah Hockey Club and their defensemen, he thinks they will be active right away in trying to replace them but will be weighing all their options.

NHLRumors.com Transcriptions

Martin Biron: “The Utah Hockey Club got some injuries on the back end. Do we expect the trade rumors when it comes to depth defense men or free agents that are still out there to really get in gear now, when it comes to Utah having to replace Durzi and Marino on the back end?”

Dave Pagnotta: “Not yet. That’s the word out of Utah right now, is not yet. They’re going to try to work on things internally, and definitely, they got the tough news with the injuries to Marino; he’s out three to four months, and then Duzi as well, who’s going to be out, I think the projection is four to six months. So that’s, that’s certainly, a tough one.

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They called up one of their top young prospects today to help shore out that blue line, and see if they can work things internally; if things can work out and you can stabilize things, at least for the time being, then I think that Bill Armstrong and his staff in Utah are going to hang tight before they start exploring other options.

Doesn’t mean or pursuing other options, excuse me, doesn’t mean they’re not going to explore them, and you have to do your due diligence to see what’s available in the trade market. And Marty, as you said, there are still a few free agents that are out there.

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Justin Schultz signed overseas today, but you’ve got some other people that are looking for gigs out here, veteran guys, Mark Giordano, Kevin Shattenkirk, still out there. Can they be a stopgap? Potentially, if the younger kids in Utah can’t get the job done.

Armstrong and company, they’re gonna wait things out before they pull anything off. You certainly don’t want to do any knee-jerk reactions at this point in the season. So let’s see if some of these kids can step up. If they can smooth sailing for Utah, if they can’t, then they’ll start to pursue those other alternatives.”