Friday, January 31, 2025 – 9:00 PM
Delta Center, Salt Lake City
TV: FDSNOH – Radio: 97.1FM
Columbus Blue Jackets (25-19-7, 57 points, 4th Metropolitan, 8th East)
at
Utah Hockey Club (21-21-8, 50 points, 5th Central, 10th West)
After toppling Vegas in OT the Jackets continue on their road trip for their first visit against the former Arizona Coyotes.
Players to Watch
Logan Cooley
Since the Dylan Guenther injury the 3rd overall pick in the 2022 draft has been filling in as the top line center for the Utahns. Many of the top picks in the 2022 draft have underwhelmed thus far, but Cooley has started to make a strong case as the top player from that draft class. He’s second on the team in points this season (15-28-43) and is far outpacing the other top 5 picks of that draft: Slafkovsky, Nemec, Wright, and Gauthier. He’s an undersized player with a lot of hockey sense and skill.
A few words from The Athletics’ Cory Pronman pre-draft: “Cooley is a dynamic player. When he has the puck on his stick you instantly notice him because of his high-end speed, skill and offensive IQ. He can make highly creative dekes and passes at full speed.”
update: Cooley has been ruled out for tonight’s game with a lower body injury
Jackets Notes
Not much news with a late Back-to-Back out West, just rumors about the Jackets interest in the Vancouver Canucks’ Elias Pettersson (F). Let’s check on the projected playoff odds for the CBJ from some of the more well-known public models.
Dom at the Athletic: 36%
Hockeyviz: 40.9%
Moneypuck: 22.5%
DraftKings Sports Book implied odds: 27.8%
The Other Bench
Utah is sitting in 10th place in the West and on the fringe of the Playoff picture in the first season in Salt Lake. The more exciting news is that the organization recently lost the battle with the US Patent Office for the rights to the “Utah Yeti” name. Earlier this week a survey was sent out from the Utah organization asking fans to select their favorite amongst: “Mammoth”, “Utah Hockey Club”, and “Wasatch” (the local mountain range). But, there was clear feedback that “Wasatch” was undesirable and a new survey was released replacing it with the name “Outlaws”.
Personally, I like Utah Mammoth. What is your choice for the new Utah Mascot between Mammoth, Outlaws, or the simple, Hockey Club?
Season Series
1/31/2025 – CBJ at Utah
2/6/2025 – Utah at CBJ
Stats
Utah | Columbus | |
2.82 (22) | GPG | 3.27 (7) |
2.96 (19) | GAPG | 3.29 (26) |
22.5% (13) | PP% | 22.4% (14) |
81.8% (8) | PK% | 75% (26) |
52% (6) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 47.73% (26) |
52.23% (6) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 48.42% (22) |
8.54% (24) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.92% (3) |
.915 (15) | 5v5 Save % | .908 (21) |
Clayton Keller, 18 | G Leader | Kirill Marchenko, 20 |
Clayton Keller, 36 | A Leader | Zach Werenski, 39 |
Clayton Keller, 54 | P Leader | Zach Werenski, 55 |
Michael Kesselring, 58 | PIM Leader | Matthieu Olivier, 92 |
8-11-5 | Home/Road | 8-14-4 |
4-5-1 | Last 10 | 7-2-1 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dmitri Voronkov | Adam Fantilli | Kirill Marchenko |
James van Riemsdyk | Cole Sillinger | Kent Johnson |
Zach Aston-Reese | Luca Del Bel Belluz | Mattieu Olivier |
Mikael Pyyhtia | Sean Kuraly | Justin Danforth |
Zach Werenski | Dante Fabbro |
Denton Mateychuk | Ivan Provorov |
Jake Christiansen | Damon Severson |
Daniil Tarasov |
Elvis Merzlikins |
Utah
Clayton Keller | Alex Kerfoot | Nick Schmaltz |
Matias Maccelli | Barrett Hayton | Josh Doan |
Lawson Crouse | Jack McBain | Michael Carcone |
Liam O’Brien | Kevin Stenlund | Nick Bjugstad |
Mikhail Sergachev | John Marino |
Ian Cole | Michael Kesselring |
Olli Maatta | Nick DeSimone |
Karel Vejmelka |
Connor Ingram |