Utah
Juuso Välimäki talks equipment before 4 Nations Face-Off
Sidney Crosby’s infamous jockstrap made its first trip to Utah when the Pittsburgh Penguins were in town in January. It’s been (literally) tied to Crosby at the hip for more than 20 years and has seen approximately 1,700 games at various levels — not to mention countless practices, training camps, preseason games and off-season ice sessions.
It’s not that he can’t get a new one — the Penguins’ equipment managers, who are tasked with performing regular surgeries on the dying waistband, would be overjoyed if he did — it’s just that it’s comfortable for him. And if Sidney Crosby thinks it helps him play better, who can argue?
Utah Hockey Club defenseman Juuso Välimäki, who is representing his home country of Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off this week, also tends to hold onto his gear far longer than his equipment managers would like.
“I hate new stuff — everything,” he said. “I need a little bit of time to break the stuff in.”
That was after a recent Utah HC practice, where he sported Finland-blue gloves and pants, which he’ll wear throughout the tournament.
“I know we’ll a have a couple of days (of practice) over there, but it might not be enough for me,” he told reporters.
Välimäki was also breaking in a new pair of skates that day. He’d used his old ones since the start of the summer, which is much longer than the average NHL player holds onto a pair.
The steel blades are replaced much more frequently than the boots themselves, but problems arise when the stitching that secures the toe cap in place starts to relent, allowing wind to hit the player’s foot as he skates — something that Välimäki experienced last season.
“I’ll usually play the year with one pair of skates, which is kind of crazy,” he said. “I remember (UHC head equipment manager Stan Wilson) last year had to throw my skates out after the season. He’s like, ‘you’re done.‘”
“I know for a long time that I should change (my skates), but I just can’t wrap my head around it because they feel different and I just get in my head,” he said.
The process of breaking in equipment is different for everyone. Olli Määttä, for example, who is teammates with Välimäki both in Utah and on the Finnish national team, barely has to break it in at all.
“I think I need a day or two,” he said. “That’ll be fine. I’m sure we’re all a little different. It usually doesn’t take me much.”
Another Utah HC defenseman, Nick DeSimone, is the exact opposite of Välimäki.
“I don’t really mind new gear,” he said. “I love new skates. I’d probably wear new skates every two, three weeks if I could.”
Utah center Barrett Hayton is on Välimäki’s side. He estimates that most of his body equipment (shoulder pads, elbow pads, shin pads and pants) is about five years old, meaning he may have used some of it his entire NHL career to date.
Hayton is also particular about his sticks.
“I can kind of feel when it’s a little long (or a) little short,” he said.
As a kid, he had a stick with a P28 curve, which is common to find at retail sporting goods stores. He’s stuck with it all the way to the NHL.
Josh Doan has also stuck with the same stick most of his life, but it’s not because he stumbled upon it at a store one day — it’s because it’s the same one his dad, Arizona Coyotes legend Shane Doan, used.
Warrior, the company that supplied Shane Doan’s sticks during the latter part of his career, would send Josh mini versions of his dad’s sticks: same make, model, curve and lie. The only differences were the size and the flex.
Josh had to diverge in junior, college and the AHL because his teams had brand deals with other manufacturers, but now that he’s playing in the NHL, he’s switched back to that same Warrior stick.
Now, to answer the inevitable question: If Shane Doan were to suddenly return to the NHL after an eight-year hiatus, could he just use his son’s sticks?
“He’d have to flex up a bit — he likes a stiffer stick,” Josh said. “But ya, he could come out and use mine and perform pretty easily.”
ST. GEORGE, Utah (KUTV) — One person was hospitalized at the St. George Regional Hospital after a car rolled and caught fire just south of the Utah-Arizona border.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department in Arizona said its crews responded to the crash near the Black Rock Road exit – roughly two miles south of the state border – on Sunday night.
Upon arrival, crews put out the car fire and found the driver had left the scene. A single occupant, who was able to get out of the car on their own, was transported to the hospital by a Beaver Dam ambulance.
MORE | Crashes
Their condition has not been publicly released.
Details on what led to the crash and the condition of the driver were not immediately available.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department said law enforcement investigated the scene.
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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz missed out on the NBA Playoffs, but still scored a big win thanks to a coin flip.
In Monday’s tiebreaker coin flip to determine who had the fourth-worst record in the league last season, the Jazz came out winners over the Sacramento Kings, who had the same 22-60 record.
Had the Jazz lost the coin flip, they would have been fifth in NBA Draft Lottery odds. Only the worst four teams are guaranteed to remain within the top eight of the lottery.
If Utah had fallen to fifth, there would have been the chance they could have dropped out of the top 8 teams in the lottery, and owed the draft pick to Oklahoma City, which was top-8 protected in a previous trade.
The Jazz now have an 11.5 percent chance to win the first overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 10.
The Utah Jazz are rolling into a big offseason before they into what’s projected to be a wildly different-looking 2026-27 campaign from what they had just seen this past 22-win season.
But before that season is able to get underway, the Jazz have some priorities to address in the offseason––both in terms of constructing their roster and retaining a few key pieces from last year’s group into next year.
That makes their salary cap situation and everything around it important to be aware of in the next few months. So with that in mind, we’ve put together an offseason cap tracker for a glimpse of what the Jazz are dealing with in terms of cap space, contracts, and any of their own free agents hitting the open market.
Let’s break it down:
Maximum Possible Cap Space: $24.7M
The Jazz are currently projected at just under $25 million in cap headed into the summer. That’s without any additional moves made to the roster from how they’re entering the offseason, and without factoring in any free agents’ pending cap holds.
That number is bound to get smaller once the Jazz hash out their contract situation for Walker Kessler, but it could also see an uptick if Utah were to shed salary with some of their non-guaranteed deals, or any other player they wanted to pivot from.
As of now, it allows the Jazz to make a couple of moves around the edges in free agency, but the main focus will lean on signing Kessler to a long-term deal.
Contracts
A glimpse of the Jazz’s contract values for the 2026-27 season, and when they’re slated to hit free agency from their current deals:
– Jaren Jackson Jr.: $49.0M, ’29 PO
– Lauri Markkanen: $46.1M, ’29 UFA
– Ace Bailey: $9.5M, ’29 RFA
– Keyonte George: $6.5M, ’27 RFA
– John Konchar: $6.1M, ’27 UFA
– Cody Williams: $6.0M, ’28 RFA
– Brice Sensabaugh, $4.8M, ’27 RFA
– Svi Mykhailiuk: $3.8M*, ’28 UFA
– Kyle Filipowski: $3.0M, ’28 RFA
– Isaiah Collier: $2.7M, ’28 RFA
– Hayden Gray: $2.1M*, ’27 RFA
– Bez Mbeng: $2.1M*, ’27 RFA
– Blake Hinson (two-way), ’27 RFA
Total: $142.1M
*- non-guaranteed
The biggest chunk of the Jazz’s salary leans on their top two veterans, Markkanen and Jackson Jr., each making a combined $95 million next season alone.
However, the rest of the roster isn’t taking up much money. No one else will be making more than $10 million, and their payroll is a little less than $150 million in total.
Another noteworthy fact: the Jazz’s key roster pieces outside of George and Sensabaugh are all under contract through the next two seasons.
Both of the aforementioned names are also bound to see extension discussions take place this summer, which might lock in their future for even longer.
Free Agents
A look at who from this season’s roster is set to hit the free agent market in July:
– Kevin Love (UFA)
– Jusuf Nurkic (UFA)
– Walker Kessler (RFA)
– Oscar Tshiebwe (two-way)
– Elijah Harkless (two-way)
The biggest name of note is, of course, the Jazz’s restricted free agent big man, Walker Kessler, who Utah is bound to hand a big payday, but it remains to be seen how much that contract––or offer sheet from another team––will be.
Jusuf Nurkic and Kevin Love have also expressed their desire to return to the roster as they hit free agency. Re-signing both likely wouldn’t cost much for the Jazz financially, but instead relies on a question of whether the roster space is readily available to keep both.
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