NHL.com is providing in-depth roster, prospect and fantasy analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Today, the Utah Hockey Club.

While most of the NHL is preparing for new arrivals in the form of draft picks and free agents ahead of the 2024-25 season, things are a little different in Utah. Players and staff for the Utah Hockey Club are picking out houses, choosing school systems and finding their way to the nearest grocery store.

But once training camp starts, the Utah Hockey Club will get started on a season that it hopes will end in a competitive spring — and maybe even in a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

General manager Bill Armstrong won’t go quite that far, though.

“I really like the way it’s come together,” Armstrong told NHL.com in late July. “I like the way the organization is set up. It’s very rare that you don’t have a bad contract on your team, and we’ve set ourselves up to now make that next step.

“But it also has to happen organically. You can’t just make it happen on paper. The team has to make a step on the ice. And they have a chance to do that this year. If we can be playing meaningful games down the stretch, it’s going to be a hell of a season.”

The Utah Hockey Club officially joined the NHL on June 13 and purchased the contracts of Arizona Coyotes executives, coaches and players, taking over a rebuild that is in its fourth year. To go along with a bright young core, the organization has accumulated and hit on draft picks to bolster its prospect pool by taking on contracts and developing a scouting staff.

It has gotten them to the point where Armstrong will call his charges “a decent team.”

And though everyone in Utah, from the new owners to its newest fans, would welcome a playoff spot, that’s something Armstrong believes is a goal for next season. For this season, he’s keeping his expectations more tempered.

“If you look at our roster, how far we stripped it down, it’s very rare that a team going through the rebuild coming out of the fourth year makes the playoffs,” Armstrong said. “We’ve got to set realistic goals here. I don’t see us [in the postseason] — you never know — but it’s unlikely. What we want to do is take that step where we know we can be in the hunt and play meaningful games.

“If we can do that coming down the stretch and be driving in the final 20 games, it’s going to give us a lot of momentum for the following season.”

NHL.com point projection: 80

With four 60-point seasons during his time with the Arizona Coyotes, including more than a point per game in 2022-23 (NHL career-high 86 in 82 games) and nearly that rate last season (76 in 78 games), Keller has the highest point ceiling among players on Utah’s roster. Keller, who turned 26 on July 29, is worth reaching for in fantasy drafts among the top 75 overall and even higher in keeper and dynasty leagues.

A Utah judge cleared the way Tuesday for prosecutors to try Kouri Richins, the Utah woman who authored a children’s book about grief after allegedly killing her husband, on charges of murder, attempted murder and other crimes.

Third District Judge Richard Mrazik ruled that prosecutors with the Summit County Attorney had shown probable cause to try Richins, 34, for alleged financial crimes and the murder charges in the death of her husband, Eric Richins, 39, on March 4, 2022.

The judge scheduled a four-week trial to begin the last week of April. 

Prosecutors have accused Kouri Richins of drugging her husband’s Valentine’s Day sandwich in February 2022 in an alleged murder attempt that he survived. He died 17 days later, after prosecutors said Kouri Richins spiked his cocktail with a fatal dose of fentanyl.

Kouri Richins pleaded not guilty Tuesday. She has previously claimed innocence, telling “Dateline” earlier this year that she had been taken away from her “babies.” 

“This means war,” the mother of three said.

Richins’ previous defense team withdrew from the case in May after alleging in a court filing that the Summit County Attorney’s office had committed “severe violations” by recording and listening to jail calls between the defendant and her attorneys without her consent. 

The defense team had asked Mrazrik to disqualify prosecutors over the allegations.

Prosecutors denied the allegations, saying they were “speculative at best and bad faith” at worst, according to NBC affiliate KSL of Salt Lake City. Mrazik denied the motion earlier this month.

The county attorney’s office has alleged that Richins was in debt when she fraudulently obtained a $2 million life insurance policy on her husband before his death. She was charged with multiple counts of fraud and forgery in connection with the allegations.

One year after Eric Richins’ death in March 2022, Kouri Richins published a children’s book, “Are You With Me?” which sought to help children struggling with the death of a loved one.