Hockey

Exclusive: Bill Armstrong is Always Looking to Improve the Utah Hockey Club

Published: Oct 16, 2024, 11:50 AM
1 min read
Updated: Jul 24, 2025, 12:41 PM
Fact checked by:
Sergey Demidov
General manager Bill Armstrong attends a media opportunity prior to the premier game for the Utah Hockey Club

General manager Bill Armstrong attends a media opportunity prior to the premier game for the Utah Hockey Club (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The Utah Hockey Club is off to an impressive 3-1 start after the New Jersey Devils handed the club its first loss of the season and in franchise history. The players, coaches, and management, especially general manager Bill Armstrong, work more freely and without distractions.

With Armstrong and the Utah Hockey Club in New Jersey on Monday to play the Devils, Armstrong spoke exclusively with RG about his plans to remain aggressive after a busy offseason and the type of player he is looking at for his club.  

"We're always looking and listening as we are a competitive club that wants to get better every day,” Armstrong said. "So if we can add at the right time, we certainly will. But it's one of those things where it's just the team's progress and not rushing it. As I have said, we are a fairly young team in the National Hockey League and are in the fourth year of the rebuild. So you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself here."

Armstrong and the Utah Hockey Club were aggressive this past offseason with the acquisitions of defensemen Mikhail Sergachev from the Tampa Bay Lightning and John Marino from the New Jersey Devils. Marino has yet to play a game for Utah as he is injured. The club also extended Dylan Guenther and Sean Durzi to go with their core group of players.

Armstrong's work over the previous year, when the club was based in Arizona, laid the groundwork for the club to be a buyer at the NHL Trade Deadline. Did anyone expect Utah to be this aggressive in the offseason? They had the cap space to take on Sergachev's $8.5 million contract to lead the defense corps. Plus, as Armstrong stated, he fits the group's age range.

"It makes sense if you've been planning for a guy like Sergachev's and the Durzi's of the world and moving ahead with guys still young and in your age bracket," Armstrong continued. "We're all for that. That's our big thing, which is to wake up out of bed and try and improve the club every single day."

Armstrong is trying to build his defense like the teams that have won the Stanley Cup, most recently the Florida Panthers. He is looking to acquire players between the ages of 24 and 28 because half a team's defense comes from trade.  

"We felt he's [Sergachev] kind of still in our age range because he's only 26, and so is Durzi”, Armstrong said. “If you look at the way that Florida was, most of their D were 28, so you've got to kind of move into that bracket of age where they got an experience of playing in the National Hockey League, and I think that's the reason we did that deal. But sometimes, you don't get everything through the draft. 50% of a Stanley Cup team is traded for, so you've got to go out there and make adjustments and really add into what your club needs, and we're moving into that era where we've got a kind of good young players coming. We've still got some picks to go, but some trades will have to be made on our side to further up the club and take that next step."

Armstrong feels that with how his club is playing and is currently built, they will have to make tough decisions about moving out players and making picks to continue to improve and build a Stanley Cup winner.  

"We're probably going to have to do a little bit of the same,” Armstrong said. "We'll have to make some trades down the stretch, but that's why we acquired all the prospects and picks."

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Having 10 years of experience (SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, Rod Pedersen Show, Raw Mike Richards Show, and more) covering the Devils, the NHL along with College Football, the NFL, and the tennis circuit Jim Biringer has wealth of sports knowledge. As one of Jim's hockey coaches put it he is a "student of the game." During his time as a sports reporter, Biringer has covered some of the biggest events including most recently the 2024 Stanley Cup Final along with several NHL Drafts. He is also the host of the Full Press Hockey Podcast and Final Word on Hockey plus Around Campus - The College Football Podcast.
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NHL Writers

Daria Tuboltseva
Daria Tuboltseva
Hockey Reporter

Daria Tuboltseva has worked as a sports journalist since 2014 and has specialized in hockey coverage since 2016. She’s reported from some of the world’s biggest sporting events, including the Olympic Games (Beijing 2022), the FIFA World Cup (2018), the IIHF World Championships (2016–2019, 2021), the IIHF World Junior Championship (2019), and every Gagarin Cup Final since 2017.

Her work has appeared in leading Russian sports outlets like Championat.com and Sport24, as well as on the official websites of the KHL and the Women’s Hockey League (WHL). Daria has conducted exclusive interviews with some of the sport’s most recognized names, including Alex Ovechkin, Jaromir Jagr, Kirill Kaprizov, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Igor Shesterkin.

Beyond her writing, Daria brings extensive on-camera experience. She hosted NHL Today on Yandex.Efir and has produced powerful long-form projects such as the documentary Lokomotiv Crash and the series Hockey Country, featuring stars like Ovechkin, Malkin, Bobrovsky, Vasilevskiy, and Panarin. Her work has taken her to NHL games across North America and international events like the NHL Global Series in Europe.

In addition to her media career, Daria is a certified integrative nutritionist with a focus on sports nutrition. She works one-on-one with KHL players, helping them optimize performance and recovery through tailored nutrition plans. Her ability to blend media expertise with athlete support gives her a unique presence in the professional hockey world.

Daria publishes in both English and Russian and is the creator of the Telegram channel Coolest Game on Earth, where she shares insights, interviews, and behind-the-scenes stories from the hockey world.

Based in: Saint Petersburg, Russia

Languages: English, Russian

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