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PARK CITY — Utah Hockey Club coach Andre Tourigny was in the middle of a sentence when a nearby ringtone started to go off.
General manager Bill Armstrong reached into his pocket, pulled out his buzzing phone and quickly silenced it.
"That's a fine!" said Tourigny, turning to Armstrong with a smile.
Turns out, Armstrong didn't throw his phone against a wall on the first day of free agency. Instead, he signed two low-cost veterans that the team thinks will fill some holes but still allow the young Utah players to grow.
The Hockey Club signed Florida Panthers forward Kevin Stenlund and defenseman Ian Cole from the Vancouver Canucks.
Stenlund, 27, signed a two-year, $4 million deal after playing 81 games last season for the Stanley Cup champs, recording 11 goals and four assists centering the team's fourth line. He recorded an assist during the 2024 playoffs.
Cole, 35, signed a one-year deal for $3.1 million to come to Utah. He played in 78 games last season, recording two goals and nine assists, and averaged 18 minutes of ice time.
Those moves came on the heels of Utah landing veteran defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino in trades, and re-signing defenseman Sean Durzi to a 4-year, $24-million contract.
Just like that, Utah's blue line — which was looking quite suspect heading into the weekend — is looking quite solid.
"We had needs, but we have a huge belief in the players we had internally," Tourigny said. "We like our group a lot. We like the chemistry in our group. We like the players we have. For us, it was to add that group."
What they added were players who filled specific needs — namely depth on the blue line and in penalty kill.
"There's a synergy within our team that we needed to kind of add a few little tweaks — the faceoffs, the penalty kill. We added players where that was kind of their identity," Armstrong said.
Armstrong and Co. are confident the additions will help the team take the "next step" toward contention. The team brought in veterans with playoff experience that should help a young team mature.
"I think about where we were last year as a team with young, talented players — just the flashes of, I want to say, greatness," Durzi said. "Getting the additions helps a ton. It's exciting for myself as a player who wants to win, and I think it's exciting for the state of Utah."
While the four new players are expected to elevate the team, the moves also showcased faith in the players already in the fold. Utah brought back restricted free agents Durzi, Juuso Valimaki, Michael Kesselring, and Liam O'Brien, and only traded one active NHL roster member in the deals (J.J. Moser).
"I think Bill and his group did a fantastic job to really attack our needs and prove we liked the rest of the team we had," Tourigny said.
Tourigny said that Sergachev and Marino will likely start the season as the top pair, but conceded that it might not end that way. He also thinks Stenlund will solidify the team's faceoffs. But how good the new team is will still depend on the internal development of Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, and the rest of Utah's young core.
"There are going to be nights that we look like world beaters with the young guys running wild up front and there's going to be nights that we take it on the chin a little bit," Armstrong said. "But if we can be a little bit more consistent and take a step with the penalty kill, and just being a little bit more consistent in certain areas, it's going to be a fun year for us."
