Utah Hockey Club signs veteran enforcer to multiyear extension

Arizona Coyotes center Liam O'Brien.

Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports that the Utah Hockey Club has signed enforcer Liam O’Brien to a three-year extension. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent on Monday. Johnston adds that the deal carries a $1M cap hit. Jordan Schmaltz of the Live in Five podcast was the first to report the terms of the deal on Tuesday night.

O’Brien, 29, is coming off his first season as a true NHL regular. While he hasn’t spent any time in the minors since his one-year stint with the Avalanche in 2020-21, he was often a 13th forward for the Coyotes after arriving as a free agent the following season. That changed during the franchise’s final season in the desert, with O’Brien dressing in a career-high 75 games.

He responded with a career-high 14 points (five goals, nine assists), one of which was a goal in their final game in Arizona, a 5-2 win over the Oilers on April 17. O’Brien also led the league in penalty minutes with 153 and led the Coyotes in hits with 229. He’ll be back with his former teammates as they move north to Salt Lake City for 2024-25.

It’s been a long road to NHL relevancy for O’Brien, who at one point went nearly three and a half years between major league appearances (Nov. 10, 2017, to April 2, 2021). Undrafted, the 6-foot-1, 213-lb forward captained the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in his final junior season before landing an entry-level deal with the Capitals. He ended up sticking in the Caps system for six seasons, although most of his time was spent on the farm with the AHL’s Hershey Bears. He racked up 137 points and 638 PIMs in 370 games between 2014 and 2020, compared to only two points and 28 PIMs in 17 games with the Capitals during that span.

O’Brien will play an immediate fan-favorite role in Utah’s first year. Ice time and appearances will likely make it harder for him to carve out with youngsters Josh Doan and Dylan Guenther, presumably full-time locks. However, Utah general manager Bill Armstrong is expected to add other impact pieces to the roster via trades and free agency. Still, it’s a reasonable commitment for a good energy piece, even if his possession numbers are nothing to write home about. It aligns with the market value set by Ryan Reaves when he inked a three-year, $1.35M AAV deal with the Maple Leafs in free agency last summer.

The Halifax native will next be eligible for UFA status in 2027. Armstrong still has $42.56M in projected cap space to play with this summer with 11 open roster spots, per CapFriendly.

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