PARK CITY – Andre Tourigny, coach of the Utah Hockey Club, was in the middle of a sentence when a bell rang nearby.

General Manager Bill Armstrong reached into his pocket, pulled out his buzzing phone and quickly muted it.

“That’s a fine!” said Tourigny, turning to Armstrong with a smile.

It turns out Armstrong didn't throw his phone against the wall on the first day of free agency. Instead, he signed two inexpensive veterans that the team believes will fill some holes while still giving Utah's young players a chance to develop.

The hockey club has signed forward Kevin Stenlund from the Florida Panthers and defenseman Ian Cole from the Vancouver Canucks.

Stenlund, 27, signed a two-year, $4 million contract after playing 81 games for the Stanley Cup champions last season, scoring 11 goals and four assists as the team's fourth-line center and recording one assist in the 2024 playoffs.

Cole, 35, signed a one-year, $3.1 million deal to come to Utah. He played in 78 games last season, scoring two goals and nine assists and averaging 18 minutes of ice time.

These transfers came shortly after Utah signed veteran defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino in trade deals and extended defenseman Sean Durzi to a four-year, $24 million contract.

And so Utah's blue line, which looked pretty suspect over the weekend, now looks pretty solid.

“We had a need, but we have a lot of confidence in the players we had internally,” Tourigny said. “We really like our group. We like the chemistry in our group. We like the players we have. For us, it was about strengthening that group.”

What they added were players who filled specific needs – namely depth at the blue line and in shorthanded play.

“There's a synergy within our team and we had to make a few little adjustments – in the faceoffs and the shorthanded game. We added players where that was kind of their identity,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong and Co. are confident the new additions will help the team take the “next step” toward competition. The team has 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 moments where I want to say, flashes of greatness,” Durzi said. “The new additions help tremendously. For me as a player who wants to win, it's exciting, and I think it's exciting for Utah State.”

While the four new players are expected to add value to the team, the trades also showed confidence in the players already on the team. Utah brought back restricted free agents Durzi, Juuso Valimaki, Michael Kesselring and Liam O'Brien and traded only one active NHL roster member (JJ Moser) as part of the deals.

“I think Bill and his group did a fantastic job of really listening to our needs and proving that we were happy with the rest of our team,” Tourigny said.

Tourigny said Sergachev and Marino will likely start the season as the top pairing, but acknowledged it may not end that way. He also believes 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's going to be nights where we look like world-class players because of the young guys running wild up front, and there's going to be nights where we're a little bit light,” Armstrong said. “But if we can get a little more consistent and take a step forward in shorthanded play and just get a little more consistent in certain areas, it's going to be a great year for us.”