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Getting to know U-tah: Director of amateur scouting Darryl Plandowski
From now through training camp, ALLCITY Network will publish profiles of players and staff on the Utah Hockey Club’s hockey operations side to help Utah fans get to know their new team before the first puck drop on Oct. 8 against the Chicago Blackhawks at Delta Center.
Darryl Plandowski
Position: Director of amateur scouting.
Years with franchise: Entering fifth year in current role.
Previous experience: Spent 12 years with the Tampa Bay Lightning where he was the head amateur scout and eventually became assistant director of amateur scouting. He played a major role in building the teams that won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021. Before Tampa, Plandowski spent 10 years as an amateur scout with the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins. He was also a scout and assistant coach for six years with the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds.
Fun facts: Plandowski’s wife, Jill, is a renowned skating coach whose client list includes Morgan Barron, Justin Barron, Liam O’Brien, Ryan Graves and Noah Dobson, along with numerous prospects in the junior and college ranks. His son, Oscar, was a fifth-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings in 2021.
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Darryl Plandowski can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now entering his fifth year as the director of amateur scouting for the Coyotes-Utah franchise, the fruits of his staff’s labor are ripening on the vine.
“Rebuilds are not easy,” Plandowski said. “I mean, it’s easy to lose, get paid and draft high, but we’re trying to find guys that are gonna get paid, but want to win — guys who are just competitive leaders and that’s hard.
“It takes so long when you draft these kids for them to actually become impact players. Going into our fifth year, they’re finally at that point where Dylan Guenther is ready to take a step and Logan Cooley is ready to take a step. Maveric Lamoureux is going to be a 20-year-old so he’s ready to keep taking steps. Our two Russians (Dmitri Simashev, Daniil But) and Vadim Moroz and other guys are all coming of age.”
GM Bill Armstrong has cautioned that a team in its fourth season of a rebuild does not enjoy good odds to make the playoffs, but even if Utah misses the postseason in 2025, the expectation is that the team will be better this season.
Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino have bolstered the defensive ranks. Connor Ingram has emerged as one of the league’s better goalies. Players such as Cooley, Guenther and Matias Maccelli are a year older. There are stable veterans such as Nick Bjugstad, Alex Kerfoot and Ian Cole, and the middle core of Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Lawson Crouse and Sean Durzi has grown into its leadership role.
While that likely means that Utah won’t be drafting as high as the franchise did in recent years, Plandowski insists that not much changes for the scouting staff.
“You can just cross off six or seven or 10 guys that aren’t going to be there when you pick and that creates a challenge in the first round,” he said. “It’s just shocking how differently everybody looks at that next group of kids, but there’s still players out there and you’ve just got to get them. The teams that find those guys are the ones that win.
“That’s where a good staff comes into play, where they’re just focusing on that next group and who’s the best guy available. Our guys have done a good job of saying, ‘If there’s an 18- or 19-year old we like that’s still developing, let’s draft him,’ and we’ve never been scared to draft an older boy or a kid from a country that’s not supposed to be developing hockey players.”
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While the Utah staff rarely drafts for need, Plandowski said there has been an emphasis on balancing drafts so that one position group does not get left behind. But some things are out of the staff’s control. When Armstrong acquired Sergachev, it meant parting with top center prospect Conor Geekie (and previously drafted defenseman JJ Moser), who was the only center prospect viewed by most draft analysts as a top-six prospect (Cole Beaudoin is not).
“I still think we’re really well balanced,” Plandowski said. “We’ve got goaltending, we’ve got defense and we’ve got forwards. You always want to make sure you have enough centers and enough defensemen and a goalie coming and I still think we’re going to go into next year’s draft taking the best player. If it’s a winger, then it’s a winger. We still want to have game-breaking type of guys that push your prospects forward.
“Center is always important. It’s kind of like soccer. It’s about strength right down the middle, especially the goalie, but there are teams that have wingers like [Steven] Stamkos or [Nikita] Kucherov who drive their lines from the wing. We always want to have big centericemen and good centericeman, but I think the more important thing is just to have 12 good players that can play the game.”
It’s way too early to evaluate the 2025 NHL Draft. The 2024 draft taught us that what analysts are saying at the start of a season — or even in the middle of the season — might not be the prevailing sentiment once the seasons ends and the draft arrives.
“I think it’s gonna be a pretty good draft, but you are right,” Plandowski said. “I thought this last draft was going to be all about the defensemen. It looked top heavy, but as you went on, you saw the development curve. The forwards just kept getting better and better and lo and behold, by the end, there was a group of forwards where six of the first eight picks were forwards.”
Plandowski is confident that Utah has assembled a scouting staff that will continue to strike gold based on thorough evaluation — and no matter where the team picks.
“They’re pretty young but they’ve really kind of developed to where now it’s easier because everybody knows what we’re looking for,” Plandowski said of Utah’s scouts. “When you’re flipping guys in and out of your staff and you have to keep retraining them, that makes it hard. You’ve got to retain them. It’s no different than working for IBM or any company.
“At this point with these guys right now, they’re well oiled. They know exactly what Bill wants.”
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Related Plandowski links
Darryl Plandowski created his Coyotes opportunity with persistence, hard work, a keen eye and affability
Darryl Plandowski hopes to replicate Lightning’s draft success with Coyotes
Scouting series: Plandowski prepared to put his stamp on Coyotes’ future
Top photo of Darryl Plandowski courtesy of Arizona Coyotes
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