'Nobody cares more': Clayton Keller's journey to captain of Utah Hockey Club

Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes

SALT LAKE CITY — Clayton Keller sped around a defenseman. The roar of the Arizona crowd grew louder as he made his way toward the goal.

One moment, he was looking to score. The next, he was lying on the frozen ground.

At the tail end of the 2021-22 season, Keller caught a chunk of ice that caused a speed wobble. He didn't have time to recover; his legs began to form into a split and he slammed hard into the boards.

He tried to get up from the ice but his right leg wouldn't listen. He tried to roll over but his body wouldn't respond. Reality set in: He couldn't move.

And then the pain came.

It was as if the air that had left the Gila River Arena crowd following the awkward fall had suddenly come crashing down on his upper leg. It was like something had wrapped around his quad and wouldn't let go.

"I had the tightest pain you could ever imagine," he would later say.

General manager Bill Armstrong rushed to the medical room after he saw the young star be stretchered off the ice. Armstrong entered, hoping to let Keller know everything was going to be OK. When he saw the X-ray hanging over Keller's head, though, words left him.

The image sent shivers down Armstrong's spine. You didn't need a medical degree to read it: There was a massive gap in the thigh bone; Keller had broken his femur.

"Oh my gosh, this is bad," Armstrong thought.

That was the story Armstrong reflected on as the Utah Hockey Club announced Keller as the team's first-ever captain. Not because of the fall or the injury, but because of what happened next.

What defines a good captain? Talent? Tenacity? The ability to inspire others to push beyond their limits? In Keller, the Utah Hockey Club has a leader who checks many boxes.

In the immediate aftermath, Keller wanted to know just one thing — would he play hockey again? When the doctors answered in the affirmative that's all he needed. It didn't matter how hard or long the rehab was, he'd be back on the ice. That was good enough for him.

"When he had his rehab, he was training four times a day," coach Andre Tourigny said. "People were asking, 'You think Kells will be back to start the season?' For sure, he will be back. He's a machine."

Keller returned for the 2022-23 season and posted a career-high 86 points (37 goals, 49 assists). A machine indeed.

And now a captain.

"He's one of the best competitors I've been around," forward Lawson Crouse said. "He really pushes the pace, and he demands a lot from everyone. Those are the qualities you want to have in a leader."

When Keller was 10 years old, at the nudging of his father, he taped a list of goals onto his closet wall. Some were hockey-related (shoot 1,000 pucks a day, make the NHL); some were for life off the ice (visit colleges, get good grades). It wasn't meant to be some meaningless list.

"I was able to check all of them off one day, and I signed it at the end," Keller said. "It's something I still have."

He credits his father, Bryan, for instilling that drive in him.

Bryan told his son that, at his size, he'd have to work twice as hard if he wanted to be an NHL player. The cement walls of the Kellers' unfinished basement are filled with black puck marks — a diary of sorts for hundreds of shooting sessions and evidence of Keller's early work ethic.

That drive helped him land at Shattuck-St. Mary's, one of the country's top prep hockey programs, and why he committed to hockey full-time by later entering the U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP) in Plymouth, Michigan.

But if you were to read Keller's junior scouting reports, you'd often see him labeled as undersized, not the faster skater and someone who lacks mustard on his shot.

Keller couldn't control his height — he's listed at 5-foot-10 — but he made everything else a strength. He attacked the weight room to win battles for pucks and it's not uncommon to see him fly by defensemen. Oh, and he can absolutely fire the puck.

"Nobody cares more. Nobody competes harder," Armstrong said.

That was never more evident than when Keller was rehabbing from his broken femur. It was a difficult, sometimes torturous process. Each day, he'd spend hours with the team training staff — and then he'd leave to do more yoga, or pilates, or anything else he thought would help.

"I had to stay super patient. I couldn't really go out of the house for a long time," he said. "I was limping for four months."

Months which seemed endless. As the days dragged on, he'd wake up and think (or maybe just hope) that the limp would be gone — only to still favor his right leg.

It was almost poetic that skating was easier than walking. He got to experience at least some refuge on the ice.

The injury was a reminder of what his dad told him growing up: skate every shift like it's your last. That has come out with how he prepares for and plays in games, and how he pushes his teammates to do the same.

"Guys will say it, I'm hard on them sometimes but that's because I care and deep down I want the best for them and for myself as well," Keller said. "This is a huge honor. This means so much to me."

Keller was emerging into a young star when Armstrong pivoted to tear-down mode. The GM traded away veterans for draft capital to set up what he hoped would be a fruitful rebuild.

The moves made sense. The Coyotes weren't positioned to contend and lacked assets to restart. Still, he would have understood if Keller was frustrated.

"When Kels walked into that room and all the good players were gone, that's not an easy thing," Armstrong said. "He could have rolled over and just said, 'Look, I got every excuse.' He didn't do that."

Instead, he tried to drag a youthful roster to every possible win. Armstrong knew then the team had a pretty special player.

"He's tough on his teammates at the right times," defenseman Sean Durzi said. "He expects the best out of everybody which is what I think a good leader of a team should do."

Now he's not just a leader; he's a captain.

"We believe that we can win a championship in the future with his leadership," Armstrong said.

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Ryan Miller

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KSL.com Utah Jazz reporter