SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Hockey Club signed forward Dylan Guenther to an eight-year extension worth $57.14 million on Friday.
Guenther will count just over $7.14 million annually against the salary cap over the term of the contract that runs through the 2032-33 NHL season. The 21-year-old is one of the youngest building blocks for the team that was known until earlier this year as the Arizona Coyotes and is now based in Salt Lake City.
“Dylan is elite in every aspect on and off the ice,” Utah general manager Bill Armstrong said. “He is a young, highly skilled forward with a shot that’s evolving into one of the best in the NHL. He’s also a first-class person with a strong determination to be great. We look forward to having Dylan as a core player for this organization for many years to come.”
Guenther split last season between Arizona and the American Hockey League’s Tucson Roadrunners. He had 18 goals and 17 assists for 35 points in 45 NHL games with the Coyotes.
“There isn’t a better example than Dylan when we talk about the combination of talent and character that we are so excited to build a new franchise with here in Utah,” president of hockey operations Chris Armstrong said. “Today is another exciting day for our organization and our fans who will come to love Dylan, not just as a hockey player but as a member of our community.”
Guenther, an Edmonton, Alberta, native, who also played his junior hockey there, was the ninth pick in the 2021 draft. He has 50 points in 78 career games since breaking into the league.
“This is a very happy day for me and my family,” Guenther said. “Everything about this organization is on the right track, and I know we have an opportunity to do some special things here for a long time. Utah is where I want to be, and I’m proud to commit to my teammates and the organization long term.”
Guenther is now signed longer than any other player in the organization, surpassing defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who was acquired in an offseason trade from Tampa Bay and is under contract through 2031. Forward Clayton Keller and defenseman Sean Durzi are each signed through 2028.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
FILE - Arizona Coyotes right wing Dylan Guenther (11) celebrates his goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the third period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, April 3, 2024, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An independent counsel on Tuesday demanded a death sentence for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on rebellion charges in connection with his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024.
Removed from office last April, Yoon faces eight trials over various criminal charges related to his martial law debacle and other scandals related to his time in office. Charges that he directed a rebellion are the most significant ones.
Independent counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team requested the Seoul Central District Court to sentence Yoon to death, according to the court.
The Seoul court is expected to deliver a verdict on Yoon in February. Experts say the court likely will sentence him to life in prison. South Korea hasn't executed anyone since 1997.
Yoon was scheduled to make remarks at Tuesday's hearing. He has maintained that his decree was a desperate yet peaceful attempt to raise public awareness about what he considered the danger of the liberal opposition Democratic Party, which used its legislative majority to obstruct his agenda. He called the opposition-controlled parliament “a den of criminals” and “anti-state forces.”
Yoon’s decree, the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea, brought armed troops into Seoul streets to encircle the assembly and enter election offices. That evoked traumatic memories of dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed rulers used martial law and other emergency decrees to station soldiers and armored vehicles in public places to suppress pro-democracy protests.
On the night of Yoon's martial law declaration, thousands of people rushed to the National Assembly to object to the decree and demand his resignation in dramatic scenes. Enough lawmakers, including even those in Yoon’s ruling party, managed to enter an assembly hall to vote down the decree.
Observers described Yoon’s action as political suicide. Parliament impeached him and sent the case to the Constitutional Court, which ruled to dismiss him as president.
It was a spectacular downfall for Yoon, a former star prosecutor who won South Korea’s presidency in 2022, a year after entering politics.
Lee Jae Myung, a former Democratic Party leader who led Yoon's impeachment bid, became president by winning a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to delve into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.
There had been speculation that Yoon resorted to martial law to protect his wife, Kim Keon Hee, from potential corruption investigations. But in wrapping up a six-month investigation last month, independent counsel Cho’s team concluded that Yoon plotted for over a year to impose martial law to eliminate his political rivals and monopolize power.
Yoon’s decree and ensuing power vacuum plunged South Korea into political turmoil, halted the country’s high-level diplomacy and rattled its financial markets.
Yoon’s earlier vows to fight attempts to impeach and arrest him deepened the country’s political divide. In January last year, he became the country’s first sitting president to be detained.
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside of Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
FILE - Then South Korea's ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol who is facing charges of orchestrating a rebellion when he declared martial law on Dec. 3, arrives to attend his trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool, File)
