Ex-Coyotes star Clayton Keller shells out $10,000 donation for local youth hockey foundation

While Clayton Keller may no longer be competing for the Arizona Coyotes, the Missouri native showed he's still committed to helping the growth of hockey in Arizona.

This week, Keller made a $10,000 donation to the Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation, which looks to provide resources and support to hockey programs in the state.

The organization was founded in memory of the Coyotes' former senior director of hockey development. He passed away in 2021 at just 34 years of age after a battle with liver cancer.

Shott was known for his dedication and commitment to helping grow the game of hockey for kids and adults alike. The Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation works to continue that mission.

While the Arizona Coyotes may no longer be an NHL team, Clayton Keller is unwavering in his commitment to the state of Arizona.

In a post made on Instagram by the Foundation, announcing Keller's $10,000 donation, the four-time All-Star was quoted as saying:

"It's important to me to support the Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation so hockey in the desert can continue to grow. I really wanted to make a commitment to the next generation of players and honor everything Matt did."

Looking at the 2024-25 NHL season for Clayton Keller and the newly-formed Utah Hockey Club

The 2024-25 NHL season will be the first for the Utah Hockey Club after the franchise was relocated from Phoenix. Throughout the course of the second half of last season, there was considerable talk regarding a move.

Despite the team's best efforts to focus on winning, when Ryan Smith, Utah Jazz owner, began to express a desire to bring a franchise to Utah, the noise had an impact on the Coyotes.

The team went on to lose 14 straight, something that Clayton Keller touched on while speaking with media members in April. As he explained, despite the team's best efforts to block out the noise, the talk of a relocation was hard to ignore.

Now, with a move finalized, Keller and the rest of the Utah Hockey Club have shifted their focus to the season ahead. In it, they will compete in the Central Division, which includes the following teams:

• Chicago Blackhawks
• Colorado Avalanche
• Dallas Stars
• Minnesota Wild
• Nashville Predators
• St. Louis Blues
• Winnipeg Jets

With a number of strong contenders, such as the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators in the division, the Utah Hockey Club will face stiff competition.

The team will play its first preseason game on Sep. 22, before the beginning of the regular season on Oct. 8 with an inter-division meeting against the Chicago Blackhawks.