Utah Hockey Club captain Clayton Keller bought his teammates a gift. Here’s what they unwrapped.

Clayton Keller has always had a thing for sneakers.

Walk around the Utah Hockey Club locker room and every player will point to their captain when asked who has the best shoe game on the team.

“At his house, he has a shoe wall,” defenseman Sean Durzi said. “I don’t know if anybody else has a shoe wall.”

So, it was only fitting that Keller spread the love.

Around Christmas, the team was met with Nike shoe boxes in their stalls. It was a new pair of the Kobe 5 Protro ‘X-Ray’ sneakers for each player in their respective sizes. At first, no one knew who was behind it. Keller eventually revealed that he had pulled off the surprise with the help of the Utah trainers.

“Just a little gift for the boys,” Keller said recently.

So, look around at a Club practice or off-day activity and you are bound to see more than a couple of guys wearing the same shoes.

The Club has team-supplied gear, including sneakers, but Keller thought his group could level up from the New Balance kicks they were given.

“It was just an idea I kind of thought of. No offense to New Balance but I don’t love the shoes that we warm up in. So it was just an idea and a lot of the guys seem to like it,” Keller said. “I just tried to find something that colors-wise would fit us. Those kind of fit us perfectly, I thought. That was the pair that I went with.”

The sneakers feature a few different shades of blue, including one that comes pretty close to matching the “Mountain Blue” on the Utah jerseys. The Kobe 5 Protro ‘X-Ray’ was released in October and, as someone looped into the shoe world, Keller was quick to order.

“My dad was a huge shoe guy and kind of still is. A little bit in the Jordans and stuff like that but just Nike, Adidas, anything that kind of looked good. From a young age, that was kind of something that he was into, which got me into it,” Keller said.

“Back then, you could customize shoes and stuff like that. That was always fun as a kid you would go on the website and just design it.”

Keller’s teammates were happy to be the beneficiaries this time around.

“It was a nice Christmas gift,” Jack McBain said. “Some of us were on him pretty good about what he was gonna get, just making jokes. He actually came through pretty big.”

Durzi agreed.

“Class move by Kells — first-year captain,” the defenseman said. “Kind of felt like an offensive-lineman in football how the quarterbacks get them gifts.”

While some players — like Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley and Lawson Crouse — wear the sneakers during warmups, McBain and Durzi are saving them for the summer. McBain said he prefers to warm up in sandals and Durzi does so barefoot to keep his ankles loose.

There are plans set, though, to show off Keller’s gift on the basketball court during the offseason.

“I told the boys in the summer we have to get together at the Jazz facility and play a pick-up game with our new shoes,” Durzi said. “I joke around with Will [Hardy], the coach of the Jazz, and tell him that if he puts me in a game I’ll probably get six points, four assists, two rebounds. And I’ll wear my Keller shoes.”

Michael Kesselring — who is getting more into sneakers and, admittedly, looks to Keller to follow what he’s wearing — is trying to scalp a second pair of the Kobe 5 Protro ‘X-Ray’ shoes off fellow blueliner John Marino. He said Marino has yet to wear the sneakers and Kesselring wanted another set to bring on the team’s road trips.

“They’re very nice — I like Kobe’s a lot for just working out and basketball in the summer,” Kesselring said. “It was really nice of [Keller].”

Keller seemingly holds the trophy for best sneakers on the Club but when it comes to worst, there were two quick answers from the players: Nick Bjugstad and Liam O’Brien.

“Tuna has some bad ones,” McBain said of O’Brien. “His excuse is he gets them for free, like New Balance. He’s got some tough ones, like mowing the lawn. He likes wearing them to the rink.”

It was the 32-year-old Bjugstad — who is also a father of three — who caught the majority of the heat, though.

“Bjugy. That’s got to be a common answer. Bjugy is just a dad. He doesn’t care,” Kesselring said. “New Balances are nice sometimes but Bjugy’s are like two years old, beat up. We’ve got to help him out. He needs help.”

Bjugstad had little rebuttal.

“I have no defense. Shopping and clothes — it’s just never been my thing,“ he said. ”Even when I was younger. I think I’ve looked like I was a dad since I was 18.”

Lucky for Bjugstad and O’Brien, Keller added a pair of teammate-approved sneakers to their collection. As for the captain, what number sneaker is the Kobe 5 Protro ‘X-Ray’ on his shoe wall?

“I’ve got too many, for sure,” Keller said. “I’ve actually never counted. I’ll have to do that sometime. I honestly can’t even put a guess. It’s a decent amount.”