LAST SEASON

The inaugural edition of the Utah Hockey Club still looked and played quite a bit like their ancestors from Arizona. They won just two more games than the Coyotes managed in their final season at Mullett Arena, finishing sixth in the Central Division. Nevertheless, the newly minted Uthans were unencumbered by the never-ending chaos that surrounded previous ownership groups in the desert and drew solid crowds to the actively transforming Delta Center in Salt Lake City. That certainly counts for something, but it remains to be seen whether the excitement surrounding this team will translate into tangible success in their inaugural season as the Utah Mammoth.

First, the good: Utah’s overall team structure was surprisingly strong last season, with their underlying shot and chance generation numbers ranking in the upper third of the league across the board. New arrival Mikhail Sergachev played excellent hockey after being acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning and did yeoman’s work papering over the cracks in an injury-ravaged blueline. Goaltender Karel Vejmelka had his strongest NHL season to date and earned himself a five-year extension in May. And captain Clayton Keller scored 30 goals for the third straight year and even put up 90 points, setting a high benchmark in his first year with his “new” team.

That being said, there’s still plenty of room for improvement in the Beehive State, particularly as it pertains to the overall play of this young and highly-touted Mammoth core. Only two Utah players finished below 50% in on-ice expected goals percentage at 5-on-5 last season, and they’re projected to make up two-thirds of the team’s top line for years to come. There’s no doubt as to what Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther can accomplish in the offensive zone, but they need to make big strides toward becoming better 200-foot players if the Mammoth are to lock down their first-ever playoff berth — especially now that J.J. Peterka, another defensive work in progress, is projected to join their line.

It’s going to be a dogfight in the Central Division for years to come. Utah has a strong prospect pool, a growing fan base, and an owner who has said all the right things. But do they have the truly exceptional talent required to stand out from the NHL’s growing middle class?

KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES

Additions

J.J. Peterka, RW
Brandon Tanev, RW
Nate Schmidt, D
Vitek Vanecek, G

Departures

Matias Maccelli, LW (TOR)
Michael Kesselring, D (BUF)
Josh Doan, RW (BUF)
Nick Bjugstad, C (STL)

OFFENSE

Utah finished 21st in the league with 241 goals last season, which is a big reason why they went out this summer and acquired Peterka from the Buffalo Sabres. As mentioned, the HC had no trouble generating chances, but their conversion rate on them ranked in the bottom third of the league, with their low success rate on high-danger looks standing out in a particularly bad way (16.02%, 29th overall). Peterka, who has 55 goals over his last two seasons, should help the Mammoth overcome their 5-on-5 finishing woes while providing another shot in the arm to their already capable power play.

Aside from Keller, nobody on Utah exceeded 65 points last year, but between Peterka, Cooley, Guenther, and Nick Schmaltz, the Mammoth are loaded with top-six scorers. They also have Barrett Hayton, who set career highs with 20 goals and 46 points last season while dominating in the faceoff circle. Keller, Hayton, and Schmaltz have a long track record of playing well together dating back to their years with the Coyotes, and Utah head coach André Tourigny has no shortage of faith in them as a trio. They should be able to handle difficult matchups while scoring plenty. But with Hayton (RFA) and Schmaltz (UFA) both in need of new contracts after the 2025-26 season, Utah’s key decision-makers will need to assess what the future holds for their captain’s preferred linemates — especially Schmaltz, who will turn 30 this season. And more than anything, Utah needs the Cooley, Guenther, and Peterka line to click, with at least one of those players matching or exceeding Keller’s level of productivity.

Naturally, not everybody had a smooth transition from Arizona to Utah. Matias Maccelli, who scored 57 points with the Coyotes in 2023-24, managed just 18 with Utah HC in 2024-25 and was swiftly traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs after the season. A similar slump befell Lawson Crouse, who was the beneficiary of so many highlight-reel plays by Maccelli in the desert. Crouse scored 20 goals in three consecutive seasons prior to the move but matched Maccelli with 18 points in Utah last year. With a fair few blue-chip winger prospects pushing for jobs, Crouse, Michael Carcone, and Co. will need to rediscover their scoring touch or potentially follow Maccelli out the door.

DEFENSE

We have three burning questions about this Utah team in a section below, but let’s ask a fourth right now: Is Sergachev a No. 1, or a No. 2? The 27-year-old looked more like the former last season, averaging over 25 minutes of ice time per night for the first time in his career and scoring 15 goals and 53 points. With John Marino and Sean Durzi missing a ton of time to injury, Tourigny had no choice but to lean heavily upon Sergachev, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Bolts. Even factoring in the hefty price Utah paid to get him — Conor Geekie, J.J. Moser, and two picks — Sergachev absolutely delivered for them.

Marino and Durzi are healthy and ready to go for year two in Utah, but after including Michael Kesselring in the Peterka deal with Buffalo, the Mammoth look to be one certified top-four option short. They brought in Nate Schmidt via free agency to help patch things over, but he’s more of a luxury bottom-pair option at this point, as are Olli Maatta and Ian Cole. Utah has a comparatively modest stockpile of defensive prospects compared to their forwards but they could always pull off a trade for another established defenseman if they’re still in the playoff race past the midway point of the season.

If the injury bug continues to bite this Utah team, don’t be surprised to see either of Dmitri Simashev or Maveric Lamoureux elevated to the big club for extended lengths of time. Lamoureux, a 6-foot-6 righty and a 2022 first-round pick, skated in his first 15 NHL games with Utah last season; Simashev, the No. 6 overall pick in 2023, is a 6’5″ lefty with three seasons of KHL experience playing for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. If Utah is in the hunt, Tourigny will likely turn first to more experienced players like Scott Perunovich and Nick DeSimone (or, health permitting, Juuso Valimaki). But Simashev and Lamoureux are reasonably close to being NHL-ready and have plenty of upside.

GOALTENDING

After seeing his workload gradually decrease over his three seasons in Arizona, Vejmelka seized control of the crease back from Connor Ingram after arriving in Utah. The 6-foot-4 puck-stopper posted a 26-22-8 record to go along with a .904 save percentage and one singular shutout in 58 games last season, just enough to stand out from the pack and earn himself a five-year, $4.75 million AAV contract extension as a pending UFA. Now, with Ingram expected to start the season in the AHL as he works his way back to prominence after a difficult 2024-25 campaign on and off the ice, Vejmelka remains the main man for the Mammoth.

Utah’s prospective goalie of the future is Michael Hrabal, a 6-foot-6 pillar coming off two strong seasons at UMass-Amherst. But with Hrabal heading back to school for his junior year, it’ll be yet another Czech goaltender backing up Vejmelka this season: Vitek Vanecek, fresh off winning the Stanley Cup alongside Schmidt and the Florida Panthers. Of course, Vanecek played in just seven games with the Panthers in the regular season and spent the entirety of the team’s playoff run watching Sergei Bobrovsky from the bench, but he has a .902 save percentage for his career and should be a solid stopgap option.

COACHING

Only three NHL head coaches have exceeded Tourigny’s longevity in their current position (disregarding the league’s insistence that Utah is an expansion franchise). But while Jon Cooper, Jared Bednar, and Rod Brind’Amour have all experienced their fair share of playoff success in their respective roles, Tourigny has yet to guide this group to the postseason. That’ll need to change real soon. Expectations for this Mammoth team are getting higher by the minute, especially with an outspoken owner itching to get his money’s worth and a newly-installed president of hockey operations in Chris Armstrong who inherited most of this hockey operations group, Tourigny included.

A trio of holdovers from the Arizona days round out Tourigny’s coaching staff in Utah: John Madden, Blaine Forsythe, and Mario Duhamel. Additionally, Utah retains the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners — still controlled by ex-Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo — as its top minor-league affiliate, with Steve Potvin and John Ferguson, Jr. still occupying their respective roles of head coach and general manager. By all indications, Meruelo plans to eventually relocate the Roadrunners from the derelict Tucson Convention Center to a new facility in Reno, Nevada, which would mark the second time he’d be responsible for a pro hockey team leaving Arizona. Go figure.

ROOKIES

As mentioned, Simashev and Lamoureux do have a chance to make some noise on the blueline for Utah this season. But the real opportunity lies at the forward position, where the Mammoth could really use some up-and-comers to fill some holes. One of the top candidates is hulking winger Daniil But, who has looked every bit like a former 12th overall pick in his first NHL training camp and figures to play more than a handful of games with the Mammoth in his first North American pro season — even at just 20 years of age. But (nicknamed “Danny Goals”) played with Simashev for KHL Lokomotiv these past three seasons and could easily lock down a middle-six spot before long if given the opportunity.

Another leading candidate to play games for the Mammoth, at least to start, is 2024 first-round pick Tij Iginla. Jarome’s son played in only 21 games with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets last year, dealing with nagging hip injuries that eventually required surgery. Now back in action, Iginla looks to be at his best yet again and could challenge for a nine-game trial out of camp. But it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the middle Iginla child return to the Rockets for a chance to play in the Memorial Cup, which Kelowna will host in 2026.

BURNING QUESTIONS

1. Will Nick Schmaltz re-sign? The Coyotes did alright many moons ago when they acquired Schmaltz from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a young Dylan Strome. Schmaltz has scored 20 goals in each of his last four seasons and remains one of Keller’s favorite linemates all these years later. But with Iginla and But pushing for NHL gigs and Schmaltz nearing 30, the Mammoth have a tough decision to make. Does it make sense to trade Schmaltz in the final year of his contract?

2. Can Barrett Hayton take the next step? He hasn’t become a star like Quinn Hughes, or a bust like Filip Zadina, but Hayton — the No. 5 overall pick in 2018 — has developed into a dependable two-way center who can play with top scorers and grinders alike. Now 25, Hayton has two 40-point seasons under his belt and is entering a contract year of his own. If he wants to stave off a challenge from Caleb Desnoyers down the line, Hayton needs to add more offense to his game.

3. Will Sean Durzi reclaim the top PP spot? Durzi didn’t quite look like himself upon returning from shoulder surgery late last season, ultimately collecting just 11 points in 30 games and spending only a small fraction of his time on Utah’s power play — understandable, with Sergachev in the fold. The 26-year-old Durzi has made his living on the PP in the early stages of his career, racking up 16 points on the man-advantage with Arizona in 2023-24 and with the Los Angeles Kings the year before. Last season, Durzi managed just two PP points in total.

PREDICTION

The Mammoth are a solid team. New owner Ryan Smith certainly seems to care more about hockey fans than anybody who owned the Coyotes. And the incumbent management team that consistently did underrated work in Arizona has largely continued to excel in Utah. But for all that has been made about the strides this franchise has taken off the ice, do they have what it takes to rise above the rest?

Not yet. While it’s safe to say the Mammoth will be better than the Chicago Blackhawks, who did curiously little to improve their roster over the summer, they don’t yet have that X-Factor that puts them decisively ahead of the other six Central Division teams on paper. Even the Nashville Predators, fresh off the most disappointing season in their history, could conceivably return to form and finish on the playoff bubble this year. For our purposes, Utah, Nashville, St. Louis, and Minnesota are all in a fairly similar realm, each with the potential to make it by a hair’s breadth or miss by a decent amount.

To be more specific, we’ll say Utah finishes sixth in the Central once more with around 85 points.

Advanced stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and MoneyPuck

_____

PRESENTED BY THE DAILY FACEOFF SURVIVOR POOL

Think you’ve got what it takes to outlast everyone else? Test your hockey smarts in the Daily Faceoff Survivor Pool — a high-stakes game of elimination with a $2,500 grand prize for the last fan standing. The contest continues until there’s only one survivor — and that winner takes it all. Are you ready to survive? Sign up now and make your picks!