The Utah Mammoth are past the stage of asking what they can become. Year three is about showing they already belong.
That’s the shift facing a franchise that has moved fast. The first season was about laying the groundwork.
The second ended with the organization’s first trip to the playoffs. Now the standard has changed, and so has the conversation around this team.
“We’re going back at it and trying to get back into playoffs,” general manager Bill Armstrong told ABC4 News. “You look how hard it is in the National Hockey League and how competitive it is. It’s so close every single night.”
Utah got a real taste of that in the spring, when it pushed the Vegas Golden Knights - the eventual Western Conference champions - to six games. For a young team, that series was more than a loss. It was a lesson in what postseason hockey demands.
“I always told our players, you’ve never played in the National Hockey League until you played the playoffs,” Armstrong said.
The Mammoth enter this season with the kind of core that gives a team a chance to build on that experience. Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley and Mikhail Sergachev are all back, giving Utah continuity in the most important places. That matters for a franchise that has been patient about constructing its roster.
“We’ve got a good core, a talented core, and you can see that,” Armstrong said. “Every year, we’ve kind of taken a step together.”
The offseason moves were aimed at another obvious need: veteran presence. Utah traded for Vincent Trocheck from the New York Rangers and signed Anders Lee, the longtime New York Islanders captain.
Those additions bring more than skill. They bring players who know what a long season, a playoff chase and the weight of big moments feel like.
“We needed some veteran presence,” Armstrong said. “With the Trochecks and the Lees of the world, it was a great kind of sign to the NHL that, hey, people want to come play here.”
That last part says plenty about where the franchise stands now. The Mammoth are no longer just selling a future. They’re starting to show one.
André Tourigny now has the job of fitting all of it together. With expectations rising, Armstrong wants the coach to get every ounce out of the roster.
“He’s got to get everybody in the rules and really squeeze the most out of them and push buttons, make sure everybody’s playing at the highest level possible.”
There’s also a different setting around the team this year. With renovations to the Delta Center complete, Utah expects the building to be even louder and more difficult for visiting teams. Armstrong has no doubt about the atmosphere.
“I believe it’s the loudest building in the National Hockey League with the best fans,” Armstrong said.
For a franchise still in its early days, that kind of home-ice energy is part of the plan. Armstrong believes winning will keep feeding the fan base, and the roster now looks built to give people a reason to stay engaged deep into the season.
The Mammoth have already checked off a few major boxes: build the team, make the playoffs, learn what that stage feels like. The next challenge is tougher.
Do it again.
Utah opens the season Thursday night at home against the Chicago Blackhawks.
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There have already been encouraging signs from the young center, who has made a positive early impression with Tucson through his work ethic and chemistry with teammates. He also found the net in preseason, a reminder that the talent the Mammoth liked so much is already showing through, but the real test now is how quickly he can translate that into consistent impact once the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]