André Tourigny didn’t need much time in Utah to realize the place was going to feel different.
When the former Arizona Coyotes landed in Salt Lake City in April 2024, his background knowledge was thin. He remembered watching the 2002 Olympics there on TV, and that was about it.
“None, nothing, zero,” the veteran coach said with a smile.
Then came the welcome: a loud airport reception, plans for top-tier facilities and a first look at the new home arena that drew packed stands and thousands more outside the building. Tourigny still talks about that first impression like it was a jolt.
“It’s a love story between our players and the fans,” he said. “That was amazing.”
That relationship has only grown as Utah has moved from a generic first-year identity as the “Utah Hockey Club” to the Utah Mammoth, and from relocation uncertainty to a team that looks increasingly at home in the Central Division.
The Mammoth reached the playoffs last spring for the first time since the move, finishing as the Western Conference’s top wild-card team before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in six games. Now they’re trying to prove they belong with the division’s heavyweights on a nightly basis.
Through 16 games, Utah is 10-6-0 and sitting second in the Central after Tuesday’s 3-2 win in Toronto over the Maple Leafs.
“The kind of thing we cannot control,” Tourigny said of the division’s strength. “What you have to do is go about your business and make sure you’re the best version of yourself.”
The early results have been good enough to keep Utah in the mix. The Mammoth have the NHL’s No. 1 power play, and four players rank among the league’s top 35 scorers entering Wednesday’s action. Captain Clayton Keller is leading the way with four goals and 17 assists for 21 points, while the team’s attack has been spread around rather than leaning on one star.
“We’ve had a decent start,” Keller said. “Lots of learning lessons, but we’re a really confident team.”
Defenceman MacKenzie Weegar sees the same thing in the room.
“The expectations in our division are really high,” he said. “There’s a lot of belief in this dressing room and within the organization that we’re a top team.”
That belief is rooted in what Utah already showed last season. The club was sitting at .500 when the calendar turned to 2026, then ripped off a 25-14-3 second-half run to lock up a playoff berth. This year’s start - 9-7-0 to open 2025-26 - has been encouraging, but Tourigny still wants more from the way his team plays.
“People sometimes, they think when you talk about pace and speed, you’re talking about skating,” he said. “It’s way more than that. It’s how you’re connected, how you read off each other, how you react in certain situations, how you’re one play ahead all the time.”
The schedule has also forced Utah to spend plenty of time together on the road. Ten of the first 16 games have come away from home, with trips to Montreal, Ottawa and Vegas still ahead before the next home game Nov. 12.
Schmidt said that stretch can help a group bond, especially after a summer that brought change, including the arrivals of veteran forwards Anders Lee and Vincent Trochek.
“That’s when you really try to start to build your bonds and really weave your own fabric,” Schmidt said. “We’ve been pretty resilient after games that we don’t like.”
Weegar, who came over from the Calgary Flames ahead of last season’s trade deadline, said Utah is starting to look like a place players want to be.
“It’s an unbelievable market and an underrated fan base,” he said. “You’re seeing a lot of players put this team on the map and want to come here, which they should.
“We’ve got everything.”
Tourigny says he felt that energy the moment the team arrived in Utah more than 2 1/2 years ago.
“Here in Canada, you often talk about the passion of the fans,” he said. “The atmosphere was absolutely amazing, like it was Game 7.
“Hell of a start.”
Elsewhere around the league, Carolina is showing no sign of a championship hangover after winning its second Stanley Cup in June by beating Vegas. The Hurricanes lead the NHL at 12-3-2 and are tied with Minnesota for the most regulation wins with 11 through 17 games.
And in Nashville, the Predators made a notable move over the weekend by acquiring Shane Wright, the No. 4 pick in the 2022 draft, from the Seattle Kraken for centre Matthew Wood. Wright, who was once in the mix to go first overall before sliding to fourth, had 82 points - 39 goals and 43 assists - in 183 games with Seattle and was held off the scoresheet in his Nashville debut Tuesday. Wood, selected 15th overall by the Predators in 2023, had 34 points - 18 goals and 16 assists - in 91 career games entering Wednesday.
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