The Utah Mammoth trimmed their camp roster again on Friday morning, sending a wave of young talent to the AHL and putting a few veterans on waivers as the opening-day deadline creeps closer.
Among the notable moves, the team reassigned Tij Iginla, Caleb Desnoyers, Yegor Borikov, Gabe Smith and goaltender Michael Hrabal to the Tucson Roadrunners. Utah also placed Brandon Tanev, Joshua Roy and defenseman Zac Jones on waivers with the goal of moving them to Tucson as well.
That means two of the organization’s most talked-about prospects will start the 2026-27 season in the American Hockey League, not because they’ve done something wrong, but because the roster around them has gotten harder to crack. With Vincent Trocheck and Anders Lee added this offseason, Utah’s top six is deeper, older and more experienced, and that pushed the competition for NHL spots into another gear.
For Iginla and Desnoyers, the path to Salt Lake City is still there. Injuries happen, and the expectation is that both players would be near the front of the line if a top-six opening comes up.
The situation is familiar enough, too. The source of the optimism around them hasn’t changed, and neither has the belief that their turn will come.
Utah’s front office has seen this kind of development route before. Even Dylan Guenther, who scored 40 goals last season, spent time in the AHL early in his career before forcing his way into the NHL picture. Iginla and Desnoyers will now get the same chance to prove they belong.
Tanev’s situation looks different. After signing a three-year, $2.5M AAV deal last summer, he has not produced much in a Mammoth uniform, finishing 56 regular season games without a goal and with only three assists. His preseason showing didn’t help matters, either, and his contract makes a waiver move easier for Utah to manage.
The Mammoth now turn to their final preseason game, a Saturday afternoon home date with the Colorado Avalanche at Delta Center at 3 p.m. MT. The game will air on SEG+, and it will also be carried live on the KSL Sports Zone at 97.5 FM/1280 AM.
In Other News...
Former Coyotes Face Tough Roster Cuts As Utah Gets Closer To Opening Night
The Utah Mammoth took another step toward opening night with a practice at the Delta Center, where the focus was less on the spotlight of a renovated rink and more on the hard roster decisions that come with the final days of camp. With the preseason winding down and a final tuneup against the Colorado Avalanche ahead, the group kept its attention on refining systems and settling in for the regular season.
Several players were sent to the Tucson Roadrunners as the roster began to thin out, and the moves underscored how close Utah is to locking in its first group for the season. The team also put a handful of players on waivers with the goal of assigning them to Tucson, a reminder that the last cuts can be the toughest part of this stretch, especially for players trying to stay in the mix as opening night approaches. [Read more 🡒]