SALT LAKE CITY - Utah’s first trip to the playoffs gave the Mammoth a clear lesson, and it came in the roughest part of the ice.
Against the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round this past spring, Utah’s speed and young skill created chances. Vegas answered by leaning on the crease, winning the battles in front and wearing the Mammoth down on the way to a 4-2 series win.
That mismatch is a big reason Utah went looking for more muscle this offseason. The Mammoth brought in Vincent Trocheck and Anders Lee, two forwards built to live around the net and make life miserable for opposing defenses.
The numbers from that series tell the story. Vegas scored 23 goals, and 14 of them were considered dirty goals.
Utah scored 18, but only five fit that same description. The Golden Knights controlled the front of the net, screened Karel Vejmelka and kept cashing in on second chances.
Utah simply didn’t match that physical edge.
“When we internally broke down our team, a lot of it had to do with the Vegas series,” Utah GM Bill Armstrong told KSL Sports. “We have to get to the inside. We’ve got to play harder on the inside.”
“You have to have people who are designated to be net front guys and they own the front. To the Barrett Hayton’s of the world to the Vinny Trocheck and Anders Lee, who is a master at it, you can just feel we’re going to be a harder team to play against when we get to the middle of the ice.”
Utah’s offseason choices reflected that plan. The club moved on from players such as Alexander Kerfoot and JJ Peterka, then added two veterans who make their living in the dirty areas.
Lee brings size, strength and a long track record of doing the work that doesn’t always show up in the prettiest way. The 6-foot-3, 234-pound forward is a 14-year veteran, a former eight-year captain of the New York Islanders, and a classic power forward.
“I like to do a lot of the dirty work for the guys on my line,” Lee said. “Get in front of the net & try to create some havoc for the goaltender.”
“Allow the skill guys to do their thing…[I’ll] try to put something dirty in the net.”
Trocheck gives Utah a different look, but the same kind of edge. He is smaller than Lee, yet he plays with the same hard-nosed, irritating style that can tilt a game. He’s also a faceoff specialist with enough skill and two-way ability to be useful in a lot of situations.
“I also like to use my size,” Trocheck said. “I play a similar style [to Lee].
It’s a lot of dirty work. Hard on the forecheck, gritty-style game, play two hundred feet.
Play on the penalty kill, power play, wherever I can.”
For Utah, the mission was obvious: get bigger, stronger, nastier and more aggressive in front of the net. The Mammoth already have speed and skill. Now they’ve added two players who can help turn that into a more complete playoff attack.
It may not fix everything, but it should make Utah harder to play against when the games get tight and the ice gets crowded.
In Other News...
Mammoth Faced A Franchise Defining Trade Decision Before The Deadline
Before the deadline, Utah had to weigh whether to push chips in for a major addition or keep protecting the young talent that has become the backbone of its future. The Mammoth were linked to a possible move for Robert Thomas, but the conversation never got far enough to change course, and the organization ultimately chose to stay patient rather than part with prized prospects for a win-now swing.
That restraint made sense given how highly the franchise values its pipeline, especially with Caleb Desnoyers and Tij Iginla viewed as central pieces of what comes next. It also leaves the kind of second-guessing that follows any near miss, because once a team decides not to make a franchise-shaping trade, every later result tends to sharpen the debate about whether the safer path was the right one. [Read more 🡒]