Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to Behive Sports Report, where we work our
way from the headlines to the locker rooms and on
the way, there's always something for every Utah sports fan
to get excited about. Today, we're diving deep into the
Utah Mammoth, who are gearing up for their first official
season under the new name and their second year bringing
NHL hockey to Salt Lake City. Year one was about
(00:20):
proving the market and proving the move is worth it,
showing the league that Utah belongs. They really did a
good job of that, but now comes the hard part
sustaining momentum, building a winner, and carving out a long
term identity in the state's crowded sports landscape and the NHL.
(00:49):
I want to take a systematic approach to covering the
team's offseason, So I first have to talk about how
season number one went, what was their record, what was respectable,
and what wasn't. We're also going to talk key offseason moves.
I want to go over their trades, their draft picks,
their free agent signings, and some notable extensions. Then we'll
dive into the coaching staff, the front office. They're kind
(01:10):
of keeping the band together, which is nice. What they've
done to build credibility and stability in year two is significant,
and of course, what are the expectations are the Mammoth
ready to go from a fun first year story to
a legit playoff contender. Now let's dive into how their
first season went and the mamus inaugural season as the
(01:30):
Utah Hockey Club was respectable. Theyan did thirty eight, thirty
five and nine and they were right on the cusp
of making the playoff race. It was far from the
doormat some people thought they would be. Attendance was also
super strong, averaged over sixteen thousand people per night, which
put them in the top half of NHL attendance rankings.
(01:50):
Ben Energy was off the charts, even though there were
some struggles with the stadium, and Salt Lake City almost
overnight became a hockey town. If you look on the ice,
young stars like Logan Cooley and Dylan Gunther looked the part.
Cooley finished with sixty nine points and Gunther wasn't far behind,
and Veggie, their main goaltender, proved that he was more
than capable of carrying the load as the main goaltender.
(02:15):
Cooley even said after the final game and I quote,
we knew we had to earn the trust of this
fan base, and honestly, they gave us so much more
energy than we could have expected. It never felt like
a first year team. But the flaws were pretty obvious too.
There was some issues with depth, scoring, the power play
finished in the bottom third of the league, and playing
(02:35):
in the Delta Center did expose every limitation of a
basketball first arena, sitelines, ice, quality, you name it. Captain
Clayton Keller summed it up well and I quote again,
we made strides, but good isn't good enough. We saw
flashes of what we can be, and now it's about
bringing it every night and tightening up the details. I
love these quotes from the players because they had to
(02:57):
have been surprised at the amount of support they got,
and it gives them hope for what's being built here.
I mean, year one wasn't perfect, but it was a
start and a really, really good one for the Utah
Hockey Club, now the Utah Mammoth. If you like the
content so far, please consider engaging with us on social
and ratings. Interviews are most helpful. We'll be holding street
(03:18):
interviews and have live postgame reactions once the season starts
that you won't want to miss. Now back to the show.
This summer, the Mammoth made it clear that they're not
just content to be competitive, they want to contend at
the highest levels and GM Bill Armstrong has been pushing
all of the right buttons this offseason. The Hockey Gods
(03:39):
did smile down on Utah when they got the fourth
overall pick in the NHL lottery. When they were a
mid tier team. They should not have gotten the fourth
overall pick, but they did end up in the top
four of the draft and they landed Caleb de Noya,
who is a dynamic two way. Four out of Canada.
Scouts do rave about his hockey IQ and his competitive level.
(04:00):
Assistant GM Chris O'Hearn also said, and I quote, he's
the type of kid who wants to puck on his
stick with two minutes left in a tide game, and
that's the mentality we want to build around here. Other
notable moves in trading and free agency now they did
trade away kessel Ring and doan for JJ Paterca. The
trade was done with the Buffalo Sabers. The Utah again
(04:23):
had the third most ot losses in the league. Last
year and their power play struggled, so this gives them
a little bit more firepower. Patterca did have sixty eight
points last year. I know kessel Ring and Don are
some fan favorites, but it's hard to argue with the
value that Peterka will bring to this team. The Mammoth
also traded away forward Matthias Mitchelli to the Toronto Maple
(04:43):
Leafs in exchange for a conditional third round pick in
twenty twenty seven. This pick will upgrade to a second
round pick if Mitchelli scores fifty one or more points
during the twenty twenty five NHL season and the Maple
Leaves make the playoffs, so there is some upside there,
although I'm not sure fans will be too happy with
trading away Mitchelli. Depth was a priority this offseason. They
(05:04):
did add Brandon to nev It was a priceier deal
for his age, but he brings energy in a veteran presence.
It'll be good for the locker room. Nate Schmidt is
also a nice addition coming off the Florida Panthers Stanley
Cup winning squad, and he's gonna add some depth and
experience as well. I also liked that goaltending got attention.
They signed a proven backup in the tech vanisek and
(05:26):
this has helped. This is gonna help take pressure off Veggie.
It was only a one year, one and a half
million dollar deal, which is a pretty sweet deal for
a backup goaltender like Vanachick. It's pretty team friendly. Nice
work by GM, Bill Armstrong and that staff in the
front office that we'll get to in just a little bit.
Mammoth head coach Andre Tarini also explained it's not just
(05:47):
it's not doubting Coreer, it's not doubting Veggie. It's about
making sure that he's fresh when it matters most. And
he carried a really heavy load last year, so they
won him sharp in April, not just in November. A
couple of other notable moves here. Jack McBain signed a
long term deal in Utah, and he was quoted talking
about the changes in the ownership's commitment. He said that
(06:10):
they're not just filling a journey a jersey, and every
move this summer was about winning. He joins other notable
extensions in JJ Pittterca, who signed a five year deal
after the trade with the Sabers, Michael krkon re signed
on a league minimum and Nick de Simone on a
barely above league minimum deal, although with the depth that
(06:30):
was brought in, it's not even sure that de Simone
is gonna get playing time in the defensive rotation. Most importantly,
this isn't an extension that hasn't happened yet, but they
have already begun extension talks with Logan Cooley, which is
a big deal and something that will make all the
fans very happy for the future. The bottom line here
(06:53):
is that management is pretty serious. Ryan and Nashley Smith
gave the green light to spend, and the front office
delivered a more complete, deeper roster at all levels. They
gained depth on offense and more firepower. They brought an
experienced defense, they bolstered their power play squads, and they
brought in help with goaltending. So it's hard to argue
with any of the moves that GM, Bill Armstrong and
(07:16):
the team has put together here this offseason. That's a
good segue as well. Let's jump into what's going on
behind the bench with the front office and the coaching staff.
Head coach Andre Tarini was kept on through the relocation
last year, and he stays again this year. That's proving
to be a pretty smart deal. Continuity does matter the
longer this thing goes. Tarini is known as a player's
(07:38):
coach and that's been huge in building trust as well.
They also kept all their assistants and the front office personnel,
so those groups remained intact, and again this is huge
in building trust and establishing continuity for the squad, but
it is also time to evolve. Tarini said it best
in that year one they wanted to let the guys
(07:58):
play free show their skill, but this year is about
structure and they do want to be more dangerous and disciplined.
Is the big thing. The staff's focus in camp is
special teams. Obviously, the power play finished bottom third in
the league, and Tarini admitted that it was on the
coaching staff because they do need better execution and he
thinks the weapons they've added will help with that. This
(08:21):
whole reputation does matter in professional sports leagues. It's not
just the NHL, but any professional sports league. You look
at the reputation of the front office and the coaching
staff makes a big deal for not only how much
the players will listen, how much they'll execute, but also
in free agent signings and whether or not people really
want to play there. And I think Utah is doing
a great job of building the kind of culture that
(08:42):
players want to be at, where players want to play.
Let's move on to the arena before we jump into
expectations for the upcoming season. Though I don't want to
talk too much about this because it's a little bit
of a downside and I want to keep this episode
more positive. But the Delta Center right now is still
home to the Utah Mammoth, and some upgrades are underway,
(09:04):
less permanent kinds of things. There's retractable seating being installed.
They're gonna have new dehumidifiers coming online, and some fan
amenities I'm sure will be improved too. You know, Ryan
Smith even called these short term solutions and not the endgame.
The real news is some sort of looming announcement coming
from the NHL and the Mammoth and the city even
(09:26):
about a new permanent NHL arena. League insiders believe an
announcement will come before the end of the calendar year,
with a downtown site near the Salt Palace as the
front runner for where this new NHL arena could be.
The NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also has been bullish on Utah.
He has come out and said that the market has
exceeded expectations and the commitment from ownership and passion from
(09:48):
fans has been remarkable. The next step is giving them
a world class arena. So the league is obviously on
board with having a separate site from the Delta Center,
and for fans it just means patience. This season, sitelines
still aren't going to be perfect, and nice conditions still
will be watched closely. Players will have to deal with
that too, But the direction is clear, and that is
(10:08):
Utah is going to get its hockey palace, and when
it happens, the man with won't just be tenants, they'll
be anchors of the city sports team and hopefully the league.
Let's wrap it up here though, with our last segment,
which is kind of just talking about expectations for the
upcoming season, and I kind of want to break this
up into like three base case scenarios. You have a
(10:29):
best case, you have a middle case, and you have
a worst case. So let's start with the worst case,
because that's the least exciting and I honestly think the
team is closer to the best case than it is
the worst case. But the worst case is that injuries
pile up, young players regress, don't come out as hot
as maybe they did last year, and they stall out,
and the team ends up around five hundred again in
the middle of the pack. That would be pretty disappointing,
(10:51):
And I'm not sure what the team would do going
into next year to kind of write the ship, or
if they would just stay pat hoping for more injury
luck or young player progression. It's hard to tell, right
because in that worst case, you don't know exactly when
went wrong. But there's definitely gonna be some things to
consider going into next season if that ends up. Where
(11:13):
the Mammoths are gonna be the middle ground is that
they stay competitive, they sell out lots of games, and
they play meaningful hockey into April, even if they just
fall short of the postseason, or even if they make
the postseason and get bounced in like a sweep in
the first round. I'd group that all together in kind
of like the middle case scenario. I'm expecting at least
that I would like to see them, like I said,
(11:35):
play competitive hockey even though they don't make the playoffs.
It'd be awesome to see them make the playoffs if
they do, not entirely expecting them to make a run
past the first round, but even that earlier term playoff
experience will be super helpful for some of those young
guys like Coolian Gunther. The best case, though, is that
the Mammoth ride their improved depth. They get a lot
(11:56):
of maturity out of COOLi and Gunther, They've got another
strong season from Veggie, and they play themselves into a
playoff spot and actually win the first round or maybe
even the second round. I mean, that would be a
huge leap. But one person that's never shot on confidence
is Logan Cooley. He said this offseason that we're not
here to just be a good story anymore. We want
(12:18):
to be a playoff team, and anything less means we're
not satisfied. GM Bill Armstrong echoed that ambition, saying that
last year is about proving the move and this year
is about proving the team. So personally, I think they're
closer to that best case scenario versus the worst. The
roster is deeper, the stars are maturing, the front office
has been aggressive, Utah's fan base is behind them. It
(12:40):
feels like a lot of momentum is building towards something
really big in Utah. But that is a wrap on
this episode of Beehive Sports Report, a Life in the
Stands production. The Utah Mammoth aren't just the new team
in town anymore. They're part of the fabric of sports
in Utah and the NHL. Year one proved that hockey
belongs in the state, and year two is about showing
(13:03):
the NHL that the Mammoth are here to stay and
ready to win. If you like today's deep dive on
the Utah Mammoth, please rate and review the show. It
really helps more fans find us, and don't forget to
follow us on social media at Life in the Stands,
bron Ex, TikTok, and Instagram, and we'll be doing lots
of behind the scenes coverage all season long. Until next time,
I'm Zach Quinn and thanks for listening to be Hive
(13:24):
Sports Report.