For the next few weeks, there will be plenty of speculation about which teams will add which players. However, most of the noise leading up to July 1st will be about which players’ teams won’t keep, and the Utah Mammoth reportedly has a few. According to Craig Morgan of The Sedona Conference, the Mammoth are likely to let forward Nick Bjugstad and defenseman Robert Bortuzzo pursue other options this summer.
Given the more than $20MM available to the Mammoth this offseason, letting both players walk is more about performance and team-building rather than money. Bjugstad is inarguably the most valuable of the two, coming off an eight-goal, 19-point performance in 66 games for Utah during the 2024-25 campaign, averaging 12:19 of ice time. Still, it’s a far cry from his performance from a year ago, when Bjugstad registered 22 goals and 45 points in 76 games in a second-line role.
Meanwhile, there’s a legitimate chance that Bortuzzo is seriously contemplating retirement after completing the 14th season of his professional career. Limited by injuries this past season, Bortuzzo finished with two assists in 17 games, while mostly playing as the team’s seventh and sometimes eighth defenseman. The Mammoth already has eight defensemen signed through next season, leaving little room for Bortuzzo on the roster.
Other notes from the Western Conference:
- Along similar lines, Russell Morgan of Hockey Royalty reports that the Los Angeles Kings aren’t expected to offer Tanner Jeannot a contract for the upcoming season. Jeannot has seen his stock drop precipitously in recent years, going from scoring 24 goals and amassing 318 hits with the Nashville Predators in the 2021-22 season, to a 13-point campaign in 67 games for the Kings this past season. He can still be relied upon for physicality, but Jeannot will have a difficult time finding a similar salary on the open market this summer.
- On the cusp of reaching the open market and objectively becoming one of the top centers available, Matt Duchene instead chose to re-sign with the Dallas Stars on a four-year deal worth $18MM, likely leaving several million dollars on the table. In a new interview with Lia Assimakopoulos of The Dallas Morning News, Duchene indicated how easy a choice it was, saying, “First of all, any guy I’ve talked to wants to come back, so that’s great. I mean, it’s such a desirable place. I think it’s a place that anybody in the league would be lucky to play. And most guys in the league want to play for our team, and that speaks to the culture that the organization has created.“
Doesn’t matter now and maybe stupid question but are teams allowed to sign back players even if they’re paying them a buyout? like Duchene and Nashville for example
Yes, a team can buy out a player and then re-sign them, but there are specific rules and limitations. According to Puckpedia, the re-signing cannot be pre-arranged or agreed upon at the time of the buyout. It must be a legitimate transaction where the player is genuinely free to negotiate with any team. Additionally, there may be a waiting period before the original team can re-sign the player.
I was wondering about that myself so I “googled” it lol
This has happened relatively recently, too. Calgary bought out the final year of Michael Stone’s contract in 2019 during the buyout period but ultimately brought him back on a one-year deal for the league minimum near the start of training camp. He went on to play three more years with the Flames after that minimum-salary deal expired.
Utah may have to make room for But, Iginla, Simashev, And Lamoureux. It should be a Mammoth training camp.
No pun intended of course lol
Utah should put together a monster package for Matthews… Leafs would be silly not to listen