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Mammoth Sign Montana Onyebuchi To Two-Year Extension

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The Utah Mammoth have signed bruising depth defenseman Montana Onyebuchi to a two-year, two-way contract extension. The deal will carry a league-minimum, $775K salary at the NHL level. Onyebuchi was set to become a restricted free agent on Tuesday.

Onyebuchi has yet to make his NHL debut, but he’s found a niche as the hard-hitting presence backing the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. He stands at an imposing 6-foot-3, 220 pounds and used that size to rival Curtis Douglas for the Roadrunners’ lead in penalty minutes over the last two seasons. This year, Onyebuchi posted 10 points and 112 penalty minutes through 64 appearances. That mark falls just shy of the mammoth 145 penalty minutes he recorded in 49 games last season, to go along with nine points.

The bruising role has long been a familiar one for Onyebuchi. He played his junior hockey years in the WHL and routinely rivaled one penalty per game on average. That presence peaked in the 2018-19 season — his age-19 season — when Onyebuchi amassed 122 penalty minutes and 20 points through 66 games with the Kamloops Blazers. He’d continue to post high-end PIMs through the next two WHL seasons, doing just enough to catch the eyes of the San Jose Sharks organization ahead of the 2021-22 campaign. San Jose signed Onyebuchi to a minor-league contract and he quickly brought his imposing presence to the pro flight — racking up 137 PIMs in 46 games of his AHL rookie season, a mark that was underlined by his 20 PIMs in eight ECHL games that season as well.

While hard-hits and time in the penalty box are the core of Onyebuchi’s game, his presence in the lineup has still proven invaluable. He recorded an assist and no PIMs in three games of the Calder Cup Playoffs this season. A two-year deal will put Onyebuchi back on the path to carving out an everyday role with the Roadrunners, and will continue to make him an option should be the Mammoth ever need a fighter at the top flight.

Maple Leafs Acquire Matias Maccelli From Mammoth

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The Maple Leafs have acquired winger Matias Maccelli from the Mammoth in exchange for their 2027 third-round pick, both teams announced. The pick will upgrade to Toronto’s 2029 second-rounder if Maccelli records at least 51 points in 2025-26 and the Leafs make the playoffs.

The change of scenery comes after a disastrous campaign for Maccelli, one of the few Utah players who took a measurable step back after the players moved there from Arizona. He was reportedly shopped around at the trade deadline, but no move came to fruition. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports Maccelli did submit an official trade request to Utah GM Bill Armstrong during the season.

It’s likely a worthwhile bet on Toronto’s part on Maccelli’s ceiling. He was a fourth-round pick by the Coyotes back in 2019, but immediately popped as a strong point producer in his native Finland and in the AHL. He forced his way into a full-time role with Arizona in 2022 and was a legitimate top-six piece for the Coyotes in their last two years of existence, finishing fourth in Calder Trophy voting back in 2022-23 on the back of an 11-goal, 49-point showing in 64 games. He continued to hover around that pace in 2023-24, playing in all 82 games for the Yotes and finishing third on the team with 57 points.

Amid increased competition from younger, higher-profile names like Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther, Maccelli’s production and ice time tumbled in Utah. He ended up spending a good part of the latter half of the year in the press box and had just eight goals and 18 points in 55 games on the year. That came with a career-low -13 rating and 13:44 average time on ice as well.

The Leafs hope Maccelli can see increased production, presumably as their second-line left wing alongside John Tavares and William Nylander, a position that was a bit of a revolving door throughout the 2024-25 campaign. He should, theoretically, fit in quite well as the primary playmaker on that line beside two incredibly skilled goal-scorers. Toronto’s focus will now turn toward finding a Mitch Marner substitute in free agency for their top line alongside Matthew Knies and Auston Matthews. After acquiring Maccelli, who’s signed through next season at a $3.425MM cap hit and will be an RFA upon expiry, they still have $10.1MM in space, per PuckPedia.

Utah doesn’t really need to make a corresponding move to replace Maccelli, who spent a good portion of the season out of the lineup anyway. They come out well here, too, for getting a potential second-rounder after the poor showing Maccelli had in 2024-25. They now have $18.4MM in cap space for next season with Jack McBain as their only notable RFA, per PuckPedia.

Darren Dreger of TSN was first to report the trade.

Image courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.

Free Agent Notes: Marchand, Gavrikov, Provorov, Granlund, Faksa, Pezzetta

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If the Panthers can’t get a deal done to keep Brad Marchand in Florida before the market opens tomorrow, Darren Dreger of TSN expects the Bruins, Mammoth, and Maple Leafs to be his most aggressive suitors in free agency.

A Boston reunion would be surprising given there’s been no change in the front office that wasn’t willing to match Marchand’s cheaper requests for an extension during the season, resulting in the Bruins trading their captain to the Panthers at the deadline. Nonetheless, it’s a financially feasible move for them and one that would address their rather significant need for top-six forwards. The club still has $12.74MM in cap space after getting extensions done for names like John Beecher, Morgan Geekie, and Henri Jokiharju in the last 24 hours, per PuckPedia. Marchand would likely command a contract in the $8MM range annually if he hits the open market.

While Utah has seemed to dial back its rhetoric of making a significant free agent splash, instead placing complete trust in its young core and opting for more youthful pickups via trade, like JJ Peterka, Marchand might make more sense on a shorter-term contract. They still have nearly $15MM in cap space and enter 2025-26 with one of the youngest forward groups in the league – their only forwards 30 or older are Alexander Kerfoot and Liam O’Brien.

The Leafs also have their cap flexibility for Tuesday dialed in after getting rather affordable extensions done for Matthew Knies ($7.75MM) and John Tavares ($4.38MM AAV) in the last few days. They’d presumably be one of the more appealing fits for Marchand to remain both with a contending team and in a top-six role, potentially even seeing top-line minutes in place of the departing Mitch Marner.

Here are a few more rumors from around the NHL ahead of the official start of free agency on Tuesday:

  • Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic relays that the Kings are making a last-ditch effort today to reach an extension with defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. While general manager Ken Holland said over the weekend he expects Gavrikov to test the market, L.A. still hasn’t heard back from Gavrikov’s camp on their final offer.
  • While things were quiet on extension talks between the Blue Jackets and defenseman Ivan Provorov for weeks, they re-engaged in negotiations yesterday, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports. They presumably decided getting yesterday’s extension for Dante Fabbro done, ensuring they retain depth on their weaker right side of the blue line, was a priority over Provorov’s talks.
  • Center Mikael Granlund and the Stars continue to have mutual interest in an extension, according to LeBrun. It still looks unlikely something will get done before tomorrow with the Stars having just $980K in projected cap space for next season, but they could reach a handshake agreement if Dallas is confident they can move out other contracts to make Granlund’s money work. They’ve already been successful in retaining vets Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene on below-market-value deals.
  • Depth pivot Radek Faksa will have plenty of options tomorrow if he reaches the market, given the lack of centers available, but there’s still the possibility he stays with the Blues. The two sides remain in extension talks, says Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic.
  • The Maple Leafs are among the teams expected to have interest in Canadiens enforcer Michael Pezzetta, assuming he hits the market tomorrow, reports LeBrun.

Penguins Linked To Jack McBain

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  • According to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, the Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to capitalize on the lack of progress in contract negotiations between the Utah Mammoth and forward Jack McBain. Yohe indicated that McBain would be an ideal fit for the Penguins’ hole at third-line center, and his physicality and tertiary scoring ability are of great intrigue to General Manager Kyle Dubas.

    [SOURCE LINK]
  • According to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, the Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to capitalize on the lack of progress in contract negotiations between the Utah Mammoth and forward Jack McBain. Yohe indicated that McBain would be an ideal fit for the Penguins’ hole at third-line center, and his physicality and tertiary scoring ability are of great intrigue to General Manager Kyle Dubas.

Mammoth Acquire, Extend J.J. Peterka

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The Buffalo Sabres are reportedly close to finalizing a deal that would send winger JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth in exchange for forward prospect Josh Doan and defenseman Michael Kesselring, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. It’s been further announced that Peterka has agreed to a five-year, $38.5MM extension with the Mammoth, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The Mammoth later confirmed the trade and signing. It’s a late-night blockbuster, and a rare three-player swap with no additions.

Utah has now completed the franchise’s biggest trade under its new moniker. In Peterka, the Mammoth have acquired a consistent goal-scorer they can plug into their top six without having to part with too many quality assets. Kesselring and Doan filled important needs for the team last season, but they didn’t replicate what Peterka can bring to their offense.

The German-born winger was selected by the Sabres as the 34th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, coming from EHC München in the DEL. A year later, after scoring nine goals and 20 points in 30 DEL contests and 10 points in only five World Junior Championship games, the Sabres knew that it wouldn’t be long before Peterka debuted in North America.

He did just that the following season. Primarily playing for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, Peterka gave an impressive rookie performance, scoring 28 goals and 68 points in 70 games. Despite being named to the All-Rookie Team and finishing 10th in AHL scoring, Peterka lost out on the Dudley “Red” Garrett Memorial Award as the league’s most outstanding rookie to teammate Jack Quinn.

Despite playing in two games during the 2021-22 campaign, Peterka made the full transition to NHL hockey in 2022-23 and never looked back. Being a capable tertiary scorer during the 2022-23 campaign with limited ice time, Peterka became a full-fledged top-six winger the last two seasons, scoring 55 goals and 118 points in 159 games played.

Peterka has some defensive shortcomings to work on, which is to be expected of any young winger. Still, he brings a wealth of offensive capabilities and possession quality to plug into a similarly styled offense in Salt Lake City. Peterka will join the likes of Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Guenther, and Barrett Hayton and the Mammoth’s top-six, with every player falling under the age of 30.

Meanwhile, Buffalo adds a young, right-handed defenseman whom they’ve been coveting for some time. The team was oversaturated on the left side last season, with all four of the team’s highest-paid blue liners shooting from the left. Even at 25 years old, Kesselring has already proven to be a capable puck-moving defenseman who can hold his own in the defensive zone.

It’s hard to imagine the Mammoth thought Kesselring would become the player he is. The Arizona Coyotes acquired Kesselring from the Edmonton Oilers in 2023 as part of the Nick Bjugstad trade, whom they later re-signed the following offseason. They quickly assigned him to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners.

Since then, Kesselring has scored 12 goals and 50 points in 147 NHL contests, jumping into a top-four role with the formerly named Utah Hockey Club last season. The scoring totals may not stand out, but his possession and defensive metrics are impressive. He finished the 2024-25 campaign with a 53.7% CorsiFor% at even strength, and a on-ice save percentage of 92.2%. His positive possession quality should help the Sabres dramatically, as they finished the 2024-25 campaign as the league’s 17th-best possession team.

Lastly, Doan, the son of former Coyotes icon Shane Doan, comes to the Sabres organization without having made his mark on the NHL level. The former 37th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft has been a productive AHL scorer since his draft year, accumulating 40 goals and 78 points in 104 games.

Still, that talent hasn’t yet translated to the NHL level, and much of that can be explained by a lack of ice time. Doan finished the 2024-25 campaign with seven goals and 21 points in 51 games, averaging 13:31 seconds of ice time in a third-line role. Unfortunately, given the talent that the Sabres have on the wing in their top-six, Doan is likely destined for the same role in New York.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed significantly to this article.

Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images.

Free Agent Focus: Utah Mammoth

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Free agency is now under a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Mammoth.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Jack McBain – The sole season of the Utah Hockey Club’s existence will go down in NHL history – and near the top of the list of cult players will be Jack McBain. He continued to fill the important, impactful role in Utah’s bottom-six that he’s become known for over the last four seasons, but managed the best results yet. McBain scored a career-high 13 goals and 27 points while appearing in all 82 games of the season this year. The performance just narrowly usurps his 26 points career-high from each of the last two seasons. He also set a career-high in penalty minutes (78) and matched his personal-best plus-eight. McBain is only four seasons, and 241 games, into his NHL career – but it’s so far been marked by imposing, physical play and few costly mistakes. He’s likely on his way to earning a commendable deal, and stamping his place in the early days of Utah’s franchise, with a new contract this summer.

F Kailer Yamamoto – Utah’s only other RFA to play in NHL games this season is winger Kailer Yamamoto. He joined the Hockey Club on a one-year, two-way, league-minimum contract last summer, and earned an AHL assignment just a few weeks into the regular season. He went on to play in his first AHL games since the 2019-20 season and performed brilliantly. All of Yamamoto’s quick pace and jerky dekes translated to the minor flight. He led the Tucson Roadrunners in scoring for much of the season, and finished the year with 20 goals and 56 points in 54 games. That strong scoring earned Yamamoto 12 total appearances in the NHL before the year’s end, though he was only able to muster two goals and three points in those games. After a 2017 first-round selection, and years of questions, it seems Yamamoto’s style is set. He’s a dazzling minor-league scorer, who struggles to carry his flash to the top flight. A new contract should reward him as such, though Yamamoto is still a great asset to have in the pipeline.

Other RFA: D Montana Onyebuchi

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Nick Bjugstad – The 2023-24 season was the first of Bjugstad’s tenure in the Arizona, or Utah, pipeline – and it was marked by an incredible return to productivity. He scored 22 goals and 45 points in 76 games – the most he had scored since he potted 49 points in the 2017-18 season. It was an impressive performance that earned Bjugstad routine run with Utah’s second-line. But he fell back to Earth this year, and finished the season with just 19 points and 12 minutes of average ice time through 66 appearances. At a glance, it seems the curtains are beginning to close on Bjugstad’s fantastic, 12-year career through the NHL. But his veteran presence and potential to catch a scoring groove will still be coveted. Even 30 points would be enough to make him a worthwhile addition. Utah’s optimism that he can reach that mark will likely define whether he ends his career as a Mammoth, or with another move.

F Michael Carcone – Carcone played through his second full-time role in the NHL this season. He’s worked his way up through eight seasons in the minor leagues, where his hard-nosed presence and ability to drive a line was consistently challenged and proven. He’s carried those traits onto Utah’s fourth-line over the last two seasons. He scored 21 goals and 29 points in 74 games of last season, and a much more manageable seven goals and 19 points in 53 games this year. Those numbers don’t jump off the page – but they do equate to a yearly average of 18 goals and 31 points per season, when adjusted to a full 82-game pace. That’s a much more commendable mark, and there’s a good possibility that it earns Carcone a return to Utah’s fourth-line with a minimal-cost contract next season.

F Egor Sokolov – Sokolov will enter free agency as a Group 6 UFA this summer, earning the right to unrestricted negotiations after only appearing in 13 NHL games over the last four seasons. Every one of those appearances came in an Ottawa Senators jersey, and Sokolov only managed one goal and one assist to show for it. But he’s found a strong groove in the minors over the last two seasons – netting 46 goals in 71 games with the AHL’s Belleville Senators last year, and 44 points in 72 games with Tucson this year. He looked controlled and aggressive for mcuh of the year, but was also consistently planted as Tucson faced barrages from opponents. He’s in desperate need for a more defense-oriented style. At only 25 years old, he could still add those components in. If he does, he’ll have the size and scoring consistency to push for a hardy NHL role. That fact could make him worth locking up on a cheap, multi-year deal before July 1st.

D Robert Bortuzzo – While Bjugstad eyes retirement on the horizon, Bortuzzo could come face-to-face with it this summer. To say his role in Utah was minimal may be an understatement. He appeared in just 17 games on the season, and averaged fewer than 11 minutes of ice time. His absences were generally the result of a lower-body injury that held him out for all but two games after December 11th. But his on-ice impact is slowing down as well, and it seems Bortuzzo could soon be pushed to end his career at 577 games played, 76 points scored, and one Stanley Cup won. If he’s convinced to play for one more year, it will be in the role of seventh-defender for a team in need for a feisty and physical depth piece.

Other UFAs: F Travis Barron, F Sammy Walker, F Cameron Hebig, D Patrik Koch

Projected Salary Cap

Utah has absolutely minimal to worry about as the summer approaches. McBain stands as the only must-sign option among their pending free-agents, and the rest of the lot could be had for a very miniscule total. That means they’ll be able to dedicate the vast majority of their $20.36MM in projected cap space towards building the roster up this summer. The Mammoth finished the season just eight points out of a playoff spot, and could find the pieces needed to regain ground with one or two exciting additions this summer.

Mammoth Unexpected To Retain Nick Bjugstad, Robert Bortuzzo

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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.

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Utah Mammoth Interested In Stars' Mason Marchment

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  • After signing center Matt Duchene to a new four-year, $18MM contract earlier today, the Dallas Stars only have a projected $455K in salary cap space entering the offseason. Given this, the Stars are looking to move salary off the roster, and forward Mason Marchment has found his name in the center of the rumor mill. According to David Pagnotta of TheFourthPeriod, Dallas is receiving interest in Marchment’s services, particularly from the Toronto Maple Leafs and Utah Mammoth. Marchment already has some familiarity with the Maple Leafs, appearing in four games for the Original Six franchise during the 2019-20 season.

    [SOURCE LINK]
  • After signing center Matt Duchene to a new four-year, $18MM contract earlier today, the Dallas Stars only have a projected $455K in salary cap space entering the offseason. Given this, the Stars are looking to move salary off the roster, and forward Mason Marchment has found his name in the center of the rumor mill. According to David Pagnotta of TheFourthPeriod, Dallas is receiving interest in Marchment’s services, particularly from the Toronto Maple Leafs and Utah Mammoth. Marchment already has some familiarity with the Maple Leafs, appearing in four games for the Original Six franchise during the 2019-20 season.

Mammoth Tried To Get Hrabal To Turn Pro For Upcoming Season

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  • The Mammoth tried to sign goaltender Michael Hrabal after this season, his college head coach Greg Carvel stated in a recent Sick Podcast appearance (video link). The 20-year-old was the 38th overall pick back in 2023 and has spent the past two seasons at the University of Massachusetts.  Hrabal posted a 2.37 GAA with a .924 SV% in 36 games for the Minutemen which seemingly was enough for Utah to want to turn him pro.  Instead, Hrabal has decided to return for his junior year and seems like a strong candidate to sign after that.

Mammoth, Ben McCartney Agree To Two-Year, Two-Way Deal

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The Mammoth have signed winger Ben McCartney to a two-year, two-way contract, per a team release. He was a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights. He’ll earn the league minimum $775K salary if in the NHL for both seasons, but his minor-league salary wasn’t disclosed.

McCartney, 24 in July, gets some more runway to climb back up to the NHL after debuting way ahead of schedule for the Coyotes in 2021-22. A 2020 seventh-round pick by Arizona, he made a strong first impression upon arrival in AHL Tucson in 2021 and got his first call-up amid a rash of injuries early in the season. He recorded four shot attempts and seven hits in two games while averaging north of 14 minutes per night, but didn’t get on the scoresheet outside of a few penalty minutes. He’s stuck in the minors ever since, regressing offensively since his initial 18-17–35 showing in 57 games in 2021-22. After posting 0.61 points per game in that rookie season, he’s operated at 0.45 points per game over his last three seasons.

After battling some injuries during that time, McCartney showed more signs of life in 2024-25. The Manitoba native is now an alternate captain with the Roadrunners, where he returned after clearing waivers for the first time in his career back in October and posted a 16-17–33 scoring line in 63 games. He finished seventh on the team in scoring and fourth in PIMs (86) en route to his best offensive campaign since that rookie showing.

That isn’t enough to make him a legitimate candidate for a roster spot in the fall, but he may have at least earned a longer look in training camp to help push himself up Utah’s list of potential call-ups. If he doesn’t log 80 career NHL appearances by the time his deal is up in the summer of 2027, he’ll qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency. The Mammoth now have 40 of 50 possible standard contracts on their books for next season.

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