Snapshots: Capitals, Schmidt, Buium, Celebrini
Training camp updates are rolling in as many teams approach their first round of cuts. The most pertinent updates came for the Washington ahead of an early-morning scrimmage. Superstar Alex Ovechkin didn’t take the ice with the team as he continues to face a day-to-day, lower-body injury per Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. Silber also reported that forward Justin Sourdif and defenseman Martin Fehervary continue to not take contact during practice, and thus didn’t take part in Washington’s scrimmage.
None of Washington’s updates are cause for much concern. Ovechkin is expected to continue progressing towards a return, and be held out of action as a precaution. Ovechkin will return to his perennial role on top of Washington’s lineup when the regular season kicks off. Fehervary is also still on an expected track, continuing to work his way back from a torn meniscus suffered late last season. He underwent surgery on the knee during the off-season, but has since been unable to kick minor inflammation. Once that goes down, he’ll return to a solid role in Washington’s daily lineup. Sourdif was facing illness, and should work back to full speed after taking a few laps with the non-playing group on Sunday.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- Utah Mammoth defenseman Nate Schmidt was absent from the team’s Saturday practice. He was designated as day-to-day due to maintenance by head coach Andre Tourigny, per Cole Bagley of KSL Sports. That designation makes Schmidt’s availability over the next few days difficult, though it doesn’t seem the Mammoth are concerned about the long-term availability of their summer signing. Schmidt played a bottom-pair role on the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers last season, working his way up to 19 points in 80 games. He’ll likely fill a similar role in Utah, though brings the experience of a 741-game veteran and one-time Cup-winner to the NHL’s newest club.
- Continuing the list of absences was top Minnesota Wild prospect Zeev Buium, who missed his third-consecutive practice on Sunday per Michael Russo of The Athletic. Russo pointed out that Buium did skate with Jonas Brodin before practice started. Again, Buium’s ailment isn’t expected to be a serious issue, head coach John Hynes told Sarah McLellan of Star Tribune Sports. Buium will be pushing for a starring role on the Wild roster this season, after playing the first four games of his NHL career in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. He recorded one assist and four penalty minutes in those outings. An extended absence will make a run to the NHL a bit tougher, but the one-time NCAA National Champion should have no problem convincing the Wild brass when he’s back to full health.
- In a positive swing, San Jose Sharks star centerman Macklin Celebrini returned to the team’s practices after missing multiple days to illness, per Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. Celebrini won’t take part in San Jose’s first preseason game, though he’ll otherwise be fully on track to return to the role of San Jose’s top forward when the season kicks off. Celebrini scored 63 points in 70 games as a rookie last season, marking a franchise record in San Jose.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Utah Mammoth
Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those who don’t often see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2025-26 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia. We’re currently covering the Central Division, next up are the Mammoth.
Utah Mammoth
Current Cap Hit: $88,817,857 (below the $95.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Logan Cooley (one year, $950K)
Potential Bonuses
Cooley: $3.5MM
As expected, Cooley took a big step forward in his sophomore season while clearing all four of his ‘A’ bonuses ($1MM in total). GM Bill Armstrong hasn’t hesitated in trying to sign some of his young core pieces to long-term deals and it makes sense he’ll try to do so here. But with the cap projections that are available, the cost of that pact should break past the $8MM ceiling of many of his comparables and even jump ahead of the $9MM mark.
Signed Through 2025-26, Non-Entry-Level
F Michael Carcone ($775K, UFA)
D Ian Cole ($2.8MM, UFA)
G Connor Ingram ($1.95MM, UFA)
F Barrett Hayton ($2.65MM, RFA)
F Alexander Kerfoot ($3MM, UFA)
F Nick Schmaltz ($5.85MM, UFA)
F Kevin Stenlund ($2MM, UFA)
D Juuso Valimaki ($2MM, UFA)
G Vitek Vanecek ($1.5MM, UFA)
Potential Bonuses
Cole: $200K
The backloaded nature of Schmaltz’s contract made him a speculative trade candidate before the team was sold and moved to Utah which took that idea off the table. He has been quite consistent offensively in recent years, ranging between 58 and 63 points in each of the last four seasons, solid second-line production. He hasn’t played center too frequently over that stretch but has spent enough time down the middle that teams on the open market will be willing to pay the premium to get a top-six center. He’ll make $8.5MM this season between his salary and signing bonus and while matching that on his next contract could be difficult, landing in the $7.5MM area seems doable.
Kerfoot’s offensive production has been a little volatile over the past few years but he still has a floor of a third-line center who can play up and down the lineup when needed. That profile should appeal to a lot of teams and another multi-year deal (three or four years) should be doable with a price tag pushing past the $4MM per season mark. The second bridge deal given to Hayton has gone better than the first and this will be a big year. If he can have another 40-plus-point campaign, that will be three years out of four, giving him a much better case in his final arbitration-eligible year. If they work out a long-term deal, it could land past $6MM per season while if they opt for another shorter-term pact that buys just a couple of years of control, it might land more in the $5MM range.
Stenlund landed more than some expected last summer for a player who had only been a full-time player for one year but he wound up playing a bigger role than expected and won over 59% of his draws. Another season like that could have him closer to $3MM while a step back could keep him around where he is now. Carcone wasn’t planning on coming back to Utah after spending a lot of the year as a healthy scratch but after the market didn’t go his way, he accepted the minimum to return. At this point, he’s likely to stay around the minimum moving forward.
Cole, who will max out his bonuses at 65 games played, is now on his fifth straight one-year contract. He has logged a fourth or fifth role for the bulk of that time and at this point, barring a big drop in ice time or efficiency, it seems same to think he’ll stay around this price tag next summer, probably on another one-year pact when he’ll be 37. Valimaki is coming off a tough year, one that saw him scratched at times before suffering a torn ACL which will cost him the first couple of months of this season as well. At this point, he’ll be hard-pressed to match this price tag on his next deal and a one-year pact to try to rebuild some value might be the way to go.
Ingram took over the number one job in 2023-24 but wasn’t able to sustain that success last season and entered the Player Assistance Program in March but was cleared last month. However, he won’t be returning to Utah, putting his short-term situation into question. If he can stay in the NHL, another deal in this price range could be doable. But if he winds up in the minors for a big chunk of next season, he could find himself closer to number three money, around half of his current AAV. Vanecek was brought in as additional insurance this summer and is coming off a rough year, his second straight with numbers well below average. Unless he turns that around, he’s unlikely to command any sort of significant raise next year.
Signed Through 2026-27
F Lawson Crouse ($4.3MM, UFA)
D John Marino ($4.4MM, UFA)
F Liam O’Brien ($1MM, UFA)
After a couple of 40-point seasons, it looked like Crouse was turning the corner and becoming a legitimate top-six piece. But things went sideways last season as he only managed 18 points. If last year was an aberration, then Utah should still get decent value over these final two years while Crouse will be in line for a small raise. But if last season is the new sign of things to come, his value is going to take a big blow, putting his next deal closer to half of his current deal. O’Brien was the NHL’s leader in penalty minutes in 2023-24 while playing a regular role but he was scratched more often than not last season. Still, there remains enough of a market for enforcers that he could still best this contract two years from now.
Marino’s first season in Utah was injury-riddled as he only played in 35 games. Still, in those outings, he showed that he can hold down a top-four role and kill penalties. Add that to being a right-shot defender and you have the profile of a player who should be able to push past $5MM per season on his next contract on what’s likely to be another long-term deal.
Signed Through 2027-28
D Sean Durzi ($6MM, UFA)
F Clayton Keller ($7.15MM, UFA)
D Olli Maatta ($3.5MM, UFA)
D Nate Schmidt ($3.5MM, UFA)
F Brandon Tanev ($2.5MM, UFA)
Keller hasn’t always received a lot of fanfare but over the past four seasons, he has found that extra gear and has become a legitimate top-line producer, averaging just shy of 80 points per campaign over that stretch. As the market value for top-line wingers is set to go up over the next couple of years, Keller should be in a spot to surpass $10MM per season on a long-term pact in 2028. Tanev isn’t as impactful as he was a few years back but he can still add some grit and defensive acumen to the Mammoth. He’ll be 37 when this deal ends so he’ll likely be going year-to-year from there and if his role resembles that of his time in Winnipeg down the stretch, he will be hard-pressed to make this on that next contract.
Durzi is an interesting case. After showing some offensive promise in Los Angeles, his first year with this organization (back when it was in Arizona) saw him take another step forward, earning this contract and suggesting he can be a core piece for Utah. But injuries limited him last season to just 30 games and with some of the defensive additions they made following the change in cities, his role wasn’t as substantial, particularly his power play time. He’s likely to get similar usage moving forward. If he can get back to being a 40-point player, his value on the open market could push more towards the $8MM range on a long-term pact while if he remains in the role he had last season, the goal might be more along the lines of matching this price tag.
Maatta fit in nicely after being acquired in an early-season trade to give them some help with their injuries. Still, the decision to give him this contract as an early extension was a little odd, especially since his role when everyone is healthy is lower on the depth chart than where he played for a lot of last year. This is a little on the high side for someone who is best served as a third-pairing piece but they have the cap space to afford that premium. The same can be said for Schmidt who was more of a sixth option with Florida but still landed this contract back in July. He’ll also be entering his age-37 year on his next contract, one that should be a one-year pact closer to half of this amount.
Alexander Kerfoot Out Week-To-Week With Lower-Body Injury
The Utah Mammoth have now lost another bottom-six forward due to injury for the next couple of weeks. A few days after sharing that Liam O’Brien is out with a lower-body injury, the Mammoth announced this morning that Alexander Kerfoot is also out with a lower-body injury, on the same recovery timeline.
Unlike O’Brien, Kerfoot comes with more offensive punch, though his production dipped considerably last season. The first year after signing a two-year, $7MM contract with the now-defunct Arizona Coyotes, Kerfoot scored 13 goals and 45 points in 82 games, averaging 17:26 of ice time in a second-line role.
After the Utah Hockey Club was established, the organization graduated several high-level prospects, which pushed Kerfoot to a third-line role last year. His offensive production decreased alongside his reduced ice time, finishing the season with 11 goals and 28 points in 81 games, while averaging 15:15 of ice time per night.
Still, there were a few reasons for optimism. Although he didn’t spend the entire campaign down the middle, Kerfoot finished with a 52.5% success rate in the faceoff dot over 493 draws, the second-highest mark of his career. Furthermore, he concluded the 2025-26 season with a 52.3% CorsiFor% at even strength, representing the best output of his career.
There’s no indication at this time that O’Brien or Kerfoot’s injuries will cut into their availability for the regular season. Still, should any more players succumb to multi-week injuries, the Mammoth’s depth could be tested out of the gate.
Mammoth Not Interested In Carter Hart
After stating their intent to place netminder Connor Ingram on waivers, speculation arose whether the Utah Mammoth would have a competition for their backup role between Vítek Vaněček, Jaxson Stauber, and Matt Villalta, or pursue the recently reinstated Carter Hart once he’s eligible to sign on October 15th. We now know it won’t be the latter.
On yesterday’s edition of The Chris Johnston Show with TSN’s Chris Johnston, the insider indicated that although the Mammoth had internal conversations regarding Hart, it’s not something they’ll be pursuing over the next few weeks. Multiple reports suggest that Hart’s preference is to sign with a U.S.-based franchise, and the list of hypothetical options has continued to shrink.
Mammoth Notes: Cooley, O’Brien, Injury Updates
The Utah Mammoth didn’t make the playoffs in their first season in Salt Lake City, but they did take meaningful steps closer to contention, and perhaps their most important step forward was through the development of 2022 third overall pick Logan Cooley. Today, Utah general manager Bill Armstrong told the media, including The Deseret News’ Brogan Houston, that Cooley’s representation has been “very patient” regarding Cooley’s next contract. He added that there’s no rush to get an extension done.
Cooley, who is repped by Brian & Scott Bartlett of Bartlett Hockey, is in line for a major contract extension after a breakout 2024-25 campaign. The 21-year-old is a dynamic playmaker and ranked second among Utah players in scoring last season with 25 goals and 65 points. Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky, who was drafted two spots ahead of Cooley at the 2022 draft, received a $7.6MM AAV on his long-term second contract. Given Cooley will be signing his extension at a later stage than Slafkovsky, and will have more experience on his resume at the time of signing, it stands to reason that Cooley’s next deal will exceed Slafkovsky’s. Given his age and production, Cooley could very well see his next deal exceed Mikhail Sergachev‘s $8.5MM AAV to become the highest-paid player in Utah.
Some other notes from the NHL’s newest franchise:
- Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny told the media today that veteran forward Liam O’Brien is currently dealing with a lower-body injury, and is out on a week-to-week timeline. Injuries limited the 31-year-old bruiser to just 28 games played last season, and he also only managed two points. Although it’s not a contract year for O’Brien – his $1MM AAV deal runs through 2026-27 – he’ll look to get back on the ice in order to re-establish himself as one of the league’s more physically imposing bottom-six players.
- Alongside O’Brien, Tourigny also established who the club’s other injured players are for the start of the team’s training camp. Tourigny named Anson Thornton, Juuso Valimaki, Caleb Desnoyers and Terrell Goldsmith as the remaining injured players. The most relevant name from that list from a roster-building perspective is Valimaki’s, as he is a veteran of 271 career NHL games. With that said, Mammoth fans are likely to pay close attention to the status of Desnoyers, the 2025 fourth-overall pick.
Mammoth Sign Seven Players To PTOs
The Mammoth will have some added depth in training camp by way of seven professional tryouts targeted toward their AHL club, the club announced today. Among the seven, only two – forward Austin Poganski and goaltender Dylan Wells – already have a contract in the organization with Tucson for 2025-26. There will be five names – Ryan McGregor, Dryden McKay, Lleyton Moore, Ty Tullio, and Samuel Walker – looking to land either a two-way deal with Utah or an AHL contract with Tucson.
The 26-year-old McGregor has spent all five of his professional seasons exclusively with Tucson. The 6’0″ forward was a sixth-round pick by the Maple Leafs in 2017 but went unsigned, instead landing an entry-level deal with the Coyotes upon turning pro in 2020. That preceded a solid run as a bottom-six piece in southern Arizona, totaling a 24-44–68 scoring line in 201 career games for the Roadrunners. He spent last year in Tucson on an AHL deal after reaching Group VI unrestricted free agency. His lengthy history with the Arizona/Utah organizations makes him a solid bet to return for another year in a minor-league support role.
McKay actually already has a landing spot for 2025-26. He signed on with the Avalanche’s ECHL affiliate, the Utah Grizzlies, back in July. He didn’t get an invite to Colorado’s NHL camp, though, so he’ll instead stay in his new team’s area and get some reps in an NHL camp with the Mammoth. He’ll serve as a camp piece for roster management purposes in the preseason before presumably getting released and returned to the Grizzlies. The 27-year-old former Hobey Baker Award winner has a career .904 SV% and 3.06 GAA in 99 ECHL games over the last three years.
Moore, 23, is a skilled but undersized (5’8″, 179-lb) rearguard still adjusting to the pro game. He has two pro seasons under his belt, both with Tucson, and will be looking to land another minor-league deal to make it three. He has 12 points in 46 career games for the Roadrunners with a +5 rating.
Poganski’s PTO is just a formality to get him into camp and add a veteran player for preseason purposes. The 29-year-old was Tucson’s captain last season and will reprise the role in 2025-26. He had 15 goals and 41 points in 71 appearances for them last year. He has 22 career NHL appearances with the Blues and Jets between 2019 and 2022, but no points.
Tullio is still looking for a contract after a tumultuous 2024-25 season. A fifth-round pick by the Oilers in 2020, he was traded to the Sabres in last summer’s Ryan McLeod deal. He only played sparingly for their AHL affiliate in Rochester, though, leading the Sabres to loan him to the Flames’ farm club to finish the season. He had eight points in 13 games down the stretch in Calgary, so there’s some promise that he could land a two-way offer from the Mammoth or at least be something of an impact contributor for Tucson.
Outside of Poganski, Walker is the only other player here with NHL experience. He has a goal and an assist to his name in 13 games with the Wild, all of which came in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. He spent all of last year in the minors and was acquired by Utah midway through the season in a minor swap. He didn’t see an NHL recall after his acquisition, which saw him score 22 points in 31 games for Tucson, and subsequently became a Group VI UFA. The 5’10” pivot will now be angling for a two-way deal or a contract with Tucson.
Wells, 27, has been an AHL backup/ECHL starter for some time now, although not routinely under an NHL contract. He’s entering his third season in Tucson and had a solid .900 SV% and 2.89 GAA in 10 games for them last year.
Assessing The Mammoth’s Path To The Playoffs
The Utah Mammoth had an eventful second summer in their NHL journey, making significant progress to position the team as a playoff contender. General manager Bill Armstrong made minor adjustments last summer, but this summer he took a bold step. He balanced that gamble with well-planned extensions and depth moves, demonstrating a clear plan to follow. Armstrong and the Mammoth seem ready to build around their talented young core by adding experienced veterans, aiming for long-term success.
The Mammoth made a statement in late June by acquiring JJ Peterka from the Buffalo Sabres and signing him to a five-year, $38.5MM extension. Armstrong and his team paid a fair price for the young forward, but they are confident that Peterka’s skill, speed, and two-way play will make him a good fit alongside Utah’s promising forward core, which includes Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, and Clayton Keller. The move to acquire Peterka demonstrated to Mammoth fans that the team is aiming to contend sooner rather than later in the Western Conference.
At 23 years of age, and coming off back-to-back 20-goal seasons, Buffalo was never going to let Peterka go cheap, especially given the intangibles he brings to couple with the offense he produces. Peterka is not only relentless on the forecheck, but he can tilt the ice for the Mammoth along with their other top young forwards. The $ 7.7MM AAV is pretty reasonable for what Peterka can produce going forward, but Utah will be happy to pay it, given that he could be a bargain over the next few seasons.
Shortly after finalizing the Peterka deal, the Mammoth executed another trade involving a young player, this time sending Matias Maccelli to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a conditional third-round pick in 2027. The trade is a risk for both teams, as Maccelli is only a year removed from scoring 57 points in 82 games. However, he managed just 18 points this past season in 55 games, as his offense dipped significantly, and Toronto hopes he can rebound to fill the gap left when Mitch Marner departed. Maccelli could regain his form in Toronto, and if he does, it may appear to be a costly miss for Utah. But if his stats are similar to last season, it will have been a practical move to shed a smaller player who doesn’t play much of a physical game, and the outcome of this trade remains uncertain.
Utah might have missed the playoffs last season, but that didn’t stop them from re-signing many of their pending free agents, including forward Alex Kerfoot and defensemen Ian Cole and Olli Määttä. Utah also signed goaltender Karel Vejmelka and centre Jack McBain to five-year contract extensions. McBain’s deal provides the Mammoth with some cost certainty on a physical centre who is a good forechecker and can handle tough matchups. He won’t score many goals and isn’t overly talented with the puck, but Utah believed his other qualities justified the $21.25MM over five years.
Vejmelka’s NHL stats aren’t anything extraordinary. He has maintained a .899 SV% over his career and has a record of 70-97-19 with a 3.22 goals-against average. However, last season, the 29-year-old recorded 14.2 goals saved above expected in 58 games (as per MoneyPuck). Vejmelka isn’t among the top goaltenders in the league, but should give the Mammoth league-average goaltending (or better) for a very reasonable $4.75MM per season. Considering that Vancouver re-signed the perfectly average Kevin Lankinen to a five-year deal at $4.5MM annually, Utah secured a solid agreement for Vejmelka.
The Mammoth also addressed their goaltending depth this summer by signing Vitek Vaneček to a one-year contract worth $ 1.5MM. Vaneček recently won a Stanley Cup as a backup for the Florida Panthers and should give the Mammoth a reliable veteran presence behind Vejmelka. Stability in goal for Utah will be essential this season as they aim to climb the standings into a playoff spot. The 29-year-old is coming off two inconsistent seasons and hopes to re-establish himself with the Mammoth this year. His numbers with San Jose and Florida last season weren’t impressive, but despite the recent lack of success, Vaneček is only two years removed from posting a .911 save % in 52 games with New Jersey.
The Mammoth are still in the early stages of establishing themselves in Utah, but are trending in the right direction by being cautious with their depth players and aggressive in adding to their top six. Looking at the bigger picture, Utah has made significant progress over the past year and should be in the playoff hunt this season. Some might see their summer moves as patchwork or a mixed bag, but they clearly identified a need at forward and were pleased with what they saw in their veteran defensemen.
Utah has plenty of potential star power at the top of their lineup, has stabilized the middle of the ice, boasts a lot of experience on their blueline, and should receive decent goaltending this season. I wouldn’t call the team a Stanley Cup contender, but with some internal improvement and average goaltending, they will be in the thick of the Western Conference playoff picture.
Photo by Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Iginla Fully Cleared For Training Camp
Mammoth prospect Tij Iginla’s 2024-25 campaign was cut short after needing to undergo surgery on both hips back in early December. However, he told reporters including NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link) that he has now fully recovered and been cleared for contact, meaning he will be a full participant in training camp later this month. The 19-year-old was the sixth overall pick in 2024 and had gotten off to a strong start with WHL Kelowna before the injury where he notched 14 goals and 18 assists in just 21 games. Still too young to play in the AHL full-time (unless the NHL and CHL can reach an agreement on allowing one 19-year-old per NHL team to play in the minors, something that hasn’t happened yet), his options will either be to play with Utah or return to the Rockets with the latter being the likeliest scenario.
Mammoth Without ECHL Affiliate After Allen Partners With Ottawa
- The Senators announced that they have reached an affiliation agreement with ECHL Allen for the upcoming season. They had previously been affiliated with the Americans in 2022-23 and 2023-24 before Utah stepped in and became their affiliate last season, leaving Ottawa without an ECHL squad. Now, the situations have been reversed with the Sens getting their affiliation back while the Mammoth look like they won’t have one in the 30-team league.
Summer Synopsis: Utah Mammoth
Now more than a month into the new league year, the bulk of the heavy lifting has been done from a roster perspective. Most unrestricted free agents have found new homes, the arbitration period has come and gone, and the trade market has cooled. Accordingly, it’s a good time to take a look at what each team has accomplished this offseason. Next up is a look at Utah.
Utah’s first season in their new city didn’t see them make the playoffs but they took a big step forward in the standings, getting within seven points of a playoff spot while several of their young players made steps in their development. Accordingly, GM Bill Armstrong continued to add to his group this summer with an eye on getting the Mammoth to the playoffs in 2025-26 and snapping their five-year drought.
Draft
1-4: F Caleb Desnoyers, Moncton (QMJHL)
2-46: D Max Psenicka, Portland (WHL)
3-78: F Stepan Hoch, Ceske Budejovice (Czechia Extraliga)
4-110: F Yegor Borikov, Dynamo (Russia)
5-142: G Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko, Ufa (Russia)
6-174: D Ludvig Johnson, Zug (Swiss National League)
6-182: D Reko Alanko, Jokerit (Finland)
Desnoyers worked his way up the draft rankings during the season as potential impact centers are hard to come by. He was one of the top all-around players in this draft class and that defensive awareness looked like it might give him a chance of sticking with the big club at the start of the season. However, recent wrist surgery that will keep him out for three months will put an end to that. Desnoyers hasn’t signed his entry-level deal yet which keeps him NCAA-eligible but he’s expected to return to QMJHL Moncton and play a big role once again for the Wildcats.
Psenicka continues Utah’s recent trend of trying to add some size to their system, particularly on the back end. He split last season between his native Czechia and WHL Portland, not bringing much to the table offensively. Instead, he profiles as a true stay-at-home physical blueliner, the type of player who might not play big minutes in the NHL but could fill an important checking role on a third pairing for a long time. Hoch was another big selection from Czechia, bringing Utah some size on the wing this time. He hovered around the point per game mark in their junior league last season while also getting into 23 games at the Extraliga level. He’s more of a longer-term project and with another year plus an option left on his contract overseas, he’ll have some time to develop before Utah needs to reassess in a couple of years.
Trade Acquisitions
Peterka finished second in scoring for the Sabres last season, but a perceived lack of willingness to remain in Buffalo fueled plenty of trade speculation, which came to a head a little before the draft when the trade was made. His 68 points also would have been second in Utah scoring and at 23, there’s reason to hope that he still has another gear to get to offensively. After going and making a big splash to shore up the back end at the draft last offseason when they acquired Mikhail Sergachev, Armstrong basically did the same thing up front. The Mammoth now have Peterka in his prime years and he should be a strong boost offensively to a team that finished 20th in goals scored last season.
UFA Signings
F Michael Carcone (one year, $775K)^
F Cameron Hebig (two years, $1.55MM)*^
D Scott Perunovich (one year, $775K)*
D Nate Schmidt (three years, $10.5MM)
F Brandon Tanev (three years, $7.5MM)
G Vitek Vanecek (one year, $1.5MM)
F Kailer Yamamoto (one year, $775K)*^
* denotes two-way contract
^ denotes re-signing
Beyond Peterka, most of Utah’s offseason activity revolved around improving their depth. Tanev has had a solid run in recent years of being a physical bottom-six winger who can kill penalties and chip in a bit offensively and his addition should give the Mammoth some grit in their forward group which is something they could benefit from. Carcone wasn’t planning to return to Utah next season, even going as far as saying so after the year. However, no other offers to his liking materialized on the open market, resulting in the two sides reuniting. He’s likely to hold the same depth role he had last season although he’s only a year removed from that improbable 21-goal campaign.
On the back end, Schmidt comes over from Florida after his one-year pact with them following his buyout from Winnipeg went about as well as possible. He showed that he can still be a quality contributor on the third pairing and he should be in a spot to play a similar role in Utah. Perunovich was once a touted prospect with offensive upside but has struggled to stay healthy and hasn’t been as productive as expected when he has played. After splitting last season between the Blues and Islanders, he’ll be hoping to land a spot at the back of the roster but starting the season in the minors with the Roadrunners is a real possibility.
Vanecek is coming off a year that didn’t go so well for him. He struggled in limited action with the Sharks before Florida brought him in at the trade deadline after moving Spencer Knight to Chicago as part of the Seth Jones trade. Vanecek was only a little better with the Panthers but he was able to secure this contract as some insurance with, at the time, some uncertainty about Connor Ingram who was in the Player Assistance Program before being cleared earlier this week. He’ll battle Ingram for the backup spot behind Karel Vejmelka.
RFA Re-Signings
F Jack McBain (five years, $21.25MM)
D Montana Onyebuchi (two years, $1.55MM)*
F JJ Peterka (five years, $38.5MM)
Peterka was signed as soon as he was acquired but interestingly enough, he signed a deal that bought Utah just one more season of club control than what they would have had if they went year-to-year with him. Evidently, the price tag for tacking on more UFA years was higher than what Armstrong wanted to pay. It does, however, set Peterka up to reach unrestricted free agency at 28 where he’ll be in good shape for a max-term deal at that time if he wants one.
McBain has been rather consistent in production over his first three full NHL seasons, ranging from a low of 26 points to a high of 27, that coming last season. One of the most physical players in the league, he also made some strides at the faceoff dot last season and could be their checking center for the foreseeable future. This price tag is a little high now given his production but as the salary cap continues to go up quickly, it should hold up fine.
Departures
F Travis Barron (unsigned)
F Nick Bjugstad (signed with Blues)
D Robert Bortuzzo (unsigned)
F Josh Doan (trade with Sabres)
D Michael Kesselring (trade with Sabres)
F Justin Kipkie (unsigned)
F Matias Maccelli (trade with Maple Leafs)
F Egor Sokolov (signed with CSKA Moscow, KHL)
Kesselring was the headliner in the package going to Buffalo for Peterka. The 25-year-old took a step forward in his development last season while chipping in with 29 points. Knowing that right-shot defensemen are always in high demand, Utah was able to sell high on him and could do so knowing that Sean Durzi and John Marino are still around. Doan was the other part of that trade and has shown some upside over his first two professional seasons but hasn’t been able to establish himself as a full-time NHL player just yet. With the strength of their prospect pool, he was someone who was relatively safe to move, especially getting a player like Peterka in return.
With Peterka coming in, Maccelli’s lineup spot was even more tenuous than it was last year when he slid down the depth chart and even spent a bit of time as a healthy scratch. Considering that he had seasons of 57 and 49 points the previous two campaigns, they certainly sold low on him, only managing a third-round pick that could elevate to a second rounder depending on his production. Bjugstad had a great first full year with then-Arizona in 2023-24, coming close to his personal best in points. However, injuries and ineffectiveness limited him to just 19 points in 66 games a year ago and with the club having surplus center depth already, they didn’t need to go outside the organization to replace him either. Bortuzzo, meanwhile, was limited to just 17 games last season largely due to injury and his ice time was minimal when he was in the lineup. At 36, he might have to settle for a PTO heading into training camps next month.
Salary Cap Outlook
Utah was able to quietly offload Shea Weber’s contract at the trade deadline and in doing so, that allowed them to stay below the cap even with the additions of Peterka, Schmidt, and Tanev. As things stand, they’re set to enter the season with a little under $6.7MM in cap space, per PuckPedia. That gives them more than enough flexibility to add another piece now should one become available or bank enough in-season flexibility to be able to make a big splash or two at the trade deadline if they find themselves in the playoff hunt.
Key Questions
Will Cooley Sign Now? Young center Logan Cooley is entering the final season of his three-year, entry-level contract which makes him eligible to sign an extension. We’ve seen several young players quickly sign long-term deals but he hasn’t done so just yet. Cooley is coming off a strong sophomore season that saw him record 25 goals and 40 assists, finishing second to Clayton Keller in team scoring. We’ve seen the market for post-entry-level top young centers hover around the $8MM mark in recent seasons which would seemingly serve as a realistic starting point in negotiations. However, another jump offensively for Cooley could elevate him to an even higher asking price, especially in the context of the $8.5MM cap increase next summer. Accordingly, some have wondered if he might be better off waiting but given Armstrong’s penchant for trying to sign players quickly, expect them to take a real run at getting something done in the coming weeks if they haven’t already done so.
Can Crouse Rebound? Winger Lawson Crouse signed a deal very similar to McBain’s three years ago with the expectation being that he had gotten to another level offensively. That held true for the first two seasons of the contract but things fell off a cliff last year. After putting up 23 goals in 2023-24, Crouse had just 19 points last season despite playing in 81 games. At his best, he’s a legitimate top-six power forward but that was rarely the case last season. He’s not in a position of being at risk of slipping out of the lineup altogether like Maccelli briefly was last season but if he can’t get back to form in the first half of the season, expect his name to come up in trade speculation leading into the trade deadline.
Will The Young Russians Make An Impact? In recent years, there haven’t been as many Russian players going early in the draft. However, in 2023, the Coyotes (before their move to Utah) bucked the trend, selecting defenseman Dmitri Simashev and winger Daniil But with lottery selections, going sixth and twelfth, respectively. Both players spent the last two seasons as teammates with KHL Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and have now signed their entry-level contracts to start their time in North America. Both prospects are raw but could plausibly play themselves into NHL action at some point this season, particularly Simashev. Getting quality NHL contributions at some point from them would certainly give them a boost and show that more pieces of their long-term plan are in place.
PHR’s Gabriel Foley also contributed to this post.
Photos courtesy of Nick Turchiaro and Rob Gray-Imagn Images.