The Utah Mammoth have kicked it up a gear.
Ahead of the 2025 free agency period, GM Bill Armstrong made it clear that he wasn’t interested in signing older players to long-term deals that would hurt the team in the future — and you certainly don’t want to give up young players.
Those are deals that you make when you’re a contender, not when you’re first pushing to make the playoffs.
The Mammoth’s 2026 playoff run elevated them past that stage.
“We went into that series against Vegas and you look at it, they had an older, experienced club,” Armstrong explained in a press conference Wednesday evening.
“I think there’s a little combination of youth where you’re going to have the Simashevs and Buts and Iginlas and Desnoyers push to make the club and they can get in there. But at the same time, you still need people that have done it at a high level for a long time in the National Hockey League to kind of lead the way.”
NHL free agency opened on Wednesday, presenting two opportunities for the Mammoth to add skilled, veteran players: 32-year-old Vincent Trocheck and almost-36-year-old Anders Lee.
They come in addition to 32-year-old MacKenzie Weegar, whom Utah acquired at the trade deadline.
Trocheck came via trade, with the Mammoth sending Cole Beaudoin and Sean Durzi, along with a 2027 third-round draft pick, to the New York Rangers. Lee signed as a free agent.
Both players have three years on their respective contracts.
Per Utah’s management, Vincent Trocheck had Utah on his no-trade list last year, but it wasn’t on his list this year.#TusksUp
— Brogan Houston (@houston_brogan) July 1, 2026
“We have guys that are leaving, the (Alexander) Kerfoots of the world and the Ian Coles of the world, and now you have other guys coming in to lead. So, I don’t think our age changes a lot. I think it’s just different players that are coming in that are more suited to the roles we needed to take the next step,” Armstrong said.
The Mammoth have more internal competition this year than ever before — especially up front.
They have 16 forwards who played NHL games last year, plus young players like Tij Iginla, Caleb Desnoyers and Gabe Smith who could push for roster spots out of camp.
“You feel that excitement when your team gets better and better each year as guys start looking around, going, ‘Wow, there’s some talented guys on the ice. I like my role, I like my spot, I’m going to come in better shape and I’m going to push the envelope for our club to be better,’” Armstrong said.
“So, it’s a healthy nervousness of competitiveness.”
The defensive group is not quite as deep at this point.
Utah added former Rangers defenseman Zac Jones on a two-way deal late in the day, but unless they plan on Dmitri Simashev and Maveric Lamoureux both being permanent NHLers next season, there’s probably still a spot to fill on the back end.
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