Mammoth to activate defenseman Sean Durzi off IR

The Utah Mammoth will see the return of defenseman Sean Durzi in Wednesday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, head coach Andre Tourigny told Cole Bagley of KSL Sports. Durzi suffered an upper-body injury in the second game of Utah’s season. He has sat out of 21 games since. The Mammoth will need to activate him off injured reserve before Wednesday’s game, but they already have a roster spot available for his return.

This is the second year that Durzi has started the season with a long-term absence due to an upper-body injury. He suffered a shoulder injury in October of last season that required him to undergo surgery. The injury held Durzi out of the lineup until February, and limited him to only 30 appearances on the year. He was a core part of the Mammoth lineup when he was healthy, netting 11 points and a plus-four while averaging more than 20 minutes of ice time every night. He also recorded 52 blocked shots, which ranked fifth on the blue-line and seventh on the team despite Durzi missing more than 50 games.

He seemed to be stepping right back into that role this season. Durzi played nearly 21 minutes in Utah’s season-opener, and recorded two blocks, one hit and no scoring. He ramped up in their second game, recording one point, two blocks and two hits in 17 minutes of ice time before getting injured.

Durzi has only been able to show Utah fans a glimpse of his impact through two seasons with the Mammoth. He had a standout year in his first year with the organization — the 2023-24 season, prior to the Arizona Coyotes’ move to Utah. Durzi scored a career-high 41 points in 76 games that year, while also posting career-highs with 63 penalty minutes and 160 blocked shots. He racked up 65 points, 105 penalty minutes and 263 blocks in 136 games with the Los Angeles Kings prior to his move to Arizona.

Durzi is an established, top-four defender when he’s at full health. He’ll now get a chance to bring that impact to a Utah lineup in need. The Mammoth have won their last two games, but only have four wins through their last 13 games. They have allowed the 10th-most goals in the NHL (44) in that span, and the eighth-most on a per-game average (3.38).