Utah Mammoth’s 2025-26 Roster Projection 2.0: Post NHL Draft & Free Agency

After adding Peterka before the NHL Entry Draft, the Mammoth used their fourth overall pick to draft Caleb Desnoyers, a center who is projected to be a top-six player. Then, general manager Bill Armstrong made an excellent signing in free agency, securing Brandon Tanev to help bring some veteran leadership to the team. As for players on their way out up front other than Doan, Matias Maccelli was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Nick Bjugstad signed a two-year contract with the St. Louis Blues.

With a lot of the significant movement complete, let’s look at some line combinations the Mammoth could utilize this season and look at the holes they still have to fill.

Clayton Keller – Logan Cooley – Dylan Guenther
J.J. Peterka – Barrett Hayton – Nick Schmaltz
Lawson Crouse – Hole No. 1 – Hole No. 2
Alexander Kerfoot – Kevin Stenlund – Brandon Tanev

Other Players Under Contract: Liam O’Brien
Rookies Challenging For Roster Spots: Daniil But, Caleb Desnoyers, Tij Iginla
Restricted Free Agents: Jack McBain

In my first roster projection piece, I identified four holes in Utah’s forward group. Now adding Peterka and Tanev, but losing Doan has dropped that number to two, along with me adding Kevin Stenlund back to the fourth line as well. Realistically, you could fill the remaining with any of the Mammoth’s up-and-coming prospects. However, there is still plenty of time left in the offseason, and the Mammoth have substantial cap space, so why not continue to dream big until we see for sure that these prospects can compete with NHL players?

Hole No. 1: Third Line Center

In an ideal world, Hayton would be the third-line center on this team. However, after drafting Desnoyers fourth overall and having Iginla, who has played center in the past, it did not make sense for Armstrong to go out and spend a bunch of money on a center when the Mammoth already have players projected to play in this role in the coming seasons.

The knock on Hayton has been his offensive inconsistency. With the signing of Peterka, a significant portion of the offensive expectations will be taken away from Hayton, allowing him to focus on the defensive side of the game, his true strength. At the same time, playing with Peterka may take some attention away from Hayton, which could generate more scoring chances for him. In 2024-25, he finished third in the NHL for the most high-danger chances at five-on-five and fifth in expected goals.

While you may like to have someone who produces more on the stat sheet, the chances have certainly been there for Hayton. Maybe 2025-26 is the season he can finally finish some of these chances off and develop into the top-six center the Coyotes drafted him to be after using the fifth overall pick on him in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

Hole No. 2 & 3: Depth Winger

Ideally, these spots will be filled by either McBain and, hopefully, Daniil But after signing his entry-level contract earlier this summer. However, suppose McBain leaves for another team, and But is not ready to play in the NHL. In that case, the Mammoth should be taking a look at Victor Olofsson, who is still on the free agent market, a guy who revitalized his career last season with the Vegas Golden Knights and developed some great two-way instincts to go along with his offensive production.

This is also a spot where Desnoyers and Iginla could fit into the lineup; however, with Iginla’s injury last season and Desnoyers being drafted recently, it is difficult to know how these players will stack up against NHL competition until the preseason starts.

Projected Mammoth Defensemen

The Mammoth’s defense core is pretty much set going into this season after trading away Michael Kesselring and adding Nate Schmidt in free agency. The most significant change will be the addition of 2023 first-round pick Simashev to the mix, who has been standing out at the Mammoth’s prospect development camp.

Since the beginning of the offseason, the questions about the Mammoth’s blue line have been more about how players are utilized rather than who they can add. Here are the pairings I am projecting the Mammoth will use at the start of the season.

Mikhail Sergachev – John Marino
Olli Määttä – Sean Durzi
Dmitri Simashev – Nate Schmidt

Extras: Ian Cole, Juuso Valimaki, Nick DeSimone, Maveric Lamoureux

This group here is a playoff-calibre blue line. Sergachev proved last season that he is a true number-one defenseman, recording 53 points and playing the sixth-most minutes in the NHL. I see him starting the season alongside Marino on the top pair. Both are excellent puck movers and can play tough defensive minutes. Marino is more of a stay-at-home shutdown defenseman, while Sergachev is a terrific two-way player. Having Marino beside Sergachev should allow Sergachev more freedom to jump up in the rush and push the pace more offensively, something he was not able to do as much last season when playing so many minutes and having weaker defensive partners beside him.

On the second pair, you have Määttä, who was one of the best puck retrievers and puck movers in the NHL last season and Sean Durzi, a high-energy puck-moving defenseman who has a wicked shot from the point. The two are both phenomenal skaters and will be able to break pucks out efficiently and take turns jumping up in the rush.

Then on the bottom pair, I see Simashev cracking this roster and playing regularly on the bottom pair over Cole, who took the second-most minor penalties of any defenseman in the NHL last season. Simashev is tall and will be able to cover a ton of ground defensively. He also has plenty of offensive upside. Schmidt is the perfect partner for Simashev to play beside while getting his feet wet in the NHL, as Schmidt has played 741 games in his career and is fresh off a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers.

For extras, the Mammoth are in a much better spot than they were last season. They have Cole, who, despite being one of the most penalized players in the league, finished first in blocked shots among NHL defensemen last season. They also have DeSimone who played some valuable minutes for Utah last season and Juuso Valimaki, a former first-round pick who is looking for a bounce-back season.

Last season, Utah entered the season with insufficient depth to handle injuries. That won’t be the case this season. The Mammoth have 10 defensemen who are capable of playing in the NHL, including Lamoureux, who played reasonably well in his first few games before getting injured.

Projected Mammoth Goaltenders

The Mammoth’s goaltending is also set going into this season after re-signing Karel Vejmelka late last season and adding another insurance piece in Vitak Vancek once free agency opened. The depth chart will look like…

Starter: Karel Vejmelka
Back up: Connor Ingram
Extra Goalies: Vitak Vancek / Jaxson Stauber

I am operating under the hopeful assumption that Ingram will return from the NHL’s Player Assistance Program after dealing with a traumatic death in his family in the middle of last season. However, this is still very much up in the air, but it would be great to see him back with the team after finishing the 2023-24 season tied for the league lead in shutouts.

As for their new addition, Vanecek, as an extra goalie, he is a decent insurance piece. However, suppose the Mammoth end up having to rely on him to play in a backup role. In that case, they may need to continue their search for a goalie as Vanecek finished the season with a .884 save percentage and allowed 0.5 goals to be scored on him above expected per 60 minutes. Still, for a spot start here and there throughout the season, Vanecek is more than capable.

Mammoth 2025-26 Expectations

With this team, regardless of how the depth is filled out, the playoffs need to be the goal. It is not unfair to expect more development from Cooley, Guenther, Peterka and Hayton. Keller is just entering the prime of his career at 26. You have to hope to get more production from Crouse after a disappointing season by his recent standards.

Their blue line can stack up with any team in the NHL. The Mammoth’s defensemen are a talented group, as they were last season, but this season they will be much better equipped to deal with injuries, thanks to their increased depth. The biggest question for this team going into the season will be goaltending. Sure, Vejmelka played phenomenally last season; however, his history before that is enough reason to speculate whether he can replicate that performance. Along with questions about who will start the season as the Mammoth’s backup goaltender, if it’s not Ingram, can they be relied upon?

The Mammoth are still a young, developing team. However, with the Peterka trade and some excellent depth signings, they will have the best team this organization has fielded in years. While they still may not be ready to compete with the likes of the Edmonton Oilers or Dallas Stars in a seven-game playoff series, the Mammoth are closing the gap. After missing the playoffs by just seven points last season, it is safe to say the rebuild is over and the playoff push is on.