Quick hitters: 20 Utah Mammoth thoughts recapping the draft, free agency and development camp
GM Bill Armstrong weighs in on a variety of topics
I caught up with Utah Mammoth GM Bill Armstrong over the weekend to recap the draft, free agency and development camp. Here are 20 thoughts and notes from that conversation, along with some other observations.
1. Utah elected to file for salary arbitration with restricted free-agent forward Jack McBain on Sunday, one day after McBain chose not to file himself. The decision carries several ramifications:
No team can sign McBain to an offer sheet now that he is going to arbitration.
McBain's camp gets to decide whether the term for the next contract will be one year or two, and his camp must do so when each side submits briefs 48 hours before the arbitration hearing. That will be an interesting decision because McBain can become an unrestricted free agent after two more seasons.
By electing salary arbitration, Utah all but ensured that McBain's annual salary will be less than what he might have received from an offer sheet.
There is optimism that a deal will be done before the arbitration hearings, which begin on July 20 and end on Aug. 4. That's good because both sides are loath to get to that point in the negotiation. Arbitration is, by nature, adversarial. Each side must present evidence to rationalize their requested salary. It can be hard for a player to hear a team vocalize all of his perceived flaws, and those wounds can remain long after the contract is complete.
2. Once McBain is signed, Utah will have 12 NHL forwards under contract, seven defensemen and three goalies (more on the goalies later), with several prospects also pushing for roster spots. That will make for an interesting training camp.
"I think it's going to be the most competitive camp and the most competitive team we've ever had," Armstrong said. "Whether it's Caleb Desnoyers or Dmitri Simashev or Daniil But or Tij Iginla, we've got guys pushing to come up, but I also think there's a different crop of kids in the American [Hockey] League, whether you're Artem Duda or Maveric Lamoureux or Max Szuber.
"When you add in the depth that we signed (Brandon Tanev, Nate Schmidt) and the trade for JJ Peterka, there's going to be some guys who are uncomfortable in our camp with how competitive it will be."
3. The pro scouting staff doesn't get much credit but Armstrong handed out flowers after the acquisitions of Tanev, Schmidt and Peterka
"Fifty percent of a Stanley Cup championship team is made up of guys you trade for so your amateur [scouting] staff kicks things off when you're rebuilding, but it's your pro staff that kicks you into high gear because of the big decisions they have to make to finish off the team.
"Alan Hepple, who runs our pro staff, did a nice job of getting us prepared because stuff sometimes comes out of the blue; there's stuff that you can't see coming," Armstrong said. "All of a sudden, boom, Peterka was on the board. Nobody knew that before the season ended so you have to make adjustments on the fly. And then obviously, the players that you move out, you have to now, on the fly, pivot and go out and replace them."
Along with Hepple, David Oliver, Mike Guentzel, Eric Boguniecki each scout specific teams within the NHL, although there is sometimes crossover.
"When we first got started and we were drafting our future, I was always telling them behind the scenes ,'Hey, your guys' turn is coming,'" Armstrong said. "We'd always laugh about that because it seemed like a long way off, but they've done a nice job of making some good trades for us."
4. There is another guy within that scouting department who carries multiple job titles. Clay Adams is the organization's main goalie scout — for amateurs and pros, and he also does a little on the development side for prospects outside of Tucson.
When it came to scouting recently signed goalie Vitek Vaněček, Adams watched him twice live and watched dozens more games on video.
"I saw him at the beginning of the year and towards the end," Adams said. "My overall impression was that he is a goalie that has the ability to play meaningful minutes for a team. He is a goalie that won 30-plus games for New Jersey (in 2022-23) and he has that still in him."
There still remains the possibility that Connor Ingram will be ready for the start of the regular season. Sources close to Ingram say he is doing very well since he entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program for mental health reasons related to his mother's death from breast cancer in December.
"As an organization, we just had to grab some depth and put a guy in there to make sure that as a team, when we start the season, we have two really good, quality goaltenders," Armstrong said. "[Goalie coach] Corey Schwab has done a great job of bringing goaltenders in and getting them to play at their best, whether it's Darcy Kemper, Adin Hill, Connor Ingram or Karel Vejmelka.
"If Connor is ready, we'll just deal with that at the time and work through it as we always do."
5. When the season ended, Armstrong and his staff identified a goal-scoring wing as one of the team's top priorities. Utah generated a lot of quality chances per their internal analytics. They just didn't finish enough of them. Enter Peterka.
"When you go through the process of deciding what you need, and then you go through free agency and you look at the cost to do business at the top end and what's available and who's going to sign with you, it's an exhausting process," Armstrong said. "Eventually, we came back to asking, 'Is there something we could do to manufacture this need through a trade?'
"This was a big offseason move for us, just like [Mikhail] Sergachev was last year. He's a 23-year-old kid. He's going to grow and improve with this group."
6. I asked Armstrong for his thoughts on the Tanev and Schmidt additions. Here's what he said about Schmidt: "We like the fact that we added for a few different reasons. He's a puck mover. He can jump into the top four for us. He can be on the second-unit power play. He can have a big role with this club and he adds another [Stanley] Cup to our team. I believe we've got 10 Cups on our team and that's important. As we fight to get into the playoffs, he adds another dimension to that."
7. Here's what Armstrong said about Tavev: "Tanev gives you some bang, he gives you some hustle, he gives you somebody that's not going to roll over. He can play somewhere between your third or fourth line and help you out on the penalty kill. He's really an energy guy that doesn't stop because he's got a great motor. I think he might have a chance to be a cult hero in this town."
8. There has been a lot written about how the free-agent market changed this offseason. The biggest change was a rising cap that left nearly $300 million available to spend between all teams after free agency died down on July 5. With so few top-notch free agents or players changing hands this year, some believe the trade market could heat up in the coming weeks as teams look to improve.
9. On that note, I want to revisit something I wrote about Nick Schmaltz last month. Elliotte Friedman stoked those fires this past weekend on 32 Thoughts when he wondered about Schmaltz's future.
Again, Schmaltz is entering the final year of his contract, he's 29 and he is coming off his fourth straight season of 20 or more goals while averaging 60 points over that span. If Utah is in the playoff hunt, it's hard to imagine Armstrong moving any pieces at the trade deadline instead of adding. If Utah is out of the playoff picture at the deadline, I'd expect Schmaltz to be shopped.
But what about an earlier trade of Schmaltz as part of a greater package? Utah likes Schmaltz's versatility — he can play anywhere in the top six — but he would also represent a valuable trade chip if Utah identified a greater need.
10. I asked Armstrong if teams actually contacted Utah about trading the No. 4 overall pick at the draft.
"Yeah, everybody does," he said. "Everybody in that range is having constant talks. The history of the NHL is that most teams don't move that pick. It's very rare, but you definitely have those conversations and you definitely consider all of your options."
11. The same was true of the Mammoth's pursuit of an existing NHL center via trade.
"As GM, you wake up every morning trying to improve your team, so you'd be crazy not to look at every option," Armstrong said. "But with where our team is age-wise and development-wise, a key for us is keeping everybody in a certain age range so you can move forward together.
12. Speaking of two guys who will grow with the group, Simashev and But will almost certainly log games in the NHL this season, but if they aren't ready to do so at the start of the season, expect Utah to send them to Tucson quickly, rather than give them a healthy number of games to start. The belief in this management staff has always been that the longer you keep prospects around the NHL, the harder it is to send them down without impacting their mindset.
13. Word out of the development camp was that Iginla blew the staff away with his physical testing. The double hip surgery that Iginla underwent last winter — Femoroacetabular Hip Impingement — is considered routine these days and the recovery prognosis is excellent, but Iginla's performance in testing, his quickness, and the 10 pounds of muscle he added were testament to how hard he worked in rehab.
Given his lost time, the most likely path for Iginla is another year of development, but teams always hold out the possibility for camp surprises.
14. By the way, don't be surprised to see Iginla at the World Junior Summer Showcase.
15. Another player that wowed the staff with his physical testing at development camp: 2022 fifth-round pick Matthew Morden, a hulking, 6-4, 208-pound defenseman who played the past two seasons at Harvard. Utah views him as a physical specimen.
16. Armstrong said that Utah tracked Desnoyers for a long time, starting with area scout Kevin Thacker, who identified the No. 4 overall pick as his favorite player.
"He was a steady player for us in that range the entire time, all the way from his summer hockey at the Hlinka Tournament to his time in Moncton, to the playoffs," Armstrong said. "At development camp, he asked me, 'How close do you think I am?' I said, 'I don't know. We'll see in training camp. We'll see how hard you work in the summer, how much stronger and faster you can get.'
"He'll tell us, but that kid has great drive, so we're really excited about him coming to camp."
17. I still can't figure out why players didn't push for a piece of expansion fees to be included in Hockey Related Revenue in the new CBA. With four new teams likely on the way in the next decade, and the asking price — right now — for an expansion fee set at $2 billion, the players may have just passed on a share of close to $10 billion. But hey, at least fitness testing will no longer be permitted during training camp or the regular season. Seems like a fair tradeoff (sarcasm font).
18. I think Matias Maccelli is going to have an excellent chance to resurrect his career in Toronto. He is going to play with skilled players and finishers. If he gets the opportunity to play with Auston Matthews, his elite passing skills will be a great fit for Matthews' elite finishing skills.
19. If he stays healthy, I think Dylan Guenther will score 30 goals this season. He's the purest goal scorer I have covered since Keith Tkachuk.
20. When Utah traded Josh Doan (and Michael Kesselring) for Peterka, they didn't just separate him from the teammates he had come to love. Doan was close with many people on the staff including the trainers, some of whom he has known since he was a kid. This was an emotion-charged trade for him. On the plus side, with his dad working for the Maple Leafs, the two will live in close proximity when Josh isn't on the road and Shane isn't back in his hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona. Knowing Josh, he will adapt quickly, he will adopt a positive outlook, and he will become a fan favorite in Buffalo.
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As usual another great article! Would you say that GMBA is one of the easiest & best interviewes that you've talked to over the years of covering the Yotes/Utah?
Another great one, Craig!