After a postseason-less first campaign in Salt Lake City in 2024-25, the Utah Mammoth are looking well-positioned to advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this spring.
At 31-24-4, the Mammoth are occupying the top wildcard berth in the Western Conference with 23 games left. And as general manager Bill Armstrong told NHL.com earlier this week, he's ready to make the team even more potent.
“We wake up every morning looking to make our team better,” Armstrong told NHL.com's Mike Zeisberger. “We’re never going to stop trying to improve. I think we’re going to evaluate like everybody else and see if there are hockey deals out there.”
The 55-year-old continued: “For us, where we’re at right now, rentals don’t make a lot of sense. I think for us, we did a lot of our depth building in the summer, putting a lot of the pieces in place. But, like I said, if there’s a hockey trade to be made to make us better, we’ll definitely look at it.”
Next 6 days will decide Mammoth's trade deadline strategy
It's been an excellent stretch for a Mammoth team that has won 12 of 17 games. That includes an impressive 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild at home on Friday night, the same Wild team that beat the NHL-best Colorado Avalanche the night before.
The rest of the schedule is encouraging, too; Utah plays 12 of their last 23 contests at the Delta Center, a place where they are 18-9-2, per Zeisberger. All that to say, the Mammoth control their own destiny as they look to treat fans in Salt Lake City to postseason puck.
There are a plethora of NHL teams who still haven't decided whether to buy or sell, meaning the next six days are going to be critical in shaping the trade deadline market.
“There’s still more information out there for us,” Armstrong continued. “And because it’s so tight, I think teams, if they drop four games in a row they don’t get to the record that they want, they’ve set kind of an agenda. And they’re going to wait as long as they can to make that decision. So I do think that’s why you’re seeing not as many trades so far.
“Everybody expected a big flurry of deals to be discussed during the Olympic break and presented once the Olympic break roster freeze ended earlier this week. But not much was done. So I do believe it has to do with teams waiting to see how they do in the next five or so games before choosing to adjust.”
Regardless of the moves the Mammoth front office makes between now and next Friday, Armstrong fully expects his club to be one of the last eight standing in the Western Conference come April.
“Last year, our first season in Utah, we talked about playing meaningful games in March and April. And we did that,” the executive said. “This year, the goal is the playoffs. And right now, we have a chance. Right now, we’re about where I expected us to be. And now it’s time for us to get the job done.”
So far, so good for the Mammoth, who have looked like one of the West's better teams on either side of the Olympic break. It'll be interesting to see if Armstrong pulls the trigger to make the roster even better ahead of the stretch run.
