The Utah Mammoth are at the top of the Western Conference. Is it time to make a serious effort and move some draft capital?
Daily confrontation: Jeff Marek on Daily Faceoff Live about the Utah Mammoth, and if they have anything to add. Is this the time to remove some picks and add NHL bodies?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Carter Hutton: “I want to, I want to change the subject here, Jeff and I want to compete in the Utah Mammoth. You recently had a chance to talk to Bill Armstrong, and again, this is a team that sits atop the Central Division, where, you know, we thought this team, I think everyone, as we predict in the media world, as we analyze, we thought this was a team that was going to take a step forward. And they’ve taken a big step forward with their youth, with their talent, their goaltending.
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You know, where do they go from here? Is it status quo? Do they just let these young guys get on with it after you talk to the military?
Marek: “I don’t think Bill Armstrong is ready. I fully believe that if Aaron Ekblad had gone to market, Utah would have been one of the teams knocking on his door. I mean, I think we all thought Detroit would be on that list too, but I really had a hunch that Utah would offer him a lot of money, and suddenly your top pairing is Aaron Ekblad and Mikhail Sergachev. It’s the association of the Florida Panthers, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Would make quite a story.
But I don’t think, I don’t think Bill Armstrong is done. I think now, perhaps more than ever, he’s looking at the killer row in the middle. And listen, Dallas will be fine. We all know that about Dallas. Colorado will still be a juggernaut, and the Winnipeg Jets, ditto.
But I think you know the Utah Mammoth and Bill Armstrong are looking at the division right now and saying there’s probably Minnesota. They can’t play five-on-five. There may be even bigger problems with the St. Louis Blues and those two goaltenders, and we saw that against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Joel Hofer in particular is very difficult to hit.
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So if they want to get themselves out of this, you wonder: who’s going to fill that vacuum? And right now, the Utah Mammoth is the team that says, if you leave all these points on the table, we’re going to gobble them up like Pac Man. If you want to give up that spot, we will take that spot.
And I don’t think Bill Armstrong is going to sit back and just say, ‘You know what? It’s going to be another year of development for (Logan) Cooley and, and (Dylan) Guenther and Jack McBain’ and all that, I don’t think so. Dmitry Simashev, I don’t think he looks at it and says, ‘Yeah, we’re just going to step back and see where the kids go.’
I think this will be an aggressive general manager and a really aggressive Utah Mammoth team all season long. I don’t think they’re ready yet, not at all. Will you?
Tyler Yaremchuk: “I don’t think that’s the case. Like if you look at all the young pieces they have, not just in their lineup, but coming up. And then they have their first round pick. Somehow they’ve amassed three second round picks this year. And it’s like, up. They’re getting to the point, Jeff, where keeping all these picks is pointless.”
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Marek: “That’s not possible.”
Yaremchuk: “You don’t need more young players.
Marek: “No, you can’t. Last time I checked, it was still 50 contracts. You know, last time I checked, there was one Stanley Cup given out. They’re playing with one Puck and you only allowed 50 contracts. Like at some point, yeah, at some point, you have to take the draft capital and say, we’re going to convert this into players.”
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