After making the playoffs in their second season and a summer full of transactions, expectations for the Utah Mammoth are at an all-time high for 2026-27.
Here’s what changed, as well as an analysis of where they could finish in the Central Division standings in Year 3.
Upgrades and downgrades
Two-way center
- Out: Alexander Kerfoot
- In: Vincent Trocheck
- Assessment: Upgrade
When Alexander Kerfoot signed with the Arizona Coyotes in 2023, the team simply needed reliable NHL players who could help them be competitive and build culture during the rebuild. Now that the Mammoth are a playoff team, the next step is to add players who are the best in the world at specific tasks.
Kerfoot was a good penalty killer, a decent face-off taker and a generally versatile player for the Mammoth. But Vincent Trocheck is one of the best in the world in those areas.
Team USA management got some heat from the fans for bringing Trocheck to both the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Olympics over bigger names like Jason Robertson or Cole Caufield, but he and his teammates didn’t allow a single goal against while short-handed in either tournament. His penalty-killing abilities were a major reason the Americans were able to hang on against Team Canada in the gold medal game, despite getting vastly outshot.
Utah ranked 19th in penalty killing and 23rd in face-off percentage last season. Trocheck should be able to help out in both areas while also contributing significant offense.
Backup goaltender
- Out: Vítek Vaněček
- In: Sebastian Cossa
- Assessment: Potential upgrade
Last season was rough for Vítek Vaněček. It’s not that he played all that poorly — his numbers were only slightly worse than usual — but no matter how many saves he made, the opposing goalie almost always made just one more.
Not exaggerating.
The Mammoth lost all 10 games Vaněček played from late October to late January. In seven of those games, they lost by just one goal (excluding empty-netters, which have nothing to do with goaltending).
The team seemed to lose trust in its backup goalie. From there on out, Vaněček only played when it was strictly necessary.
Sebastian Cossa is expected to stabilize the backup position — but with just two-thirds of a game worth of NHL experience under his belt, his true capability remains to be seen.
He has posted respectable numbers in the American Hockey League the last three seasons. Utah has staff who have believed in him since he was 14 years old. Now, he’ll get the chance to prove himself at the NHL level.
Scoring winger
- Out: JJ Peterka
- In: Anders Lee
- Assessment: Downgrade, but potentially a better fit
Anders Lee didn’t score that much less than JJ Peterka last season — six goals and five points less, to be exact — but that doesn’t necessarily indicate a direct replacement for the Mammoth.
Peterka is 24 years old and underperformed, relative to expectations. He didn’t fit permanently on the second line with Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther, and there was no other available spot in the lineup where a speedy, scoring winger could thrive.
Lee is 36, but he scores his goals in a much different way than Peterka.
He’s a big body who can claim his ground in front of the net and tip pucks past goalies with ease. He isn’t as fast as Peterka and he can’t shoot the puck as well as him, but he doesn’t need dynamic line mates or power play ice time to be effective.
His skill set is just as compatible with first-line teammates as it is with third-liners.
With an elevated role in Boston, Peterka will almost certainly outscore Lee significantly this season. But that doesn’t mean Utah should have kept him.
Right-shot defenseman
- Out: Sean Durzi
- In: Andrew Peeke
- Assessment: Downgrade
As often as Sean Durzi gives the coaches heart attacks with his ill-timed pinches, the rest of his game is typically pretty sound. He’s a true top-four defenseman. The same can’t be said about Andrew Peeke.
Peeke is a serviceable defenseman who can play up to 20 minutes a game. He kills penalties and chips in the occasional goal, but his primary job is to simply kill the clock until the top-four guys are rested enough to get back on the ice — not unlike now-teammate Nick DeSimone.
He does, however, come in at a sixth of the price of Durzi, which freed up cap space for Trocheck’s contract.
It’s also worth noting that MacKenzie Weegar could be Utah’s true plan for a Durzi replacement. The trade deadline and everything that followed was nothing short of a whirlwind for Weegar, and he got off on the wrong foot. Now that he’s settled, he should be a more steady presence on the back end.
Maveric Lamoureux, a 22-year-old defenseman who has been in the Utah/Arizona system for four years, could also be an option on the right side.
Left-shot defenseman
- Out: Ian Cole
- In: Dmitri Simashev
- Assessment: Could go either way
Dmitri Simashev isn’t new to the team, but he will likely get to play the full season this time around, as opposed to his 28 games last year.
He displayed strong defensive awareness and excellent skating in 2025-26. He also showed up physically on a few occasions. If he can add a bit of offense to his game in the next couple of seasons, he’ll be well-positioned to take a spot in the top four — maybe even the top two.
For now, the name of his game needs to be steadiness. That was Ian Cole’s role, and for the most part, he played it exceptionally well for Utah.
Where do the Utah Mammoth fit in the Central Division standings?
For most experts, the three playoff spots in the Central Division are already decided: Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild (perhaps in a different order).
It seldom plays out exactly as expected, though.
Ahead of last season, for example, the Winnipeg Jets were thought to have a major edge over the Wild with the potential to repeat as regular-season champions. In reality, they missed the playoffs by a significant margin after their best player, Connor Hellebuyck, underwent knee surgery.
At the same time, analytical models rarely project teams to break out before they actually do. They most often mimic the previous season’s standings with a few teams moving up or down a couple spots.
This isn’t to say that the Utah Mammoth will finish in the top three spots in the Central Division in 2026-27, but rather to point out that the opportunity is there.
So, what would it take?
Big seasons from everyone in the top 6
Guenther scored 40 goals last season. Can he pot 50 this year? Cooley was on pace for 36 goals and 65 points, but missed 28 games due to injury. Can he stay healthy and meet or exceed that pace?
Clayton Keller has led the group offensively most of his career. Can he continue to score in the neighborhood of 90 points? Nick Schmaltz is coming off the best year of his career. Can he match it again this season?
Can Trocheck, Lee and Lawson Crouse contribute enough offense to round the team out? Will Tij Iginla, Daniil But or Caleb Desnoyers be able to step into top-six roles at some point in the season?
If the answer is “yes” to most of those questions, the Mammoth should have no problem scoring enough to outweigh any deficiencies in other parts of the lineup.
Stable defense
We mentioned that Simashev and Weegar need to step up to fill the holes left by Cole and Durzi. If that doesn’t happen, it will be difficult for Utah to maintain its leads.
That was perhaps the Mammoth’s biggest problem in their inaugural season. A new defenseman seemed to get injured every week in the first half of the season, and the lack of stability led to them blowing far too many third-period leads and ultimately missing the playoffs.
Consistent goaltending
Karel Vejmelka has played a lot of hockey in the last two seasons. He’s probably used to it at this point, so fatigue might not be the biggest concern — but it also leaves him more susceptible to injury.
The human body isn’t necessarily meant to move the way goalies do, and it often results in problems with the hips and knees. If Vejmelka plays too much, he could run the risk of wearing out those joints like many other goalies before him.
If the Mammoth can rely on Cossa to handle 30 games (and win more of them than he loses), they’ll probably be in a good spot.
Health
As the Jets experienced last season, an injury to a key player can derail the entire year — even if you were the best team in the entire NHL the previous regular season.
You never know when or whom the injury bug will bite, but you can prepare for it by bringing in enough depth to cover for anything. The Mammoth currently have too many one-way NHL contracts for everyone to possibly make the team, which could come in handy at some point in the season.
