Could the Utah Mammoth sign a big UFA this summer?
The first season of the Utah Hockey Club was filled with excitement and optimism. Now, with a new name and updated look, the team will look to make waves in year two.
That could mean taking a big swing during the offseason.
According to CapWages, the Mammoth are projected to have just a hair under $21.5 million in cap space for next season, meaning general manager Bill Armstrong has a lot of money to play with come July 1.
There are many star players that could be hitting the market this summer, including Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner. The Toronto native is coming off a 102-point season, but many are expecting him to leave town for a new home. Other big names heading into free agency include Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett and Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers, all of which might be getting a solid payday.
On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Cole Bagley of KSL Sports joined Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk to discuss whether Armstrong might go after a UFA this summer.
Cole Bagley: I think they’re going to be smart about it. Again, something that Armstrong has said repeatedly is, ‘We don’t want to win the summer just to lose the winter.’ I don’t think they want to be a repeat of what the Nashville Predators did a season ago, where, on paper, it looks really good. It looks like you’re going to make some big leaps, but then it just doesn’t pan out. So, they’ve got deep pockets. They’re going to be aggressive. This obviously is a free agency class with a lot of talent, a lot of guys that could make a big difference and could come in and potentially be franchise players that help the Mammoth reach the playoffs, not only reach the playoffs, but hopefully become fairly competitive over the next couple of years. But it needs to make sense.
Bill has stuck to his game plan. He hasn’t tried to jump any steps. He’s out there playing checkers instead of chess…making sure that the moves are smart, that they make sense, that they’re not going to set this team back. … Utah might be in the best position of any team in the National Hockey League looking forward based on their roster, their age, the amount of money that they have. But they have to do it the right way. So, I do think that they’re going to be aggressive. … I don’t expect them to necessarily overpay if they’re able to enter some of those conversations.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…