‘Come up, come ready’: GM’s message to Mammoth prospects

TL;DR

The Utah Mammoth's GM Bill Armstrong emphasizes readiness for prospects at rookie camp, highlighting the team's strong roster potential. The Mammoth has successfully rebuilt, accumulating talent through strategic trades and draft picks.

Key points

Utah Mammoth holds rookie camp at new practice facility
GM Bill Armstrong emphasizes readiness for prospects
Team has a strong roster potential with several NHL players
Long rebuild led to an overflow of prospects
Mammoth is unique among NHL teams with its prospect depth

Mentioned in this story

Bill Armstrong

Utah Mammoth

Tij Iginla during practice as the Utah Mammoth hold rookie camp at their new practice facility in Sandy on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

How many playoff teams in the NHL have half a dozen prospects who could push for roster spots next season?

It’s probably just one: the Utah Mammoth.

That’s the result of a long rebuild, which began well before the group moved to Utah. GM Bill Armstrong and his staff executed trade after trade to accrue draft picks in the early part of the decade, and those picks have now blossomed into several prominent NHL players and a cupboard overflowing with prospects.

While Armstrong did not yet have an answer in his Tuesday exit interview regarding the specific needs he’d like to fill over the offseason, he did speak on how up-and-coming prospects could satisfy some of those needs.

“We want to encourage our prospects to come in and try and make our club,” he said. “You never want to take a dream away from a prospect — and you don’t know. Sometimes, they can just show up and they earn their way in.

“We want to make sure that our prospects, that are probably seeing this press conference, come up, come ready. Be fighting for a job. There’s opportunity there.”

That said, Armstrong isn’t going to gift a job to anyone. If a prospect makes the team out of training camp, it will be because he earned a spot.

“They’ve got to come in and they’ve got to take somebody’s job,” Armstrong said. “Let’s be clear about that. They’ve got to show up in the best shape and they’ve got to earn the right to take that job. So, it’s going to be competitive — and I like that.”

Current Mammoth forward Liam O’Brien was once in that boat.

After going undrafted, the Washington Capitals invited the then-20-year-old to their 2014 development camp. He impressed enough to get a training camp invitation, followed by an NHL contract.