Utah Mammoth ready to take next big step after franchise’s first playoff run

When general manager Bill Armstrong realized adding pieces here and there wasn’t working for the Arizona Coyotes, he blew up most of the roster.

Armstrong kept the core young players to serve as the foundation for the future and amassed a stockpile of draft picks, hoping to rebuild a franchise that had been mired in mediocrity.

The incremental climb continued after the franchise moved to Utah, landing a big step with the Mammoth’s playoff berth this season.

A six-game loss to Vegas in the first round was not the ending the Mammoth wanted. They hope it’s just the beginning of something bigger.

“There’s a fine line in our sport between winning and losing,” Armstrong said. “For the growth of our team, we have to suffer a little bit of pain, learn to walk that line a little bit better. If we can do that in the big moments moving forward with this group, we’re going to have a chance of making a run as far as we can to the Stanley Cup. That’s the goal of this organization.”

The goal had been to reach the postseason. The Coyotes did it once since 2012, in the 2020 NHL bubble.

The Mammoth reached that goal in their first season since moving to Utah, using a five-game winning streak to clinch in early April.

Utah took away Vegas’ home-ice advantage with a win in Game 2 and took the next one in their first home playoff game to take a 2-1 series lead. The Mammoth couldn’t sustain it, losing in overtime and double overtime before the Golden Knights clinched the series with a 5-1 win.

The disappointment lingered over the weekend as they lamented what could have been, but turned to pride as they reflected on what they had done. It also hardened their resolve to not only do it again, but go on deeper runs in the future.

“We had objectives and hit all of them — sometimes a little tighter than we would have wished — but we hit them all,” Mammoth coach André Tourigny said. “We were able to have the consistency we have been looking for a few years, in a sense. That was important for us.”

The Mammoth have the pieces to keep it going.

Clayton Keller is part of the core from Arizona and has scored at least 76 points in four straight seasons. and have transformed from up-and-comers to dynamic players. Crafty is coming off his career-best season, as is goalie . Forward has been a veteran presence on and off the ice since the Arizona days.