Speaker 1: Welcome Back Drive Time on a Wednesday afternoon, the four
Speaker 1: o'clock hour here on ESPN seven hundred, talking to Utah
Speaker 1: Mammoth in this segment with none other than Bell Fraser
Speaker 1: of the Salt Lake Tribune. It's at Bell Fraser one
Speaker 1: on social media in the pages or I guess online
Speaker 1: now at Salt Lake Tribune. Bell Fraser. Have you ever
Speaker 1: seen a actual printed version of the Salt Lake Tribune or
Speaker 1: did you miss that?
Speaker 2: I have? We still print on Wednesdays and Sundays. I
Speaker 2: forgot about to get their printed version.
Speaker 1: I was going to say, I need to subscribe to
Speaker 1: that just because I get it. It's you know, it's
Speaker 1: not exactly practical. We all get the stories beforehand online anyway,
Speaker 1: but there's there's something nostalgic. There's a good feel about
Speaker 1: cracking open the paper when when you get your hands online.
Speaker 2: I yeah, I will say selfishly, as a writer, it's
Speaker 2: it's cool seeing your name in print, as cool as
Speaker 2: it as it is online. It's fun being able to
Speaker 2: save those.
Speaker 1: Clips for sure, right And I'm sure folks you know
Speaker 1: grandma's or aunts somewhere love clipping your articles and putting
Speaker 1: them somewhere. So Yeah, we'll keep printing them for now
Speaker 1: with days and Sundays on the Salt Lake Tribune every
Speaker 1: other day of course at sltrib dot com. On the
Speaker 1: sports side, bell, let's uh, well, I guess we'll make
Speaker 1: it easy by starting where you're at and on site
Speaker 1: at the Utah Mammoth off season development up in Park City. Correct,
Speaker 1: give us the lowdown from up there and what to
Speaker 1: expect from a bunch of new faces already. I don't
Speaker 1: know how many of them are on site, how many
Speaker 1: of them you expect to be on site, but man,
Speaker 1: a lot of changes. It feels like we're drinking through
Speaker 1: a fire host on the Mammoth off season so far.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been a wild week, you know, starting off
Speaker 2: with the NHL Draft, right into development camp and then
Speaker 2: obviously free agency happens yesterday, So a lot of Mamoth
Speaker 2: news this week. But development camps started on Monday. They
Speaker 2: had two on ice sessions at Park City Ice Arena.
Speaker 2: They were split into a forward group and a defenseman group.
Speaker 2: Each session was around two hours, a lot of non
Speaker 2: puck drills, you know, a lot of skating, and then
Speaker 2: in the second half they'd have pucks and more drills
Speaker 2: and tomorrow will be the four on four scrimmage at
Speaker 2: Utah's Olympic Oval, which is not open to the public unfortunately,
Speaker 2: but these last two practices were and it was really
Speaker 2: cool to see all the fans that came out up
Speaker 2: to Park City to watch these prospects play. I think
Speaker 2: some standouts that were more anticipated names who attended the
Speaker 2: camp this year Colb Woodwen, he was one of their
Speaker 2: first round picks last year. Tijaginla, Daniel Boot, Kayla Danoier,
Speaker 2: he was their fourth overall pick this year, Dimitri Simaschev,
Speaker 2: Michael Robbel, who's the goaltender. So a lot of the
Speaker 2: names that people have kind of been following throughout the
Speaker 2: season in their respective leagues finally made it to Utah
Speaker 2: and got to get an uppost view of them. I
Speaker 2: think there were a lot of questions around Tijaginla and
Speaker 2: if he would be able to fully participate, and he
Speaker 2: has been. He revealed that he got double hip surgery
Speaker 2: this year. He got his right hip done in December
Speaker 2: and left hip done in January, and he took the
Speaker 2: year off obviously from the whild to go through rehabilitation,
Speaker 2: did a lot of you know, mental work and video
Speaker 2: work with the development staff with Utah and with the
Speaker 2: Colonna Rockets, who was his team in the junior Canadian leagues,
Speaker 2: and he said that this week at development camp has
Speaker 2: kind of been the first time he's been fully back
Speaker 2: to skating. He wasn't in a non contact jersey, which
Speaker 2: is a good sign, and he said he's feeling good.
Speaker 2: He's doing a lot of work away from the rink after,
Speaker 2: like rolling out and doing different kinds of stretches to
Speaker 2: keep his hips good. He said he feels a little stiff,
Speaker 2: but other than that, really good to be back. And
Speaker 2: I think it's a sigh of relief for Mammoth management
Speaker 2: because he was the sixth overall pick last year, first
Speaker 2: ever pick for this franchise, and will is projected to
Speaker 2: be a really big forward for them in their top
Speaker 2: six eventually, probably maybe not next year, but I think
Speaker 2: that's been a highlight from dev campas that Tjaginla is okay.
Speaker 2: He looks good, as do a lot of the other
Speaker 2: top prospects.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Tginla in some of the prospects from last year,
Speaker 1: and I like a lot of people here in Utah
Speaker 1: are still kind of learning a little bit more the
Speaker 1: intricacies of the NHL of hockey. You know, when you
Speaker 1: look at the Jazz, you look at NBA, you make
Speaker 1: a draft pick in the association bill, and a lot
Speaker 1: of times that guy is playing in summer league a
Speaker 1: week later and is contributing, you know, as a player
Speaker 1: that year. Especially with first round draft picks, it seems
Speaker 1: the NHL is much more of a kind of Baseball
Speaker 1: style where you're picking in a draft sometimes nine, ten
Speaker 1: eleven players and well you might see one of the
Speaker 1: first rounders in a year or two. Give me an
Speaker 1: idea how it differs in hockey and how we should
Speaker 1: be looking at some of these prospects and maybe highlight
Speaker 1: one of the or two or three of the rookies
Speaker 1: from this year that we may actually see in coming seasons.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, NHL is different. Like you said, I don't
Speaker 2: think fan should be discouraged if you don't see some
Speaker 2: of these prospects in the NHL roster, because teams own
Speaker 2: a player's right for three to four years after they
Speaker 2: get drafted, whether they go the NCAA college hockey route,
Speaker 2: or they go back to Canadian juniors or whatever it
Speaker 2: might be. So if they're not playing next year. It
Speaker 2: doesn't mean they're not in the name of system. They
Speaker 2: still are. Everyone's keeping tops on them. But the NHL
Speaker 2: is a big, heavy league, and a lot of the
Speaker 2: times management likes these guys to go get a bit
Speaker 2: more experience and get more playing time. You know, if
Speaker 2: you're the best guy on your college team, you're playing
Speaker 2: top line minutes, you're playing the power play, penalty kill,
Speaker 2: you're you're developing in all situations, where if you're in
Speaker 2: the NHL or even the AHL, those opportunities kind of
Speaker 2: limit themselves. So a lot of these guys will go
Speaker 2: back for a year or two and kind of get bigger,
Speaker 2: get stronger, Like I said, get a little bit more
Speaker 2: situational experience so they're able to come in and make
Speaker 2: a quicker impact. I think it varies for you know,
Speaker 2: first round, second round, third round picks. I think if
Speaker 2: Tijaginla didn't get hip surgery this year and he had
Speaker 2: a full year in the WHL and he was on
Speaker 2: pace for you know, a record season in points, he
Speaker 2: only played around twenty games, but there would have been
Speaker 2: probably bigger conversations about him making the team this year.
Speaker 2: And I think that is probably the same for Caleb Danoye.
Speaker 2: You know, he said he was the fourth overall pick
Speaker 2: this year, so usually those guys can go right away
Speaker 2: or they'll take a year or two. And he said
Speaker 2: he's going to trust Bill Armstrong and management and his
Speaker 2: family and his agent to make the decision on his development.
Speaker 2: That he wants to make the team this year. He
Speaker 2: could go back to the queue with the Monks and
Speaker 2: Wildcats and be their captain, he could commit to an
Speaker 2: NCAA team, but he said he wants to surprise everyone
Speaker 2: and he wants to make the roster. So it really
Speaker 2: is in these players' hands, and it's going to be
Speaker 2: a really competitive training camp because there are limited roster
Speaker 2: spots and they've brought in so many guys, they've drafted
Speaker 2: so many guys, but there are surprises all the time.
Speaker 2: You know, Josh Done made it last year and Bill
Speaker 2: and guntherer didn't make it the year before, and now
Speaker 2: he's one of their top fowards, So you really never know.
Speaker 2: And I think the overarching theme here is fans shouldn't
Speaker 2: be this courage if you don't see some of these
Speaker 2: names immediately in the roster. It's honestly probably a good
Speaker 2: thing because they're getting better before they make that transition.
Speaker 1: Well, it gives those guys time to sit behind some
Speaker 1: already established players on the Utah Mammoth. But that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean they're not making other changes, right. You may not
Speaker 1: see some of these fresh faces for a year or two,
Speaker 1: but the Mammoth are also making moves on the free
Speaker 1: agency and the trade market. I guess it's best to
Speaker 1: just ask about the most recent ones. Mammoth signed a
Speaker 1: former Stanley Cup winner, Nate Schmidt, to a three year
Speaker 1: deal worth ten point five million last night, and they've
Speaker 1: made a bunch of signings in the last couple of days.
Speaker 1: Give us the latest on their free agency acquisitions and
Speaker 1: then we'll recap their latest trade real quick as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ny Schmidt was one of their free agent signings yesterday.
Speaker 2: He's a thirty three year old defenseman, one of Stanley
Speaker 2: Cup last year with a Florida Panthers and it was
Speaker 2: really approve it year for him. He was only on
Speaker 2: a one year deal in Florida. It was under a
Speaker 2: million dollars aav and he made his money in the
Speaker 2: postseason and I think that's a big reason why Utah
Speaker 2: brought him in. He went from nineteen points in eighty
Speaker 2: regular season games to twelve points in twenty three playoff
Speaker 2: games and route to the championship. He was a guy
Speaker 2: they had out there in big moments of the game.
Speaker 2: He'll block a shot, you know, he'll take a hit,
Speaker 2: he'll throw a hit, and he put it all on
Speaker 2: the line. I think that you saw that through the
Speaker 2: Florida Panthers lineup. So to get that winning experience and
Speaker 2: mentality in the room is good and also just adds
Speaker 2: defenseman depth because they had so many injuries last year
Speaker 2: and had to call up guys from the AHL and
Speaker 2: pull guys off of waivers. This is just a bit
Speaker 2: more insurance and a guy that's been around the block
Speaker 2: and knows what it takes to win at this level.
Speaker 2: And then Scott Parunovich was the other defenseman they signed.
Speaker 2: He'll probably be more of a seventh eighth defenseman, might
Speaker 2: spend some time in the AHL, but again, just a
Speaker 2: bit more insurance. He's twenty six years old. He signed
Speaker 2: a one year, two way contract where seven hundred and
Speaker 2: seventy five thousand dollars at the NHL level. Then goaltending too.
Speaker 2: You know, there's an uncertainty around Connor Ingram in his
Speaker 2: situation when he'll be able to rejoin the team. So
Speaker 2: Utah signed Nate Schmid's teammate from Florida v Tech, Vanichek,
Speaker 2: twenty nine year old goaltender on a one year, one
Speaker 2: point five million dollar contract, so kind of bridges the gap,
Speaker 2: gives them some more options in net before some of
Speaker 2: their prospects already like Michael Rabbel, who's seen this year
Speaker 2: in development camp, and they hope he's just able to
Speaker 2: go in there and take some of the workload off
Speaker 2: with carell Va Milka. In the last signing, and they
Speaker 2: also sign Kyler Yamamoto, but everyone knows Yamamoto from last year,
Speaker 2: so I'll say the last news signing is Brandon tannev
Speaker 2: another veteran, thirty three years old. He's a winger. He
Speaker 2: signed a three year, seven point five million dollar contract.
Speaker 2: He'll probably be a middle six, bottom six player. Bill
Speaker 2: Armstrong described his game as having some bang in it.
Speaker 2: He'll fight, he's physical, hull block shots, but he also produces.
Speaker 2: He had twenty two points I believe this year. But
Speaker 2: we talked to him today and he was excited to
Speaker 2: be in Utah. He said he was attracted to the
Speaker 2: team because of their young core, because of the ownership,
Speaker 2: everything that's been going on here the past year, and
Speaker 2: he's looking to just be another one of those voices
Speaker 2: that younger guy can look to. And he brings a
Speaker 2: lot of energy, a lot of bite to the games,
Speaker 2: and I think that's something that Utah was missing at
Speaker 2: times last season. So not a lot of flashy names
Speaker 2: are the ones that are on the headlines of the
Speaker 2: national news or the national trackers. But it's Bill Armstrong style.
Speaker 2: He was conservative with the Caps. They have around ten
Speaker 2: million dollars left in cap space this year. Is still
Speaker 2: looking to sign restricted free agent Jack mcvain, maybe extend
Speaker 2: Logan Cooley. So he added where they needed to in
Speaker 2: all different positions and didn't overspend on someone that's going
Speaker 2: to give them problems six years down down the road.
Speaker 2: If you sign them to a seven or eight year contract.
Speaker 1: I know you've got a run. So we'll be quick
Speaker 1: on this one. Quick reaction of course. JJ peterca one
Speaker 1: of the high scores for the for Buffalo sixty eight
Speaker 1: points last season, a career high. And the big part
Speaker 1: is not just trading for him, but of course the
Speaker 1: agreed upon a five year, thirty eight million dollar extension.
Speaker 1: He would have been a free agent yesterday had that
Speaker 1: not gone through so.
Speaker 2: Quickly.
Speaker 1: React actually to Paterca and maybe some other trades you
Speaker 1: may see and we'll set you loose.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think Paterca for a while, Buffalo made it
Speaker 2: seem like he wasn't going to be available on the
Speaker 2: trade market. He was going to be a restricted free agent,
Speaker 2: so they still had his rights, but it sounds like
Speaker 2: he kind of forced his way out of Buffalo. Bill
Speaker 2: Armstrong said that he started to hear that Paterka might
Speaker 2: be available around the NHL combine in early June, so
Speaker 2: he proceeded to continue to make calls and work out
Speaker 2: a deal, and Utah got Paterca in exchange for defenseman
Speaker 2: Michael Kestering and sad Josh Stone. I know that was
Speaker 2: pretty sad for a lot of fans because those guys
Speaker 2: were a big part of the inaugural season, just really
Speaker 2: good human beings. But Armstrong said it to get a
Speaker 2: great player, you have to give up good guys as well,
Speaker 2: and you know that's what serious teams that want to
Speaker 2: win do. I think you know, two of the main
Speaker 2: things about JJ Peturka is his age. He's twenty three
Speaker 2: years old, which matches with Utah's core. You know Logan
Speaker 2: Cooley and Dylan Gunther both twenty one twenty two, So
Speaker 2: Paterka's going to develop and alongside these guys. It's not
Speaker 2: like they signed a twenty nine year old for five
Speaker 2: years who's going to be ahead of the team's timeline.
Speaker 2: And from what we've talked about from Buffalo reporters and
Speaker 2: people who have watched him play, they think he hasn't
Speaker 2: reached the ceiling at all. People think he could have
Speaker 2: a forty goal season one year. He scored twenty seven
Speaker 2: last year. So I think that's really a feeling for
Speaker 2: Utah as well, because he could get better and he
Speaker 2: will get better, and they're signing up on his potential
Speaker 2: as well. So we should be able to talk to
Speaker 2: him tomorrow, I believe, so we'll have more on his
Speaker 2: perspective of the trade and sign but expect him to
Speaker 2: be an important part of Utah's top six next season.
Speaker 1: That is bel Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune up
Speaker 1: at Park City's development camp for the Utah Mammoths get
Speaker 1: her coverage of it there and at the Salt Lake Tribune.
Speaker 2: Thanks Belle, awesome, Thank you.
Speaker 1: Always appreciate Bell's time. She is a rookie on the beat.
Speaker 1: Obviously it's the first year here for the Utah Mammoth
Speaker 1: here in Salt Lake City, but well second season, but
Speaker 1: she is in her first year covering the Utah Mammoth
Speaker 1: and she's done a really really good job of doing it.
Speaker 1: A good feel of the team and a wealth of
Speaker 1: knowledge on the game of hockey. Always appreciate her time,
Speaker 1: and we'll chat with Bell next week when we know
Speaker 1: a little bit more on the Utah Mammoth free agency
Speaker 1: trades and the like. She mentioned of course, Jj Paterka
Speaker 1: the trade that they made last week, a player who
Speaker 1: probably a first line caliber player, but from what we understand,
Speaker 1: probably going to be a second line player, kind of
Speaker 1: a sixth man Jordan Clarkson, if you will, for the
Speaker 1: Utah Mammoth. As she mentioned, they also sign Yamamoto, Schmidt,
Speaker 1: Tanev Perunovich, a bunch of new faces for Utah. They
Speaker 1: will try to get restricted free agent Jack McBain signed
Speaker 1: as well, So there's still a lot of movement and
Speaker 1: Utah Mammoth will be busy. I think that's something you'll
Speaker 1: probably just have to get used to number one. Hockey
Speaker 1: rosters go and undergo a lot more change than your
Speaker 1: typical like basketball roster. So you folks who are are
Speaker 1: not used to following hockey more like a baseball roster
Speaker 1: where you're seeing farm teams. You're seeing a bunch of
Speaker 1: different signings. It's not like the NBA, where you know
Speaker 1: there's not an official G League team, EHL. It goes
Speaker 1: down and down and down, and there's so many players
Speaker 1: that sometimes it's hard to get a track of think
Speaker 1: to Thanks to Bell for reading between the lines on
Speaker 1: that and giving you guys an idea of what players
Speaker 1: you may actually get to see, not only at development camp,
Speaker 1: but in twenty twenty five twenty twenty six with the
Speaker 1: new look Utah Mammoth, who will be a young but
Speaker 1: really talented, talented unit with the aspirations of making a playoff.
Speaker 1: A lot of folks think that they are in kind
Speaker 1: of the wild card range, so some postseason hockey not
Speaker 1: out of the question next year here in Utah,