Will the Utah Mammoth Keep their Top Draft Pick or Trade It and What Is the Next Step for the Team?
rumors abound that the Utah Mammoth may be looking to trade their first overall pick what impact will that have on the team and on the first round of the draft robin Leano of Locked on Mammoth is here to talk about that and more next on today’s Locked On NHL podcast [Music] you’re Locked on NHL your daily podcast on the National Hockey League part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day gil Martin here welcome everybody to the Monday edition of the Locked On NHL podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day i want to thank everyone who makes Locked on NHL your first listen every day don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode it is my pleasure to welcome back to the show the co-host of Locked on Mammoth Robin Leano i got to get used to Mammoth i’m still still working on that a little bit uh but Robin an exciting time for this team first of all first draft with the new nickname and second of all a lot of questions out there a lot of rumors about what the Mammoth may do with their first overall pick what are you hearing and and what do you expect to happen yeah you know it’s really interesting because I think a lot of it started off when um you know a fellow co-host of mine uh Tom Callahan asked in an interview uh in like in the press conference with Bill Armstrong when Utah moved up from 14 to four fourth overall is the fourth overall pick in play are you willing to trade it um try to see what he’s doing and D Armstrong was open about it he said “Yeah we’re we’re open to trading it it’s in it’s definitely in play.” It’s like my scouts don’t like to hear that because you know they’re always like “Hey we’re working on we’re working day in day out and seeing if we can find the best player for you and you’re just going to trade that pick away.” But uh but I think a little bit has been uh misinformation has been kind of like miskeewed or whatever on saying that they will trade it i don’t think that we don’t know that yet i mean again Bill Armstrong likes to keep his cards close but uh from what I do know is it still is in a play he’s listening to offers and he’s under and he’s seeing all right where what can we get where like what are what are some things that are be coming our way um and like and again if it’s something that’s really worth it to him yeah he’ll easily take that deal what do you think he would be looking for in a trade if one was to happen yeah I think this has been talked about multiple times and uh we’ve kind of decided that I think the minimum that he would even be asking for and this is the bare minimum is at least uh a a top six forward someone who can easily come in and uh and be an impact player for the Utah Mammoth right out the gate going into next season and no dancing around like oh this this player has the potential of being a top six forward but their injuries were like no someone who is a proven top six forward every single day um and it’s a big ask it is a huge ask not to mention there might be some other stipulations maybe to kind of even out some other deals maybe Utah might part with some maybe maybe a fan favorite or um just to kind of you know see what what even out because it’s it’s we we never see a one for one not like we’re going to see Bill Arm get rid of fourth overall for a uh you know for a number one seed it’s just not going to happen that way there’s going to be some movement between if Utah keeps the fourth pick who are the players that you think they’re most likely to be looking at yeah so there are a couple of name options that have that have come across based off of mock drafts and just based off general conversations I’ve had with other uh you know draft experts and it seems to be that there are a group like this very small group of players that Utah is mainly looking at uh where Porter Morone is one of them someone who fits Bill Armstrong’s MMO as well as uh as well as day daniel has been also very high on that list with uh with Bill Armstrong um thinking in my head as well uh some other ones anton Fondell uh is on some people’s list i don’t think he’s uh I don’t think he’ll likely get picked by Utah but he’s on some people’s list there um as well as James Haggins who I think is the uh the the one that’s most talked about in this when it comes to the Utah Mammoth at fourth overall and how much what do you think the biggest need you mentioned top six forward but most first round picks don’t play right away so what is the biggest organizational need for the Mammoth at this point at this point uh I think that it it really it will come down to a whatever best player available is who they can see who can have the have not to say like the quickest turnaround but is closest to the most NHL ready because they want somebody who can make an impact as soon as possible um because this team this Mammoth team wants to be competitive they want to like I mean next year they want to go to the playoffs they want to uh start making a fight for the Stanley Cup within the next couple of years and what is the biggest missing ingredient for this coming season uh to get them to that last step because this team made a lot of progress last year but what does it take to make that next step and be a playoff team yeah I think it I think to me the biggest one is get is having a a veteran like one or two C um and it’s I’ve said this multiple times like on other other Locked On shows on on the Locked On Mammoth podcast it’s nothing against Logan i love Logan and I think he will be an amazing number one seed uh for the Utah Mammoth in a couple of years and honestly I think he still could be a very amazing number one seed right now but he’s still young makes a lot of mistakes the rest of the team also very young makes they’ve made so many mistakes there’s a reason why they took a pretty hard fall and had a uh some really bad inconsistencies uh they need a a number one a veteran one or two seed to kind of come in to kind of bring in a little bit of mold to kind of bring that pace back together to get the understanding of what uh where this team should be and that is fighting for a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs next season how much cap space does this team have as of right now are there any free agents or trade candidates out there that you think could fit that bill yeah so uh this has also been talked about a number of times um so right now Utah is looking at $20 million in free cap space right now so that’s a lot they still have to resign a couple of players and that might take up maybe a couple of million because these guys are restricted free agents maybe ones that might not command a whole lot of money going into this next season um which allows Bill Armstrong to really go for a big splash should he want to um it’s really hard to kind of gauge exactly the play he’s looking for but what has been uh talked about multiple times and it doesn’t not a lot of people like this as an idea but it’s been talked about as as the idea of um of first of first and foremost of Utah going for a offer sheet of a guy like JJ Purka which I think everyone has said would fit into Utah’s kind of mold pretty well honestly yeah would pro it would probably really tick off a lot of you know Buffalo fans because you know offer sheets people hate them for some reason even despite the fact that it’s in the CVA that’s one but two um there are rumors swirling around um that Utah is within the mix of bringing in a player like a like a Brad Marshand um bringing in um someone like him may maybe even him specifically and I think that’s the most important aspect tom and I have talked about this on the locked on Nameoth podcast and saying that they’re might they might be looking for a pest kind of player um some people have asked “Hey what about Liam Arbry isn’t he a pest he’s an agitator he’s one that just really he’s he gets in your face but he doesn’t really have this the uh the top end skill to kind of uh make up for it pest players are the ones that just they they’re annoying you just hate them but you love when they’re on their team.” All that kind of aspects um but Utah has been pretty up on that list when it comes to a player like Brad Marshian the offer sheet situation would cost a lot of draft picks uh if you sign Petura do they have the ammunition to do that they really do they have the uh they have Utah has an incredible amount of draft capital that uh I mean they I mean they could afford it all the way up to like the most expensive uh you know the next six or whatever whatever it is first round draft picks if they wanted to they have it all right uh I think the you know the biggest thing is and I’ve talked about this is um one is I don’t think it’ll go that high um but two is Bill Armstrong really has to ask himself um that is it worth it is it worth going for a player like that it’s like it’s like just because we can doesn’t mean we should kind of thing is what I said on the locked on Mammoth podcast uh I mean Ryan Smith the owner of the Utah Mammoth has said pretty much well indirectly Bill Armstrong is the one that said that Ryan Smith told him that hey the pocketbook’s open you can spend money um we have yet to see that maybe this might be the first off seasonason we do see that going to be an interesting couple of weeks robin why don’t you tell our viewers and our listeners where they could find the podcast and where they could find you and your co-host on social media yeah you can find the podcast just about everywhere on social media we are locked on mammoth that’s locked on mammoth i’m personally robin_ano on Twitter or X whatever you do want to call it uh I co-host Tom Callahan he p he’s also on X he’s on Callahan on air but he’s mostly over on Blue Sky you can find him over at Tom Talks all right Robin thank you so much of course today’s episode is brought to you by your friends at Wonderful Pistachios 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The Utah Mammoth moved up to the fourth pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and they face a tough decision whether they keep the pick or try to make an immediate improvement to their roster.
Robyn Leano of Locked On Mammoth joins us to discuss what the team is likely to do and what their biggest needs are if they hope to return to the playoffs next season.
All this and more on today’s Locked On NHL Podcast with Gil Martin.
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1 comment
Let's get Tavares