Utah Mammoth Insider Cole Bagley Talks Free Agency Ahead Of NHL Draft

Utah Mammoth Insider Cole Bagley Talks Free Agency Ahead Of NHL Draft

hey the countdown to the NHL draft is now less than a week friday night here comes that first round and that fourth pick for the Utah Mammoth so to continue to generate that excitement we’ve got Cole Bagley back in the studio our Utah Mammoth insider for kslports.com and Cole it’s not just all about the draft obviously free agency is going to be a big deal this off season and there’s been a lot of names floating out there obviously Sam Bennett’s one of those he he made that social media video that we saw basically saying he’s not going anywhere um but that’s kind of led some people to believe maybe Brad Marshand could be a fit in Utah what’s your take on that i mean he’s 37 years old how how would he fit here yeah so national insider Elliot Friedman on his 32 thoughts podcast he elaborated that hey Brad Marshian may hit the free agent market and if he does he expects Utah to pursue him and I think you know when you look at how old he is he’s 37 years old but he’s still playing really good hockey you know I’m sure he was a guy that a lot of people could have seen winning the Khan Smi instead of Sam Bennett who was phenomenal in the playoffs he’s part of the reason that Florida really continued to be as good as they were it kind of you know was the cherry on top that helped them finish off their you know that backto-back cups but uh talking about Marartian in Utah the reason I would like it if it does take place is he’s a pest he’s a rat you know he’s a guy that could teach this team a culture that they really need to figure out in championship mentality and a pest mentality a guy that’s gonna help these young players Logan Culie Dylan Gunther uh Josh Don really understand how to play the type of hockey that wins Stanley Cups so is it is it plausible is it possible uh we’ll see you know I think that one makes a little bit more sense than a lot of the other free agents now if you consider I know a lot of people are talking about well could they bring in Mitch Marty probably not and the reason for that is Utah doesn’t want to overpay and Mitch Meer is probably going to be asking 134 million million dollars a year which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for this team right now that would be a guy coming off contract when he’s 35 years old not exactly a good contract i don’t know if I see Bennett hitting the market and I don’t know that Mitch Martyr makes sense because I don’t know if the Mammoth want to spend that much okay but a pest in the locker room i like that description that is something that would be good for the Utah Mammoth all right what about you we’ve talked a lot about the po possible picks at number four what what is the possibility that Utah could deal the pick for the number four pick and if so what would they be looking for in return anything is on the board you know for the Utah Mammoth as as we’ve seen in years past you know when you look at what they did last year with with trading for Mikuel Sergev that’s the type of deal that it would take for them to move off of the fourth pick is a player that can help you win now I know a lot of people have talked about well you know go and get Tompson from Buffalo uh Buffalo is is not the brightest organization but I don’t know that they’re that dumb to to deal one of their best players that they’ve had in two decades uh but maybe JJ Purka of the Buffalo Sabres could make some sense he’s a guy that’s been floating around the rumor mill that Buffalo is potentially looking to move off of i believe he had 68 points this last season uh he’s a very talented winger he’s 23 24 years old he more so in my mind fits the timeline uh you know that to me would be one that makes sense uh but you know I think Bill Armstrong is very much a guy that you know you guys come to me come to me and tell me you know you know keep keep the cards close and if there’s a deal that makes sense you know they’ll make it but I don’t know that he’s necessarily reaching out to see what’s going on more of you know hey let’s let’s see you know what how people approach us because you know they’ve got all the time in the world for themselves right now and uh you know like I said holding those cards close he’s got the leverage that’s for sure all right you know even if they use that pick we don’t often see NHL draft picks playing for the club right away right it takes a while there’s a development process here so with that thought in mind I want to go back to last year’s first pick in the first round uh Int McIla how close is he to being a Mammoth player and how much progress has he made in the one year since they drafted him yeah I mean when you get outside of the first and second overall pick timelines can be they can vary you know you could have a guy that comes into camp wows management and they got to play him right away or you could have a guy that maybe takes three or four years uh for most prospects especially you know forwards uh it’s usually in that two to three year um you know kind of area where that’s when they’re where they’re going to develop and they’re going to you know figure out their bodies right these kids are 17 18 years old they’re they they’re not ready to go against men they’re not ready to go against the the Reinhardts and the Sam Bennetts of the world right so for Tee uh you know we’re we’ll see how it goes at development camp which he’s expected to uh participate in and then rookie camp you know what I’ve been told is they’re not going to put any type of ceiling on this kid right now they’re not going to put any sort of expectations on him and say “Oh he’s not going to make it this year.” Because he’s a talent that that could you know quickly sprout into NHL talent and be ready to go but you know in terms of expectations he did he’s coming off a hip you know hip surgery i would expect him to go back to juniors i think he’ll come in and try his best in terms of uh camp and whatnot but uh I think TJ Gin is a guy that maybe next year he’ll have a really good shot to make to make the roster okay well a lot could happen between now and Friday night when the NHL draft begins and uh if you want to find out what the Mammoth do between now and then follow this guy Cole Bagley over at kslports.com thanks a lot Cole yeah I like Sam

KSL Sports Utah Mammoth Insider Cole Bagley joined the KSL Sports Zone to prep for the NHL Draft one last time, discussing where the team could go in free agency to add to the already talented young roster.