Cole Bagley: Impressions from Utah Mammoth Rookie Camp & World Class Practice Facility
What’s up? Whether it’s the Jazz, Utes, Cougars, or Aggies, these guys have got you covered. Time to eat, fellas. You’re locked on to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson. 1 2 3 on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jake and Ben 975, the KSL Sports Zone. Join Hans and Scotty coming up next Tuesday from noon to 3 at Sound Sleep Medical 8941 South 700 East in Sandy. Gotta get the the sounder ready. Christian, it’s time to talk some Utah Mammoth hockey. He covers the Mammoth for KSL. No, not that sound or get the Whenever we talk the mammoth, there’s a certain sound. Let’s do it live. I do it live every time. All right. Now you can play Cole’s Open if you’d like. With complete coverage of the Utah Hockey Club, this is Cole Bagley of KSLsports.com on 975, the KSL Sports Zone. Hi Cole. Happy Friday. Hey guys, how we doing? We’re doing well. Cole, what’s this uh first week been back? What’s this first week back been like for you uh with the new practice facility and some of the maybe unfamiliar faces at rookie camp? Yeah, I mean it’s been nothing but excitement. Um you know to to finally see the practice facility uh you know to to be out there, you know, close to the ice sheets and to see some of the the behind thes scenes stuff. I mean, SCG just did an incredible job constructing um this new training facility and you know, quite a few of the guys that we’ve talked to both in the Mammoth organization and and elsewhere have said, “Hey, this is this is a facility that’s probably top five, top three in the league.” I mean, Bill Armstrong himself told us that it’s it’s probably the top one. Now, of course, he’s going to say that, right? But, you know, asking asking around and and you know, um chatting with some people, I would say it’s probably up there with the Florida Panthers facility and the Chicago Blackhawks facility, which are both um you know, top two. So, uh you know, what they’ve been able to do in in the last 18 months is has been nothing short of just unbelievable and very impressive. And um you know, the team is is very appreciative. Um you know, it was like watching a bunch of kids in a candy store. um over this over the last few days as we’ve seen these young prospects um go to work at the new training facility. So yeah, like I said, nothing but excitement. I’m curious what makes these training facilities elite and specifically this new one. What is what is so bright and shiny about it? Yeah, I mean, you know, when you look at the National Hockey League, I think a lot of people would assume that every single team has this worldass training facility with all the new bells and whistles, and that’s just not that’s just not the case. I mean, you know, the Vancouver Conucks don’t even technically have a training facility. And, you know, when when uh when this team was in Arizona, you know, they were practicing um at a college on a college campus. And that’s essentially what the Vancouver Conucks are doing. It’s funny as I shared a video of the new facility. You know, it kind of went viral in Vancouver. I had all these Canucks fans tagging uh the team saying, “Hey, you know, when are we going to get something like this? This team’s been around for one season and they’ve already got a better facility.” But yeah, I mean, you know, not not to get like too in into the specifics because I I I don’t know exactly, you know, all of the these bells and whistles, but you know, just taking kind of a tour myself, seeing the recovery pools and, you know, the weight room and they’ve got they had this this turf field with all of these um mechanisms out there that I think are kind of, you know, tracking speed and and all of these different things. and then the two ice sheets, the ability to to then bring in fans here in the next couple of months to come and watch these. And you know, to my knowledge, anything that these guys could ask for, they’ve got it. And uh, you know, it’s it’s the nicest, it’s the newest, it’s got all the bells and whistles. And, um, you know, as Bill Armstrong has said, to be an elite organization, you have to have an elite practice facility. And, you know, based on just the eye test, that’s what it seems to be. and and in talking with, you know, a lot of the players, they’re very happy um with what’s been uh provided for them. So, this rookie camp has a lot of players that won’t necessarily be seen with the Mammoth this year, but who are a few names that fans should be familiar with? And then when does actual camp open up, I guess, veteran camp? Yeah. So, uh training camp starts next Wednesday. It’ll run through October 4th. Um, and you know, it’s it’s your usual training camp where you start with a whole lot of players and by the end of it you’re down to about a roster of of 23 guys. So, um, lots of work to be done, lots of guys that are going to be pushing. Uh, a couple names to to keep an eye on um, out of, you know, kind of the young prospects and rookies is I would say Dmitri Simichev, Denil Boot, Maverick Lamaroo, TJ Ginla, and potentially Coen. Um, now, you know, a lot of people have been asking me, hey, you know, are any of these young rookies going to make the opening day roster? And I would say probably not, but that doesn’t mean that some of them aren’t close. Now, in terms of Demetri Simichev and Denil Boot, those are two guys that I expect to play in the AHL and then depending on how quickly they’re able to kind of progress, um, you know, how quickly they acclimate to North American style hockey and then, you know, injuries are always bound to happen, especially in the National Hockey League. So there will be opportunities, but how quickly those two are given opportunities is is largely going to be up to them. Maverick Lamur is a guy that played for this team a year ago when called upon because of injuries to the blue line. I’d say that he’s uh probably up there with Dmitri Simiche, one of the first two young prospects that would probably be given a phone call if they needed to rely on that depth. And then in terms of TJ Gin and Kobo Dwan, I think these guys are close uh to pushing for roster spots. But you know, based on what I know and and you know, just kind of the perspective of where they at they’re at in their game, I think the best thing for those two would be to go back to the juniors, excel, um you know, fulfill the tasks that they’ve been asked uh to by the front office and and specifically for Tiglin. I mean, he’s a very talented offensive player, but he missed most of last season with dual hip surgery. Now, if he can go back to the juniors this season, put up close to 100 points, which is what he would have been on track for had he played the majority of last year, I think, you know, that that would really put him in a spot to push for next season. But, you know, we’ve got a couple rookie games. We’ve got one tonight at 6 p.m. Um, and then again tomorrow at 3 p.m. All of these first round, former first round selections for the Mammoth will be out on the ice playing, showing what they’re capable of. And I expect a pretty good show. I mean, they’re they’re playing against the Colorado Avalanche prospects and the Vegas Golden Knights prospects, and they don’t have anywhere near as as many number one picks, um, you know, in their prospect pool. So, you know, these these should be some pretty good games, and I would expect that the Mammoths should come out on top for both of them. How would you grade the Mammoths off season? Probably a B+ or an A minus. Um, you know, they what I was told as they were going into the offseason was they needed to get bigger. they needed to add scoring and add depth. And I would say that for the most part, they were able to to fulfill all three of those things. Uh specifically in scoring, they went out and they traded for a guy in JJ Purka who had 68 points a season ago. He’s only 23 years old, you know, and he’s he fits the timeline and he is a very dangerous offensive player uh who can both score and facilitate. So, you got your scoring, you got your depth, especially on the blue line, which, you know, as I was talking about earlier, they had to rely on a lot of uh AHL players. They had to rely on some young guys. They had to go and trade for Oolie Mada. They tried, you know, their uh their hand in picking up um you know, some free agents and a couple of those guys didn’t work. Then they landed on on Nick D. Simone. And so, they really bolstered their their uh blue line this season. I think they’ve got about 10 or 11 NHL level skaters who could make the roster, but they’ve only got about six or seven spots. So, um you know, there was your depth. In terms of size, they didn’t necessarily get bigger right away, but as I looked out at training camp this last week, um there’s just a bunch of trees out on the ice in that prospect pool. Um you know, the average size amongst their top six forwards right now is about six feet tall. you look at at training camp and most those top prospects the average size is about 6’4 65. So, um, you know, right away they were able to, you know, address their scoring and their depth needs. In terms of size, it’s coming. It’s on the way. And we should likely see a couple of those bigger players this season if, you know, they’re able to uh live up to the expectations. And guys like Boot and Simichev, I mean, those two are both 6’5 and the Maverick Limer is 6’6. So, size is on the way. And I’d say that’s why I’m more in the B+ range for for grading the mammoth. Any concern about not signing a contract this summer? Nope. No. I mean, well, I don’t know if it’s going to get done necessarily soon. You know, I I don’t expect it to be a Dylan Gunther situation where, you know, here in the next week or two, they announced that that Kulie is signing a contract. Uh, but, you know, looking ahead to the future, Koulie’s not going anywhere. Um, you know, the the what I’ve been told is that he will be a mammoth and he’ll be a mammoth for an extended period of time. It doesn’t matter how that has to get done. Um they will get it done. But you know with the increase increasing cap um you know players are becoming a little bit more weary to sign those seven eightyear extensions. I mean we saw that with the Minnesota Wild this last week where they offered you know one of their players uh what would have been the biggest contract in NHL history. He turned it down. Uh, and I don’t know if that necessarily has to do with the eight the fact that it was eight years or not, but you know, kind of what is being said and what’s being talked about is that players are afraid that, you know, they’re going to commit super long term and leave money on the table, right? I mean, if the cap continues to go up and a guy like Kulie signs for seven, eight years, you know, he could leave us a substantial amount of money on the table. So, it’s going to get done, but I don’t know that it’s going to be, you know, necessarily soon. I wouldn’t be shocked if maybe it’s towards the end of this next season uh before we see pen pen on paper. Cole, thanks for jumping on. We appreciate you and uh being willing to do it. Thanks, man. Enjoy camp. Hey, thanks guys. There you go. That’s uh Cole Bagley uh covering the uh almost said Utah hockey club, the Utah Mammoth for kslports.com. Um, it seems to me like there’s less angst over this contract stuff because the the really owners have all of the power. It’s different than than the NBA. I feel like there isn’t as much heartburn over are they going to sign, is it going to happen, is this not going to happen? And it it really is more like when than if and final details and those sorts of things other than like the extreme situation of the Gordon Hayward thing where they didn’t get it done and then they didn’t get it done right and then he was plotting his exit for three years, you know, because when you sign a deal you signed for eight years. The ownership has much more control in this sport. And so it’s a little bit different. I think there’s a little less of that with as we get to know the NHL. I think there’s a little less of that. and Logan’s still headed towards Logan Culie still headed towards restricted free agency. And as Cole had touched on, it’s just that the you know they’ve got this new CBA kicking in where this money is coming in. It’s going to be much it’s going to make sense for him to wait financially a year to sign most likely barring a bad season or injury. So all right, we wrap up the week. Coming up next, it’s the Jake and Ben show 975, the KSL Sports Zone.
Utah Mammoth Insider Cole Bagley joined to give takeaways from Utah Mammoth Rookie Camp & talk about the brand new practice facility.
