Cole Bagley gives his latest updates on how the Utah Mammoth look to approach the 2025 NHL Entry …
all right time to bring in our fivestar Utah Mammoth insider Cole Bagley kslsports.com cole busy week how excited are you to cover this draft yeah super excited um you know I I wasn’t able to cover the draft last year because I hadn’t been hired yet but uh you know we’re we’re uh we’re here now and just a few days out from the the Mammoth selecting fourth overall and there’s a lot of really good talent up at the top of this draft so uh should be a lot of fun to see who they end up picking and and how that player can help this team moving forward well let’s start with Bill Armstrong the GM uh met with the media today and spoke to them about the draft what what first of all what are just your takeaways of of from him and what he said this week as he gets ready for this big moment yeah um just kind of more reiteration of a lot of the things that we do already know which is you know anything’s at play here um you know they they could keep the pick they could trade the pick um but you know based on some of the comments that he made today is you know he talked a lot about how um how particularly difficult it can be to move off of a pick um especially you know when it’s not the first or second overall and you start to get deeper um into the selections it’s difficult because you know you’re trying to base a trade uh on how good a player can be right and yeah there’s there’s some doing that regardless but you know these are guys that haven’t played in the NHL yet and so trying to trade a current player for a potential player um is definitely something difficult but he said that you know there’s been lots of interest there’s been lots of phone calls it just kind of comes down to um you know making a trade that makes sense if they were to move off of it and that that’s kind of the difficulty um in terms of so you know using the pick though um there’s there’s a lot of talent um you know they’ve been doing their due diligence and uh if they do end up keeping that selection they’ll make sure to pick the best player available and I think you know in terms of drafting I I would I would compare the NHL draft more to the you know the MLB draft where it’s going to be a couple years before we see this guy and so it’s not always necessarily about what does the team need right now but more about what you know what could this team use long term and who’s the best available player you know when we’re on the clock so um expect I would expect the man with to keep it uh but you know anything could happen yeah i mean last year as you said you weren’t hired yet there was a lot of craziness going on uh my question is like how is there a more comfortable vibe with Bill and and like the rest of the team with with going into this i know they’ve had experience in past drafts with the with the Coyotes and and and all this but like are they more settled in now now we got an official name um all of this going into this draft is there a more I don’t know what the word is settledness or good feeling um uh with the team at this time of year yeah for sure um you know last year was this crazy fire hose of emotions and movement and new beginnings and a change of scenery and that’s all in the past now you know they’ve the the organization has settled in they’ve fully embraced Utah they’re you know they are the mammoth um and they’ve they’ve got a good direction of who they are and who they want to be and you know I think there’s a lot of confidence going into this draft because Bill has been doing a phenomenal job over the last couple years of making the right picks uh for Utah you know you look at Logan Culie and Josh Don and Dylan Gunther and Denil Bood and Dmitri Simichev you know this this team has has done a good job at you know recognizing okay where is the placement um of this pick who are the available options who you know who best fits our team what do we need looking forward and who’s the best you know best available player and um you know he’s hit on most of his recent picks and now you’re selecting higher um than you have for a couple of years and you know you’re going to get a talent similar to that of Dylan Gunther or Logan Coulie not necessarily in terms of specific skills but just an overall talent so uh there’s a lot of confident and I believe this team is very comfortable with where they’re at right now well let’s take a look at that top five and I I I imagine maybe their board is different than some of these people that do mock drafts etc i know you’ve done a lot of homework Cole you look at that fourth spot is there two or three guys you think are the most likely to be their pick at at four or how wide open do you think that really is yeah it gets interesting i think three through seven um you know it appears that there’s kind of a consensus top two picks and and Michael Misa and Matthew Schaefer i don’t expect either of those players to be to be available at three and certainly not four uh but like I said you get to three through the next like five or six and it could go any any you know plethora of different ways um but in terms of looking at what Utah needs but also you know taking into account who’s going to be potentially the best player available I like guys um such as Porter Martone Caleb Doa Anton Fondell potentially Brady Martin and Jake O’Brien as as dark horses um but but I think those three four names that you really should look for is like I mentioned Fondelle uh Dino Martone and then if you want to throw James Higgins in there you definitely could those are kind of the players I expect to go you know over those next four picks i don’t know exactly how those are going to go but with what you know based on what Utah needs they need size and they need scoring and that’s why I look more to names like Marton and DOA is because that’s exactly what those guys bring um you know they they bring a physical game they bring a creative game they bring you know an individually brilliant game that I think would really benefit Utah regardless of how quickly these guys are ready to to join the big club right i mean it could be a year it could be two it could be three before they’re you know fully developed and and ready to to take the ICHL but th those are names that I would keep an eye on as you’re reading a lot of things maybe talking to some people around the league what are some of the wild cards on draft day what are some of those teams that are rumored to be interested in moving up moving down is Utah among those teams i don’t think Utah is among a team is among the teams that they’re really looking to to move up um I don’t think we see movement from one you know the Islanders got you know all the luck in the world with landing the first overall pick they you know they moved up 10 spots and I think Matt Matthew Schaefer and and Michael Misa are definitely the the grand prizes so I don’t see them moving down uh with San Jose again they’re number two so they’re going to get one of the best players in the draft i think you know if you’re looking at teams to potentially um make some movement maybe Philadelphia uh maybe Chicago maybe Pittsburgh you know they’ve got the 11th and 12th pick and you know Pittsburgh is is in a situation where they don’t really know the direction of the team uh they they have you know one of the greatest players of all time on their roster in Sydney Crosby but nobody else there’s no supporting cast you know and they need to figure out uh really quickly what they’re going to do so uh maybe you know those teams could potentially move based on some of the things that I’ve seen but I think it’s again it goes back to what Bill Armstrong was saying is movement is movement is difficult because it’s all kind of based on projection and you know this isn’t a draft that the talent is very differing from picks three to seven 3 to eight so you know we’ll see what happens yeah man um I’m always interested around these times now being of course uh new fan hockey you like like most Utons um what position can you have a lot of like like in basketball you got a swing player right you’re you’re a shooting guard small forward you can have a lot of forwards that can stretch you know three or four positions this and that what in the NHL you know of course Porter Martone Caleb Dors um these guys are forwards you got a lot of forwards here in this first first round projection of guys what what position can you have a lot of or or or you just need like you know of course great defenseman great goalies great centers what is a great uh position to be looking forward to to where we can have a lot on a roster and still be fine i think the the most soughtafter position right now and generally always the soughtafter is center um you know talented centerman are few and far between and generally those teams that that have the best centermen are the ones that are winning Stanley Cups um and that’s a that’s a position that Utah is lacking in right now you know you look at their top line center uh Logan Culie he’s he’s great you know you’re you’re set with with your top line but then you start to trickle it down and you know not that Barrett Hayden is a bad player but I think Utah would certainly prefer Hatton as their third line center as as opposed to you know maybe their you know maybe their second and so you know I I think what Utah’s looking to add whether in free agency or in the draft is a a true second line center to really help propel this team and and and kind of balance things out a little bit more than they have been uh over the last few seasons uh free agency’s also on the horizon and Bill Armstrong addressed that today i want to read a quote and then get your reaction to it he said “We’ve always believed that if the right free agent is there we’ll sign them we’re also at a point though that it’s not our final piece we’re adding we’re still building we don’t need to sell the farm for a 31 35 year old to come in and clog our team up and then we can’t make the signing when we need it.” Uh what what do what do you take from that uh from that quote and what he what the message he was trying to send yeah I mean this might be a little bit of a response to the interest that the team reportedly has in Brad Marshand um and I think it’s on point with everything that Armstrong has said over the last few seasons and what they’re building towards now he went on to kind of elaborate and say look look you know look at the teams that are winning Stanley Cups over the last few years you know you look at uh the Florida Panthers you look at the Vegas Golden Knights you look at you know the Tampa Bay Lightning they were they all had players who were 27 28 29 really truly in their primes you know with Florida is as the uh most obvious example of that with Kachchuck and Bennett and Barkoff and you know Babroski those guys are not the Logan Coulies and Dylan Gunthers who were 21 and 20 years old mhm and so I think what he’s trying to get across is look we’re still a young team and you know they are looking to continuously improve and and add you know players that they think are going to help them win but it’s staying true to the timeline so there you know there’s no point to to jump ahead in this thing because because all along the way they’ve made sure to stick to the process you know not not jump any steps because they’ve done such a great job at continuing to improve every single year you’ve seen I think I think over the last three or four seasons they’ve improved by like 40 points overall in the standings 30 40 points and so if you can continue to make those 10point jumps and you know not over not overpay somebody not overspend not overcommit well you’re going to be set up to not only win you know at a certain point but longevity I think is what really what they’re looking for they’re looking to replicate the you know the Florida Panthers they’re looking to replicate the Tampa Bay Lightning they don’t just want to be this one hit wonder but but to you know expand their window of competition so you know looking at the free agents this year there’s a lot of those older guys you know there’s the Mitch Marers and the Sam Bennetts and the Brad Marians and you know a couple of older pe older players who if you’re signing them to five six seven years you know does that really make sense in what you’re trying to build right now with you know your Gunthers and your Coolies and your Josh Dones and this you know fourth overall pick and TJ Gillan all these guys so I I expect Utah to to kind of stick to that process and trusting what they’re building and I don’t think that necessarily means you know trying to sign somebody this off season that you know looks really good on paper but ends up not helping you when you need the most help yeah i mean that’s that goes to my question right now it’s like um you know just talking last week it looked like uh Utah was looking at a guy like Brad March yes I know what is he 36 37 years old uh but a two-time NBA champion um looking for something like you need some kind of veteran leadership and and the way he played throughout the playoffs from that center position is he a a type of guy that Utah would acquire here in in in this off seasonason right you know uh what type of things what type of trades uh could Utah be looking towards um before the draft on Friday like what um I I as I said like March at you know Vegas nights when they first got started they had a ton of veteran guys and went back to Pittsburgh and they’re just like whatever happens in Vegas came from Pittsburgh right they took a ton of the Penguins players and so like is March a guy that Utah is still interested in is this something that Bill Armstrong alluded to a little bit in his press conference today what what is the the vibe on on veteran guys like that well if you you know if you ask some of the National Insiders guys like Elliot Freriedman you know supposedly Utah is is a team that’s interested in Brad Marshian and you know I think there’s a couple ways you need to look at this brad Marshian if you can get this guy on a two-year contract maybe he bridges you to the next great you know extension or free agent acquisition when Logan Culie and Dylan Gunther are a little bit older right um a guy that that can come in and and show his experience and help the team figure out what it takes to win and to play you know winning style hockey pest hockey um so I think you know if if that’s how Utah’s looking at it and Marshian would be willing to come in and more of a mentor type role you know and and right off into the sunset that way that to me would make sense but you know the counterpoint there is is that what Marshian really wants to do right um you know some of the reports and rumors circulating is that he’s want he’s going to want to go to the highest bidder and the team that’s going to give him the longest contract i don’t know that Utah you know based off what what Armstrong said today I don’t know if Utah really fits that mold you know if Marshian’s looking for a four-year deal you do not want as good as he was as good as he is you don’t want a 41y old on your team um so you know could it potentially make sense if if it’s the right contract yeah for sure like I said if you could get him to bridge you to the next great free agent acquisition in a couple years yeah I wouldn’t mind seeing it but overall I just don’t know that it aligns with what Marshian wants to do towards the end of his career and what Utah can offer him real quick the uh Grizzlies uh looks like they’re for sale uh potentially could be moving what do you know about that and what does that mean for the future of minor league hockey here in Utah yeah I’ve I’ve essentially heard that it’s a done deal that the team is is approaching a sale with a group that would take them to New Jersey um you know I think a lot of it has to do with more of where the ownership group is at you know the the primary owner passing away a few years ago his wife is in declining health um you know a lot of people said well you know just goes to show that Utah can’t really handle hockey it’s like the Grizzlies have been here for a long time and it’s not a reflection of the growth of hockey in the sport because hockeyy’s never been more popular but it’s more you know the ownership being unable to you know truly give their attention uh to the team and and helping them you know succeed you know that’s that’s what the press you know press release said and and that’s uh you know kind of the vibe that I feel but it sounds like the Grizzlies will be relocating which you know a lot of ways is is unfortunate um you know it’s obviously a a cheaper option for for you know families and and fans to try to you know engage themselves in hockey to watch hockey i know that there was some interest for the Mammoth to potentially uh you know have a partnership um affiliation with with the Grizzlies as as potentially their ECL affiliate but with the team likely being sold and relocating that’s not going to happen at this point but you know it it does potentially open the door for a different you know maybe an AHL team to move here at some point uh you know now that the the East Center is going to be vacant in terms of hockey um you know I know the NHL is definitely trending towards trying to have those ECL AHL affiliates within the same state or at least within closer boundaries um you know than what what is mostly established right now they want they because you know when you think about it if you’re going to be sending these prospects down to the AHL the Maverick Lamaroos the Tiglas wouldn’t it be great if you could you know go and watch those guys 20 miles away instead of all the way in Tucson um and that’s how it is for a lot of teams is you know a lot of them aren’t as close now you do have the Vegas Golden Knights whose AHL’s delay is in Henderson so it’s not that far away but um unfortunate that that the organization will be moving on but you know maybe it opens up a window for an AHL team to come here one day and I could see SCG getting involved in something like that as well and trying to bring in that HL team here that makes a lot of sense like you’re talking about uh he’s Cole Bagley Utah Mammoth Insider kslports.com you can read all his stuff including the latest from Bill Armstrong today on kslsports.com cole we’ll uh I’m sure we’ll be in touch with you uh coming up at the end of the week with the draft we’ll look forward to all that thanks yeah no problem see you guys all right we have to take a break when we come back would you rather is next on JJ and Alex 975 the KSL Sports Zone
Cole Bagley, Utah Mammoth insider for KSL Sports, joins the program to break down the latest from the Utah Mammoth, including Bill Armstrong’s latest comments about the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.
