PRESSURE: Utah’s Roster Decisions SPARK DEBATE | Are They PLAYOFF-READY?

PRESSURE: Utah’s Roster Decisions SPARK DEBATE | Are They PLAYOFF-READY?

Pressure comes with the territory when you’re playing in the NHL. But which Utah Mammoth players have the spotlight on them the brightest? We’re going to tell you our picks on today’s Locked On Mammoth. [Music] You are a Locked On Mammoth. Your daily podcast on the Utah Mammoth, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Hello everyone and welcome in to this edition of Locked on Mammoth. I’m veteran NHL voice Tom Callahan joined by longtime team analyst Robin Leano. Pressure, pressure everywhere. There are songs about it. Queen under pressure. Billy Joel pressure. There’s so many different songs about being in the spotlight, being under that pressure. And in the NHL, everybody is. But Robin, today you and I are going to pick the players where the seat is the warmest for these players to show up and deliver Utah to a playoff birth. And it’s really interesting, Tom, because like you can look at it in, you know, a million different ways at like what level of pressure they are and what kind of pressure because there really is different kinds a lot of these kinds of players. Well, there definitely is a lot of different pressures and we’re going to kind of go through a little bit of the different looks, but ultimately Robin and I are going to pick one forward, one defenseman, and I think we’re both picking the same goalie here. So, I don’t even know how deep we’re going to get into that. However, we are going to go ahead and talk about uh the players. And I actually think I might surprise some people, Robin, uh with my picks. So, we’ll see how that goes. Want to say thanks to everybody for making us your first listen each and every single day when it comes to the Utah Mammoth Hockey team. Robin and I right here with you through the month of August. We are already I mean weeks from training camp, which is crazy, and the preseason schedule. I can’t believe we’re already in the runup here. Uh but Robin, I mean, knowing that this is when, okay, we we had a fun summer, right? We talked about the free agency, we talked about the draft, uh just, you know, seeing the moves that were made, but now we have the team we have. And again, I will say it probably every other show, if not every show, until we actually drop the puck on opening night. It’s playoffs are bust for me this year. So, I am putting pressure on players. And let’s start with the forwards. Um, when you look at this group of forwards, there’s a lot of guys, and I think the low, not lowhanging fruit, it’s easy to put pressure on JJ Purka, new player, new contract, highest paid forward. I think that’s an easy one to put pressure on that guy. um Clayton Keller, Dylan Gunther, like there’s a lot of pressure here for different reasons. Nick Schmaltz, who’s now playing for a contract, as is Alex Kerfoot. But the guy who I think the most pressure is on is Logan Culie. I think Logan Culie, he’s young, but he’s a 1C. And look, I’m not going to mince any words here. If Utah makes the playoffs, it’s because Logan Culie delivers. if he has any kind of slump, if he and we expect him to get paid, right? He’s going to get paid. He’s going to get extended. That number will probably make him the highest paid forward when it kicks in next year. I really think the pressure is immense on Logan Culie and I can certainly see it. You know, I can see I I um and it’s interesting when you think about that and you see all right, so there’s so much going around Logan You know, like you said, you said, you know, he’s going to be the highest paid for board after then when his new contract kicks in, whatever that new contract is. We still know it is going to be pretty darn high and he’s going to have the term to to boot. Um, and really I think it’s going to be honestly it’s going to be really fun to uh fun to see him play at probably what will be his one of one of his best seasons. It is a lot to ask a young player to be a firstline center and honestly if Utah added an even better 1C but really a 2C um that would make me feel better in the long and short of it. But Kulie had a very good season last year. got some international experience under his belt. But Robin, I hate to say it, I think everybody around, and look, I I don’t think Clayton Keller is gonna take a step back. I’m not worried about that. Um, we’ll figure out where JJ Purka belongs. I’m not worried about that. But I think if Kulie is a young player takes a step back and doesn’t have as good a season, I don’t think this team makes the playoffs. That’s why he’s my guy who’s under the most pressure. I don’t think they’ll actually make the playoffs if he has a bad season. He has to continue to get better. Not just stay where he was. He’s got to get better. And to me, that is the spotlight is 100% on him. Yeah. And I and I can certainly see it, Tom. But you know what? I’m you know, you know what I’m going to say as a forward for me. And this is a player and this is a player who I think is more of like a very much that they’re going to be under the microscope. I think a lot you and I have had some criticism of how this player has performed LA last season significantly underperformed to what we thought. Um and at this point is if he’s going to play better this season or if he’s going to end up becoming trade bait. This is a really good and and I think that’s kind of what adds to the pressure is if he wants to stay on the team he’s got to play better. I’m talking about Lawson Krauss. I as soon as you started describing said player, I knew that’s where you were gonna go. I did think about Krauss, but I you’re right. Who is Lawson Krauss? What is loss and Krauss? Where do you fit in on this team on the ice? Where is your effort level night in night out? He was given, you know, the title of associate captain, right? So essentially the, you know, the uh the right-hand man to Clayton Keller going into last season. And honestly, I like if if he was playing how he did two seasons ago with Arizona, I’d be like absolutely, you know, 100%. But based off how he played last year, I was saying like, wait, supposed to be an associate captain. I’ not I don’t see it. Where is he? Where is he? Well, and I’ll say this, captains can lead both on and off the ice. And I’m sure in the room, just knowing Lawson Krauss personally, yes, I think the off the ice has a lot to do with it. But to your point, was healthy scratched last year. Was frustrated with his own effort and his own ice time and just the way everything was going. They sat him out a game. Did he get better after that? Marginally, but what we need Loss and Krauss to be, and by we it’s the Royal Wii. I’m talking about the mammoth. What we need Lawson and Krauss to be better at is being on the third line, being a physical presence, being someone who can contribute some nice ancillary scoring because at $4.3 million, it’s not like he’s earning two two or maybe three million. 4.3 is a decent number to hand a guy, especially if you’re not getting a lot of production. Intangibles matter, but you I I need Krauss. you need Krauss to be that solid impactful third liner and he wasn’t that guy last year. Yeah. And and and here’s the thing and this is also hope for me and I think but this is also where the pressure comes on because uh so far kind of historically speaking Kronos has had like when he has a bad season he has a really good rebound the following season. And I’m taking a look going back to the 2021 coorten season. he was snake bit and he he took shots and it kept hitting the crossbar or kept hitting whatever you know anything else but the actual net. Um I could see he was frustrated right that same level of frustration I saw in this last season. Uh question is can he make the same bounce back like he did in 2022 or 2021 2022 season with Arizona in this next season with the Utah Mammoth? And that’s an important question to ask, Robin. I mean, absolutely. We need to know the answer to that question because so much hinges for the mammoth on everybody showing up and doing their job this year. This is I mean, all up and down the roster. And let us know in the comments your thoughts, but I’m going to go ahead and say that they really can’t afford regression from anybody this year just because of the pressure of the Central Division. I just don’t see it. I I see a tougher division all the way around. I don’t think Chicago’s a threat to make the playoffs, but I mean, Nashville should have been better. Minnesota, I’m still not sure what they’re going to be, but St. Louis was a legit threat to make the playoffs is again this year. Utah, I think should be in the playoffs. And then, of course, you’ve got the top three in the division. Winnipeg, Colorado, u you Dallas, it’s not getting any easier. This is a really stacked division. It really is. And honestly, like at this point, as you mentioned it, now that it’s playoffs are bust, everyone needs to be on their agame. Yeah, they they really do. They need to take the step forward. And again, we’re going to talk about coaching at some point here uh in the month of August because, you know, it’s the hottest month if you catch my drift. We’re going to talk about defense next though because uh we need to talk about which Utah players are under the most pressure. So, those are our forwards. who is under the most pressure defensively in just a minute. And today’s show brought to you by Game Time. Look, we’ve all been there. You log on early and you wait forever for concert tickets to go on sale only to lose your spot for a show you’ve been dying to see. Stupid internet. 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Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code L O C K D O N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N NHL for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Tom Callahan, Robin Leano. This is Locked on Mammoth. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. And hey, if you haven’t already, please go ahead and click that subscribe button, ring the bell on YouTube, notifications every time we drop a new episode for you, and tell your friends about the show. You know what? We appreciate the comments, the interactivity. You can also find us over on social at locked on Mammoth. So Robin, coming into today’s show, which Utah players are under the most pressure for 2025? We gave our forwards. So we talked about what’s going on up front, why there’s different pressure. You picked Lawson Krauss. I picked Logan Culie. Defensively, uh I think that number one, can we just go ahead and say the pressure is on everyone to stay healthy? Yeah. Can everyone please just stay healthy this year after what happened last season? Yeah. Pressures on the athletic trainers this year for the defense. Holy cow. So that’s that that right there is just look just stay healthy. That’s that’s pressure. But okay. So Robin, we have seven potentially eight uh roster spots really going into camp for defensemen. Typically, teams are going to carry seven because as we know and as you dislike, the Mammoth will dress 7D for a game. Um, and so that’s probably going to happen more than once this year. But I mean, there’s there’s a lot of potential here for players to be under the microscope. So, I’m going to let you lead uh for your defensive choice for under the most pressure. Well, it’s it’s interesting, Tom, because and I I’ll start with this. I think it’s really easy to go for uh the the quote easy one here um and say uh Yo Balamaki because of well how I mean not I mean his disappointment last year but one but als um and two is now he has to fight for a spot back into the roster when he gets healthy right and and or like and We’re talking like we’re talking months, right? We’re talking not until Christmas. So, like once he gets healthy and it’s like, okay, how good can you play? Can you make it back onto the roster? Because so far, as we’ve talked about before, this defense is going to be stacked. Yes, it absolutely is. Um, you know, and it’s funny. I was looking through some of the, um, you know, the Tucson players and everything and, um, I kind of smiled when I saw Kevin Canotton on there. I’m like, boy, that guy’s under pressure every single year just to keep keep playing in the organization, but somehow year after year he does it. Um, you know, I I agree. Uh, it is going to be stacked, but that with that brings its own kind of pressure. Now, we talked about staying healthy as being important. Great. But I mean, so your top six is expected out of camp to be Serge, Dury, Marino, Mada, Schmidt, and Cole. So Nate Schmidt, new in this process, pencils in right now on the 56 pair probably along with Ian Cole. I like that. That’s a nice veteran pair. That’s a lot of leadership. Uh which is why you might see those guys move around a little bit when they need to. I like that a lot. I think Schmidt was a great get uh a very good ad for this team and he brings a great attitude. So there’s pressure for him. Um there’s also pressure I think on Derzy and Marino um you know for different reasons but my guy absolutely this year without a doubt is is Sergeev. Muel Sergeev needs to do two things. Number one needs to continue to put up the offensive numbers and so that is pressure unto itself and I think that is Sergev’s game more than anything else. But holy cow, can we please clean up the defensive mistakes, the bad passes, the the just I mean sometimes blind looks, the bad clears, the bad outlet passes. You’re an NHL player now and you’re a number one defenseman and and those mistakes get hidden when you’re playing behind Victor Hebman in Tampa Bay. People don’t see those as much because they’re looking at Heb and you know he’s the number one guy there for a reason. He’s one of the best defenseman of his generation. But now Sergeev is being tasked with leading this mammoth hockey team. And if he’s going to do that, he’s got to be able to clean up that part of his game. Is it so hard to look for like a board bank pass rather than an open eye stretch passes? Well, it’s not the sexy move, you know, and and like I say, the one out of 10 times it hits, it’s a spectacular play when you s it through three guys and it connects on the other end for a breakaway. It looks amazing. It makes every highlight reel in the country and probably in the hockey world. But Robin, that’s one out of 10. Even with the skill of the NHL players, but that’s why because the other guys are just as skilled as you. And they can knock pucks out of the air. They can deflect them away. They can intercept them and break in on your goalender. So that that to me that’s the pressure for Sergeev. The pressure to now I don’t think he played like a number one last year. He was anointed the number one but I don’t think he always played like a number one. And so look I have no qualms with his offensive game. And I also know that like there’s two sides every coin, right? If the guy is pushing in on the play, if he’s pinching down low, the forwards have to be defensively aware. They’re going to have to cover for him. I get all that and I understand that. But that does not mean he cannot learn more defensive responsibility. He has to. Yeah. I mean, he’s also got a great blue line shot, right? Like from the point making really hard shots like like I would hate to be whoever is trying to block one of those. Um but you’re right, it’s offensively he’s, you know, he’s he’s good, he’s fine, but he has to be able to clean things up on the other side. I mean, you’re getting pucks through. Great. That is what you’re supposed to do. you know, power play, you’re running the power play, that’s fine. Um, but but again, I mean, Utah to me, I just don’t think much of the problem is in the offensive zone. Now, look, the power play wasn’t as clutch as it needed to be last year, but the to me the power play and the offensive zone is not where my concern lies. It’s the neutral zone play, which I think a lot of teams, a lot of media members gloss over because it’s much easier to look at offensive and defensive zone stuff. I think they need to be better in the neutral zone. I think they need to be way better in the defensive zone and Sergeev has to be the guy to lead this charge. It now Nate Schmidt, I’m really interested to see the Nate Schmidt impact on Sergeev. We’ve talked about the Nate Schmidt impact on some of the younger players and the prospects and blah blah blah. I want to see what kind of impact he has on Sergeev because Sergeev has been around a cupinning organization and has that kind of flowing through his veins from Tampa Bay and that pedigree, but Florida’s done it in a different way than Tampa. And I’m interested to see what kind of effect he can have on the responsibility end of Sergeev’s game. Honestly, that makes I’d like to see that too. I mean, we have plus I mean, as we’ve already talked about, someone with just the the overall experience of where he’s been h, you know, and how long he’s been around and a guy like Nate Schmidt, I mean, I should only hope it really it helps boost Circ. I mean, to me, this is just how I would do it. There are a million ways to win a Stanley Cup, okay? But to me, puck possession is the way to do it. Mhm. And that means not only holding on to the puck, but making smart decisions with it, not turning it over and doing the right thing as much 99% of the time. Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody does. But now, if you’re going to play a game where you’re holding on to the puck, because if you have it, the other team can’t score. Robin, I think it starts with him. So, did you give us a I I know I asked you to give us a name. I don’t know if I ever I mean, I’m just going to stick with I’m going to stick with who I said was the easy one. Um Okay, you going with Valeraki? Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that’s that is a tough one for him. I mean, yeah, lot of pressure. Flamed out hard last year, then got hurt, only has half a year coming up, contract year. That’s the kind of scenario that sets you up to be a zero or a hero. Yep. And and that and at this point is, you know, and and at the point is like what does Utah do, right? is like if he comes back and he’s not great, do you just uh keep him as uh keep him in Tucson with all that dead but with that dead cat for the rest of the year uh because he was technically on a one-way deal or do you find out a way to trade him away put him somewhere get get like at least try to get something out of it? Yeah. Oh, I absolutely would. I absolutely would. I don’t like letting players walk away for nothing if you know they’re not coming back or if you don’t have room for them. But that’s that’s something else we can talk about. And uh you know again that’s only a half season to figure that out with him. And so if he comes back end of December so really you have January, February and then trade deadline to figure that out. So um all right. Well I know we’re going to talk about the goalending. Um there’s only one guy with a new contract who’s been anointed the starter. So, I’m sure we can briefly touch on the pressure there, but also want to talk about Robin and I are big on growing the game. Robin loves the growing the game series that we get to do here with a locked on mammoth. Well, the mammoth are doing the same and they just had a great program. We’re going to tell you about what that was. And also, happy birthday, Archie. Locked on Mammoth. Robin Leano, Tom Callahan. Thanks for joining us everybody. We very much appreciate you being here. And again, like, follow, and subscribe. Uh, as we take a look at what’s going on right now with the Mammoth heading into August here, uh, we talked about which players are under the most pressure for 2025. Robin, I mean, in goal, obviously, one guy got a new contract, was anointed the starter, is getting paid starting goalender money. Not huge starting goalie money, like not Bob money, but I mean, Veg has to have a good year now to justify that contract. That is pressure. You just got paid. Let’s see it. I mean, you said I mean, as as you said, right, it’s not Bob money, but let’s let’s go back to that real quick. Remember the first couple of years of that Bob contract, right? Everyone was criticizing the contract because he was playing honestly really bad. It looked and it looked abs the contract looked absolutely terrible and everybody was talking about it. You don’t want to be the next goalie to have that conversation and again you’re right it’s not as big so it won’t be as notorious but there still will be the talk. Just to refresh everybody it’s 4.75 uh through 2030. Yeah. Unlike what what was it that was Bob like$10 million dollars. Yeah. And that was that was back when the cap was yet a baby in the woods. I mean that was chewing. It was still it was still like what like 86 or something like that. Yeah. You’re chewing up like 10% of your team’s cap on that. Like actually more like 12. That’s crazy. And on a goalie. Robin, that’s the interesting thing about goalender salaries. They’ve gone up and down over the years. It’s like there’s trends in the NHL and every 5 to 10 years it’s a cycle. Goalies get really really paid and then goalies get not at all paid. There’s never a middle. Like there’s never a we’re spending average money on a goalender. It’s either star goalies are getting overpaid or star goalies are for some reason considered a dime a dozen. Um but ask Edmonton how they’d feel about that statement right now. So, I think you need it. It depends how good your team in front of them is. But you can win a cup with an average goalender. We’ve seen it happen in the last 20 years. It’s happened several times. But if your team is not supremely talented and incredibly sure of itself on all fronts and just stack top to bottom, which so few are, you need a superstar goalender. And even Florida, which is a really deep team, needed playoff Bob to show up and win them a game here, which would eventually win them a series there. That’s the kind of pressure veg is going to be under for a team that needs to make the playoffs. He’s going to have to give you that one or two saves a night now that he wasn’t giving you before that turn a 3-2 loss into a 2-1 win. Yeah. Plus, again too, Tom, like I think everyone like it’s interesting because a lot of people talk about a goalender carrying the team to, you know, to the cup over I don’t know, however many years. And again, even if it’s even if it is an average goalie, like they still are that one player that will still kind of end up being all the talk, right? Bob being this being this year and even looking on like some years past and know Connor Halib hasn’t won with Winnipeg but he’s still you know a major talking point about someone who who who goes out and tries to win Mark Andre Flurry in the much of that 2010 decade right he was all the talk whether it was carrying Pittsburgh or uh helping Vegas get to their uh get to the Stanley Cup final their first year. I could go for we could we could keep going, right? There’s like everyone talks about that goalie and you hope you have that goalie. Um because when you do have that goalie, they win you cups. Uh and we’ve seen that. But we’ve also seen, you know, teams that look otherwise put together and don’t have a goalender. And again, I mean, Edmonton’s an easy example, but it’s happened to Toronto as well and years where you look at Toronto and think, man, they should just power through everything. And then whether it’s injuries or problems, um you know, Vancouver’s run into that with the the health issues with that or Demco, there’s all kinds of reasons. But the flip side is look at Dustin Wolf in Calgary. Calgary wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near the playoffs, and Dustin Wolf single-handedly raised them to playoff contention. I I’m still not sure how Dustin Wolf is not a Calder Trophy winner. I mean, I’ll even I I’ll even go with another one. In the in in in the in the late part of the last decade, Jordan Bennington, remember that year the Blues weren’t even in the playoffs for half the year. The Blues were dead last the first week of January. Last 32 out of 32 in the NHL. And then they called Bennington. They called him up from the miners and all of a sudden it was lights out. played some of his best hockey ever and carries the St. Louis Blues to a Stanley Cup. So, the pressure is there. The spotlight is firmly uh on the goal crease for the Utah Mammoth. And again, Tom, and I feel like it’s important to say like we’re talking about Stanley Cup winning, you know, winning goalies. We’re not again, we’re not expecting this team to win a Stanley Cup, but it’s still starting a starting part of the conversation that you still want a goalie to be on top of their game to be part of that competition to be able to be incredibly competitive. Well, you don’t sign a guy for five, six years if you don’t think take you to a cup. Yes, of course. At least that’s how I would see it. But so I don’t know. It needs to start this year. So that’s that’s the pressure there. Uh, Robin, I wanted to talk about um, we’re big fans of Growing the Game, of course. And you know, you you have some cool things coming up for us as well, uh, which we could talk about, but Utah, uh, the Mammoth organization as part of Hockey Week in Utah here, actually had a really nice event the other day, uh, where they were able to get out in the community and support girls hockey. I absolutely love this. I saw, uh, when it said, “Hey, it’s girls hockey day.” And I took took a look at it and you know see Alex Kerford was the guy you know was the guy running it. Um and I’m and I’m and I’m saying to myself Tom and I’m like you know what this is why we did this this is why a what we do what we do but also b this is why I love to see these stories of where programs or people are out there trying to focus on making hockey accessible to more people. And again that’s why I do my show. That’s why I do my like, you know, my Grow the Game series because seeing that it means so much to me because grassroots hockey is everything. Girls hockey and the growth of that of of girls hockey across North America has been absolutely amazing. And Robin, you want to talk about role models? How about bringing a couple of PWHL players out there? I mean, Hillary Knight alone is is got to be a huge draw. Uh Melissa channel Watkins as well. So, but I mean that’s that’s fantastic to have them there to have someone to look up to for these young players. Yeah. Absolut. Oh, abs. Absolutely. And and it’s it’s Yeah, it’s the ability for them to for, you know, for younger girls to be able to look up and say, “Hey, I want to be like you.” Um, and I want to play and I want to be a good hockey player. and having someone who can kind of be there, be that guidance and kind and kind of be be that uh even just be, you know, the role and saying, “Hey, I like I’m a PWL player. Look at me.” Like we and look at how popular we are. Like not even just PWL player and you mentioned like especially when you mentioned Hillary Knight, what about Olympic gold medalist, right? Like it’s it means so much. It means so much to see to to show someone it’s like, “Hey, you can do this, too.” Yes, absolutely. And uh representation matters. It absolutely matters. It really does. Uh also want to say happy birthday, Archie. I can’t believe Archie’s going to be a year old. Oh, so Archie uh is having a birthday party August 9th. So we’re telling you about it early. So you got a week to plan this by the time you you catch the show dropping on Friday. It’s going to be August 9th. It’s 10:00 to 1:00 p.m. It’s at Smith’s Ballpark. There’s going to be what they’re calling yard games. I don’t know what that is, but street hockey, food trucks, face painting, balloon artists, all kinds of fun stuff going on. Plus, there will be some kitties and puppies up for adoption through Salt Lake County Animal Services. So, that should be fun as well. Looking forward to it. Should be a should be a fun time. Robin, I just I mean, I can’t believe how big Archie’s gotten, first of all. I know, right? It’s like, oh, Archie was just this cute little puppy yesterday and how time’s flown. It’s already been a year. But, um, you know, it’s always great to to be able to support the community endeavors. And I do want to say I think the Mammoth have done a very good job of that. And I’m I’m one of their their things um is community obsessed. That’s one of their their their buzzwords, their mantras. Uh, and I think they’re doing a great job of that. Yeah. Going out there and uh just Yeah. in find finding so many different ways to reach out to the the the community and I and I’ve seen because I see all the fans out there, right? I’ve seen all of them uh just really appreciate it for one, but also two be a whole part of be a huge part of it whether they’re being in conversation where like they where the mammoth will reach out to these guys as influencers. It’s like say, “Hey, what can we do next?” or or or two just be there and be a huge part of it. Any any truth to the rumor Shabuzi is going to play the Archie birthday party or no I don’t know. I don’t know yet. We’ll find out. Wouldn’t that be nice? Yeah, we’re starting that rumor here. So, if you want to, you know, we got a week to make it happen. Try to push that one around. So, all right. Um spotlight is on. The pressure is on for the mammoth. The pressure is on for us because August is our runup to training camp month. Getting ready to go. And then September uh we hit the ground running once again. Robin, anything you want to tack on to the end of this one? No, just uh uh you know, really once again just I want to say just really appreciate all you guys for listening. Um we will have more Grow the Game episodes coming by the way. I’ve been I’ve been reaching out to a couple of other people out there. No, uh no confirmations yet, so I don’t want to say anything. But um once again, if you are somebody who is part of an organization who is doing grassroots level hockey or doing any kind of thing to help grow the fan base, grow the uh and just grow a sport in Utah and the state all throughout the state of Utah, no matter where it is, you know, from, you know, from every single corner of the state, reach out to us and we will and uh we’ll get get something going. I really love hearing from every one of you guys. Absolutely. Robin, where can they reach out to us? You can find us on social media, locked on mammoth. That’s locked on mammoth. That’s pretty much what on all on all social media platforms. You can find me personally. I’m primarily active over uh on on xroin_o. My my DMs are closed. I mean, if you follow me um and or even just mention me, say, “Hey, you want to send me a DM?” I’ll follow you back so you can send me a message. Um, but uh but you can go once again you can go and follow me over there as well. And if you want to talk to me, although I’m sure you want to talk to Robin, but I’m on Blue Sky to TomTalks and I’m on Twitter, Callahan on air. So, thank you once again everybody. We love you. The everydayers, thanks for always being here. The new folks, we appreciate you too. Thank you so much for being a part of Locked On.

Pressure mounts for Utah Mammoth stars as playoff hopes hang in the balance. Which players must step up to secure a postseason berth?

Tom Callahan and Robyn Leaño dissect the Mammoth’s roster, spotlighting key performers under the microscope. From Logan Cooley’s pivotal role as 1C to Lawson Crouse’s potential bounce-back season, the hosts analyze the forward group’s impact on Utah’s playoff aspirations. The conversation shifts to the blue line, where Mikhail Sergachev faces expectations to elevate his game as a true number one defenseman. In net, Karel Vejmelka’s recent contract extension amplifies the pressure to deliver game-changing performances.

Tune in for expert insights on the Mammoth’s path to success and how these crucial players could shape Utah’s NHL season.

0:00 Intro: Pressure on Utah Mammoth players

5:04 Lawson Crouse under pressure to perform

9:18 Defensive players facing most pressure

15:37 Mikhail Sergachev needs to improve defensively

21:44 Pressure on Karel Vejmelka as starting goalie

26:54 Mammoth organization supports girls hockey

30:05 Archie’s birthday party and community events

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