GDT Live Ft. Cory Wilkins

GDT Live Ft. Cory Wilkins

Heat. Heat. Welcome in everyone to GDT Live. I’m your host Colton Davies and uh today we got Corey Wilkins from Daily Face Off and from Clean Hits Hockey joining us. Uh Corey, uh we’ve already interviewed him to be honest. I it’s so it’s going to be a a playback version. Uh it won’t be live, but uh great chat with him about the Utah Mammoth. Talked a lot about uh what’s kind of going on there. And uh a lot of talk about JJ Purka and just how he’s going to settle in in Utah. This morning we had the NHL 26 gameplay trailer be uh go up and uh some notes from it. Uh Big Willie Styles, shout out to him. he kind of sent me a text about it and uh I managed to look at it at a busy morning this morning. But uh so NHL 26 obviously is going to introduce gameplay intelligence with NHL edge statistics. So they’re going to use the advanced data from the NHL edge uh program and uh implement that into the game. So that’s pretty cool. Um, I just had a post up on Daily Face Off yesterday that I made where I asked everybody what their favorite uh NHL video game was. And uh, for me it was NHL 14. I think we’ve talked about this already here on the show, but NHL 14 was one of my favorites. And before that, it was NHL 2005, which was probably my favorite one ever, just because in ’05, you had the you in NHL 2005, you could play with the double IHF teams. you could build World Cup rosters. Um, it was there was a lot of fun, a lot of stuff you could do in that game and I spent many many many hours as a kid uh playing that game. But, uh, NHL 26 also adds uh new uh attributes like uh they have updated and enhanced their attributes for speed uh acceleration, shot power, etc. So, it’s more um it’s more of a realistic uh attribute now and realistic animations. And they added 81 new goalie animations, which is absurd as well. It’s always the one thing about the game is the goalies kind of flip-flop around as everybody knows. So, I think that’s good. Get the get the goalies kind of situated, make the game feel a little more smooth, maybe a little more realistic than what it is. But, uh, I I like that. I think that’s awesome. Uh, I’m just looking at some notes here. They also added authentic tendencies. So things like uh Jacob Trouba’s hit, his physical play, uh Leon Dryidle, uh his shot. So things like that are a little have been added in. They’re a little more realistic now as well. So I think that’s pretty cool. Um overall, like 28 new X Factors have been enhanced and going to be added as well. I you the thing with the gameplay trailer is like it’s just a trailer, right? Like you can only take so much out of it. Um, we’ll see what happens when the game actually like drops and people can play it. But with without that being said, like without seeing it, um, without playing it, sorry. I think it looks okay. The problem is is like a lot of these sports games, they’re just recycled, right? They’re the same games over and over again. They’re just a roster update. That’s all they really are. And, uh, yeah, I think with this game, um, maybe there’s potential with it. I I don’t know. I I’m more interested I play a lot of franchise mode, so I’m more interested to see what they’ve done there. I know there was some rumors about them adding three-way trades. I haven’t quite uh looked too much into that to see if that has been confirmed or not, but I don’t know. Why don’t you guys like sound off in the comments and stuff like let us know what your favorite game was? What like what are some must needs for that game? I think like one must need of course is NCAA. like they need to add colleges and NCAA schools into the video game in order to I don’t know make it fun, right? Like how you going to play as how you going to draft Gavin McKenna other than with a created roster, but how you going to draft Gavin McKenna into the into you know into 2026 NHL draft when he’s not even in the video game. So, uh, the top prospects like that at least, I think you need to, you know, do an NIL deal or whatever it would be and kind of get that player into the video game at some somehow some way. Uh, we’ll see. But without without that, I mean, uh, NHL 26 looks all right. Uh, and I’m looking forward to seeing uh seeing what it’s like when it comes out. And like Big Willie Styles has pointed to here in the chat, uh, more customization. And that would be something that I think a lot of people would love. Um creating teams, uh creating logos, even like you know how the uh the college football game they added the you can um like the team builder so you can go online and you can upload a logo. I think the NHL needs to do that. You can upload like custom logos, make more custom teams. People could actually create the NCAA teams themselves. it just like Willie said, it adds a lot of customizational options and I think that’s something that the NHL game really lacks. But moving on from video games, um yesterday of course another day in the Helinka Gretzky Cup and uh we of course over here at GDT Live. We love that. Um Steven Ellis has had his daily recaps going up and Canada won 9 to1 yesterday with Matis Preston having a huge game having three goals. the Spokane Chiefs forward is a con projected top 10 pick here for the 2025 uh for the 2026 NHL draft, sorry. So, a good game from Canada, 9 to1. Dimeian Zilkin scored twice as well and Adam Valentini scored twice, too. Uh, you know, Matis Preston has been great. He loves rushing the with open space. He’ll burn you. He’ll he’ll do whatever he can. He’s got a great release as well. So, I I love watching Matthysse Preston. who was really good last year when he came through Cam Loops and uh played here a few times with Spokane. Uh Schaefer Gordon Carol, Medicine Hat Tigers forward who plays for team USA. He had a great game as well yesterday. Uh Schaefer Gordon Carol as he’s kind of been uh nicknamed SGC. He has been, you know, he’s a great two-way option. He’s had a couple good good games for the US. really putting himself on the map and is a guy that could be a firstrounder this series. A medicine had Tigers forward of course and then uh Mate Stanovven uh the cousin of Logan Stanovven uh had the only goal yesterday for Slovakia and their one- nothing win over Germany. So uh yeah, kind of cool to see another Stanovven. Uh of course Matez is going to be playing in the CHL this year. Uh and that’ll be cool to see another Stanovven in the uh in the CHL and playing here in junior hockey. But uh I think that does it for my little spiel that I had. I just wanted to talk about NHL 26, talk a little bit about uh the Helinka Gretzky. Uh we’ll do a quick ad read and then I think I’ll throw it to the uh Corey Wilkins interview as uh that was a good one. Uh so as always, Game Day Tarps GDT Live is presented by Quench Hydration. Fuel your grind with Quench Hydration. Zero sugar, bold flavor, and real results. Get 15% off your first order at quenchhydration.com with code game day tarpson. Without further ado, I will toss it on to the Corey Wilkins interview trade. What did you make of that? And what kind of hole does it kind of I guess put with Don and Kessle Ring being out? I don’t know if there’s necessarily a hole, but I think Kessle Ring played a pretty pivotal role for the Mammoths defense, but uh why don’t you kind of shine some light on that trade and where and where things kind of went with that? For sure. I mean, I guess starting with Kessle Ring, probably one of the more underrated defenseman in the league. He’s he’s 6’4. He’s a right shot. He’s got a cheap contract. He’s under contract, I believe it’s uh for the next two seasons, I want to say. Uh we just saw what he did last season with Utah. really stepped in on the right side with John Marino and Shawn Dery both out for more than half of last season and then saw him again at the world championship win the gold medal with team USA played a really critical role there tough piece to lose um for sure but when you look bringing in a piece like a JJ Purka obviously you got to give up something that’s going to hurt uh Josh Don I don’t know if he’s going to be more than maybe a a very high quality third liner long term um I think that’s a piece for maybe for long-term fans of the franchise to lose uh Shane Don’s son to see him go that that’s a tough one but again to bring in a piece like Purka and you look at how Utah played last season and one of the biggest issues was outside of Dylan Gunther there wasn’t a lot of wingers who could finish and that was really unfortunate when you have players like Logan Culie who can make those setups but when there wasn’t um comparable wingers who could complete those plays that was something that was really holding back the team just pulling up daily faceoffs lines for Utah is I was curious where Purka would slot in. I would assume first line, but where do you kind of see him filling in? How do you see like how do you see Utah deploying Purka? Yeah, I would think first line. Uh I think when it comes to Purka, I think the interesting piece is Nick Schmaltz because I don’t know what his long-term future is with the team. So Nick Schmaltz is a player, yeah, who’s played with Clayton Keller and and Barrett Hatton over the last couple of seasons, but Schmaltz is only signed through this upcoming season and then he’ll be an unrestricted free agent. I don’t think he’ll be resigned by the team and that’s not a knock on him as a player. It’s just you look at the prospects coming up with TJ Ginla and some of the other players they’ve drafted, there’s just not going to be a space for him. And then you know what does a player like Nick Schmaltz get in this $150 million cap world? doesn’t make sense burning upwards of 9 10 million on a 60ish point winger when you know you can replace him with an ELC like a TJ Ginlet type. So I think Peter’s I’m not sure if he’s going to play on the first line immediately but I think that’s going to be the immediate um that’s going to be the fit long term. They uh daily faceoff has him on the second line with uh with Schmaltz and Hayden. Yeah. So that that I think that makes sense for sure. You look at the young guys. I got to watch Dylan Gunther for quite a few years here in the WHL. And he’s always been a guy that I was like, “Okay, this is an elite player. This is a player that’s going to really find his his footing, sorry, in the NHL.” And he seems to be on that path right now. He gets that 8 by8 contract. What do you kind of make of Gunther’s path and and his contract contract? Like zero complaints. I think that’s going to very quickly become one of the best contracts in the league. very grateful that it was signed before the new cap figures came out. Maybe Dylan Gunther doesn’t really feel the same. Maybe he’s short a couple million dollars there. But, uh, hopefully they can do the same with Logan Culie and get a a really nice number there. But, uh, Dylan Gunther came very close to 30 goals last year as a I want to say 21. Uh, missed about 12 games with a groin injury. So, had he not missed those times would have cracked 30. I think 40 very possible as soon as this season and longterm. Is he a 50 goal scorer? We’ll see. but probably one of the quickest releases in the league. A very important piece on Utah’s power play and I think uh if not the most valuable player on the team. He’s certainly in that conversation. Yeah, absolutely. A lot of young guys coming up. We’ll kind of get to that. But uh one guy, veteran guy who was brought in, Nate Schmidt, Stanley Cup champion. What do you make of that kind of is that your kind of Kessle Ring replacement in a sense? I think so. But like if you look at Utah’s defense last season, they used 12 defenseman over the course of the season. So double the six, which is just crazy. And we know you need defensive depth with injuries and those sorts of things, but the fact that they use 12 is just wild. Uh he did get some term, so I don’t know where uh he’s going to fit in maybe long term, but for the next couple of seasons here while players like Maverick Lamaru are still developing, um he’s certainly a good piece. He can play both the left side and the right side. It’s another guy on the team with a Stanley Cup ring and if we do run into I mean inevitably injuries are going to happen especially on defense. It’s a some nice it’s a nice piece to have. I think he’s probably going to be a a third pair of guy but certainly good uh depth for the team. And speaking of depth, uh Brandon Tanv comes in just an energy guy. I mean we we all see the head shot every year of him. We see what he can do. He’s a very hot commodity come trade deadlines. Of course, his player teams want that type of player on their on their squad for the playoffs, but what do you make of Tanv coming over? Yeah, loved his playoffs in Winnipeg. I thought for sure he was going to be signing in Toronto with his brother and then uh you talk about a team who’s probably a little bit closer to a Stanley Cup than Utah right now is Toronto. Uh but yeah, excited to bring a player like Brandon Tan up to Utah. I mean, outside of some of the scoring issues they’ve had up front, they do still have um a bit of a size issue. Now, you’re not getting a lot of size with Tana, but you are getting a player who just has that never say die attitude. He’s he’s blocking shots. He’s gritty. Uh, and that’s something they’ve really missed, especially on the wings up front. What can you kind of say about VTEC Vanichek coming in? What What kind What’s the tandem this year? And what do you make of the what do you make of the goalending situation with Vishmelka? And I always get that name wrong. I feel like I pronounce it wrong, but it is Vegemela, isn’t it? So, I think you want to just pretend the J isn’t H. So, Vla. Oh, okay. Velka. Gotcha. Close enough. Yeah, close enough. What do you make of the tandem? Well, it’s hard to say because a lot hinges on what’s going to happen with Connor Ingram. Uh he’s still in the player assistance program. Obviously, his his well-being is number one, but uh we saw with the type of goalender he can be, uh especially in the last season in Arizona. Uh tied for the lead league with six shutouts. um didn’t particularly play well last year, but did have some different uh off ice challenges with the death death of his mother and then he went into the program. So, really hard to get that consistency. So, if he can come in with a clean slate, I think he’s someone who can still challenge for the starting role, but again, like you said, Corona really proved what he can do last season. He’s gotten better each season. Um, you know, the numbers in Arizona kind of floated around the 900 say percentage mark, but the defense score in front of him, you know, had guys like Josh Brown playing regular minutes. So, they I mean, wasn’t behind the best defensive core and over time here, the decor has continued to improve and we’ll continue to get better in Utah, right? So, naturally, his numbers should go up as well. Uh, VTEC Vanichek, I think, is some important depth. Uh you look at the the stretch drive last season when Utah was trying to make the playoffs. Um Vala was playing pretty much every game because they didn’t have a reliable backup. They brought in Jackson Stabber from the AHL and and he’s a good AHL goalie and he actually had a shut out in his first game uh with Utah, but he wasn’t someone they could turn to where Vanichek I know he didn’t have the best numbers in San Jose, but that wasn’t best team either. If you look back to especially go back to his time with the Devils, um some really solid numbers there and you know if they are in a situation where Ingram can’t play next year and they have to play Valcoa let’s say 50 55 games I think they can trust to get you know 25ish games out of um uh of the the new recruit and have some confidence in that. Yeah, Connor Ingram uh I’ve had the chance to kind of chat with him a little bit uh working for the Camels Blazers. he’s kind of been around in an in an alumni standpoint, but uh I just yeah, just want to, you know, hats off to him. I mean, obviously what he goes through is just uh it’s unfathomable. I couldn’t imagine that. So, just quickly wanted to say that, of course, can’t forget about him on on that depth chart and hopefully he can come back and really drive this team into the right direction. But speaking of driving the team into the right direction, this is something from my outside standpoint that I’ve kind of been feeling about Utah, but it seems like Ryan Smith really is pushing this team to be successful super quick and do you kind of is that the same emotion that you kind of are getting? I mean, and just what a change of pace from things in Arizona, right, where it was just um you know, just scraping by, just getting to the salary cap floor. Uh you look at one of the first moves they made when they became Utah and they brought in MueL Circus from Tampa. Uh he was due I believe it was a eight $8.5 million signing bonus uh just days after the trade. Now if they were still in Arizona like that was not happening. They were not going to output an $ 8.5 million check in a single day. So just enabling stuff like that to happen um to go out in free agency. I mean I know they didn’t add a Marner or pieces like that but they were in the conversation for some of those bigger names and that was not something that happened historically. I think with Utah, they’re becoming a team where it’s like Vegas almost. And it’s early to say that of course, but you know, when a big name gets put out there, you can kind of almost like say, “Okay, Utah’s going to be a part of this.” Like they they want to call, they want to do something. And we saw that with the JJ Purka trade. They took a swing on it, I think. And it’s, you know, some people are critical of it, but I think it’s going to work wonders for them. I think Purka is really going to just flourish in Utah and really pick up the pace. And hopefully it’s like every other player who’s found their way out of Buffalo. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Right. Sam Reinhardt. Um, looking back at the draft, uh, I know you guys have had Steven Ellis on on your program. You’ve had Scott Wheeler on the prospect on, of course, all friends of our show as well. Uh, fantastic guys. Um, what do you make of Caleb Doy’s draft pick? And, and do you think, I’ll put you on the spot here. I don’t know how much of a prospects guy you are, but do you think Denoy has a better chance at making the roster than Ila? Uh, I would think Ila has a better chance, but I don’t think either of them are going to. Uh, you look at some of the comments by Bill Armstrong and his assistant GM John Ferguson. They are very much in tune on let’s slow bake these guys. And again, if you go back to what happened in Arizona with the multiple failed rebuilds there, like they had players like Peter Mueller and Mikuel Bodker who came up way too soon, Max Doi, Dylan Stro, and they just they were rushed and it sidetracked the whole rebuild. So, um I know I’ve heard a quote a couple times from John Ferguson where he said like, “I’ve seen players who have spent too few time or too little time in the AHL, but I’ve never seen a player who spent too much time there.” And I think that’s something they want to do. I think with Eigila, with him missing so much time last year, I think it’s critical that he goes back to uh Cam Loops, he has an opportunity to be on the World Junior Team. He has an opportunity to compete for a memorial cup with Cam Loops hosting it. Uh Deon, I think he’s just so bra, right? Uh he’s this big lanky center, does a lot right. I don’t know if there’s a wow factor in his game, but he does check a box for Utah and that they don’t really have a second line center long term behind Logan Culie. So, I think he’ll go back to Monton. Uh, he might only be a year away, but I don’t think he should be in NHL as soon as next season. Yeah, for sure. And and just quickly, uh, the Memorial Cup is being hosted in Colona, so that you said, Just quickly wanted to correct that. Man, I wish we were hosting it again. Are you kidding me? We hosted 23. No, that’s okay. The the cities are like two hours apart, but if people from Cam Loops or from Colona heard that, they’d be pissed. It’s like It’s like I I don’t know. It’s like mixing up the other cities, right? like there’s a little rivalry between these two cities, but uh I think I think that’s the best thing for Teach. Go back, go play in the Memorial Cup, you’re going to have this huge opportunity, you’re going to lead the World Junior team like there’s no reason to rush him, right? And that’s what happened in in Arizona and you’ve just alluded to that. I think for Tee if he can go back and he can put up a 80point season and he’s, you know, goes and plays in a big role for the World Juniors and can carve out a Memorial Cup, he’s on to uh he’s on to great things here and he maybe can crack that roster next year. And it fits too, right, to do this like slow burn style rebuild where you’ve accumulated all these draft picks, you’ve carefully picked all these guys, like why do that so slowly and then rush it at the end? there doesn’t seem to be a lot of uh like I don’t think Bill Armstrong’s job is in danger so there’s not sort of pressure in that way. I think he has the support of ownership to just continue to build this out. And you look at you know some of the other teams how long it took them to build out. I mean Utah won the lottery this year but they’ve never won a first second overall those sorts of things. And you look at like a team like St. Louis where Bill Armstrong came from. It was like a 15-year build to get that Stanley Cup. Yeah, that that’s a good point. That’s a good point. I love what Bill Armstrong does. like he’s such a good builder and I think he’s perfect for for that Utah team. Um, another prospect uh just from that draft I wanted to get to. I I’m actually uh I can’t name him of course, but I’m friends with a Utah uh scout and uh he comes out to the WHL games all the time. And so uh you guys took a player in the second round, Max Pesnika out of uh Portland, and he’s a right shot defenseman for out of Czecha. Uh he’s a I I’ll give you a quick scouting report if you don’t know much about him, but uh he’s a great mobile defenseman. I think he’s actually got what it takes to maybe carve out a top six role. But uh it was funny when me and the scout were uh watching the Blazers game. They were playing Portland and Peshnika was was there and that was his kind of his report and Peshnika came up down the down the ice and just tow dragged uh one of the Blazers defenseman and immediately the scout goes, “Oh, second round pick 100%.” And it was just funny how as soon as Utah took him, I had to fire him off a text and go, “Wow, looks like your scouting report did some work, but what do you make of Max Peshnika, if you’ve had the chance at all to kind of watch him?” I know I went on a long-winded thing there. Oh, no. All good. I don’t know a whole lot about the player, but I mean, anytime you can add defensive depth, and it’s funny that they got him in the second round because I heard a comment from one of uh Utah’s scouting directors that they had him ranked late in the first. So to walk out of the draft with two guys, at least two guys that you had ranked in the first round is huge. Uh I mean as far as the player, a bit of a wildly year last year and starting overseas and then he came over to Portland and then I’m also a big proponent of taking for programs particularly in the CHL that have good development history and Portland is one of those teams. So lots of confidence when you’re taking a player from the Winter Hawks. Yeah, of course. Seth Jones is like one of the big names of course that pops out there all over Borkstrand. I can Yeah, lots of names we can go down the list of. I’m a junior hockey nerd as people in our chat point out often. Uh speaking of defenseman, Maverick Lamaro, is he a guy that can make the roster this year or is he still a couple years away? I think he could, but there’s a lot of roadblocks in front of him just in terms of the depth. And then you look at he’s missed a lot of time over the last couple years. He’s had a couple of wonky injuries. He had a collarbone injury. He missed some time with Mono. I think he just needs like one full season in the AHL where like he even got called up for a bit last year and he looked okay. Uh but the longer he played in the NHL, it looked like, okay, he needs a little bit more time developmentally. Um so I would like to see one good stretch of him in the AHL, just go down there, play a full season, be the number one defenseman at the Road Runners, and then come up in a year from now. Uh especially when there’s a little bit more clarity on the right side with what Utah will be doing. John Marino has two more years left. So maybe in a year from now he’s I don’t know what his long term is with the team. But uh you know certainly you know Maverick Lamaru when you can add a 6’7 6’6 defenseman. Um developing offensive game seems to be a really good guy in the locker room. Lots of leadership. Uh lots of excitement with that player for sure. Uh what about Dmitri Simichev? I don’t know too much about him but was he I believe he was signed right? He signed and so was Denil boot. Lots of excitement over those two. Uh I think Simichev is a little bit closer to NHL ready than boot from what I’ve heard. Uh they both have clauses in their contract where I think it is they can play in Tucson this coming year but I think it’s for the next two years or about like the year and a half of the three-year deal where you know if they aren’t getting the opportunities they can go back to Russia and develop. But I think Simichev is closer to playing for Utah right now than Denil boot. But lots of excitement around both players. Uh, Simichev, great shutdown defenseman. And Deil Boot is just huge. He’s like six foot nine. Uh, he can score. Like, yeah, you don’t see wingers that big, right? And he can score. So, lots of excitement around that player. Kind of got your own Tage Thompson in a sense, just walking around out there, right? That’s anytime I see a big player, I just immediately think of Tae Thompson. Um, what’s kind of the atmosphere like in in Utah? Like, you’ve been to games, I assume. Like, what what what is it like? Can you kind of walk me through it? Yeah, went to uh two games last year. Lots of excitement there. Um, you know, it’s not a new market to hockey because they have had the ECHL and the AHL. So, you know, it wasn’t as if like the NHL expanding to some new hockey market all together. So, there was some history there. Uh, but I did I do think, you know, over time fans were learning as well about the NHL game and just the building is incredibly loud. They’ve done an extensive renovation to it this summer and they’re going to continue it over the next two summers to get the uh the capacity up to NHL level. So, they have about 11,000 unobstructed seats and then another 5,000 or so that were partially obstructed. So, they’ve continued to just build up that 11,000 number. But, yeah, great atmosphere and that should only continue to get better as the team gets better. Is there plans, and I know this is way too early, but is there plans because I know it happened with the Kraken and with Angus, but is there plans to have uh the AHL team close by? It’s it’s hard to say. So, the AHL team is still owned by the former Coyotes owner. So, it’s just an affiliate right now, but we’ve also seen that the ECHL team in Utah, uh they don’t they’re not going to stay there long term. So, I mean, that arena is going to be open up in West Valley, which isn’t too far from Salt Lake. So, seems like a natural landing spot if the Tucson team um I think Tucson only has one year left on their lease, so you can kind of just see the stars aligning for a potential move to Utah as well. Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, it’s nice when the I think it’s nice when the AHL teams are close. Like Vancouver has Abbottzford right down the road and Calgary has Calgary, right? Like there’s just there’s a lot of good ones of course and I think it helps with development and it’s probably a lot easier on the players too, right? Like you’re not jumping on an airplane and flying three hours across the country or anything like that. It’s just a simple little drive or whatever. Um going back to last season, I know we’re kind of jumping around here, but going back to last season, was there anybody that exceeded your expectation? Um, I don’t know if exceeded expectation, but I don’t think Clayton Keller gets as much praise as he should get. Like, he’s knocking on the door of 100 points. Uh, he eclipsed 90 last year, and he’s still kind of doing this without a number one center. I think Logan Culie, if he’s not a number one center right now, he’s very soon, but like he’s not playing, Keller’s not playing with number one centers like some of the other top wings in the league. So, if he’s can get 90ish points playing with a very young Logan Culie, like what can Keller do in a couple years when Logan Culie is 25? So, I’m I’m really excited to see what happens there. Uh it was his first year as captain and I think he really excelled in that role. I think there was maybe some hesitancy because he’s not the most outspoken player, but I think he’s the type who leads by example and yeah, I was just very impressed by Clayton Keller last season. Yeah. What do you what can you kind of say about Logan Culie cuz he just seems to be knocking on the doorstep of being this just superstar player? Like what can you kind of say about him? Yeah. Uh incredibly exciting player. I wonder if you redo his draft year. So Arizona got him at three. If you redo his draft year, does he go to number one ahead of Slevoski? I’m not sure, but I think he might. There’s a conversation there, right? Um critical year for him coming up because he is a restricted free agent uh next summer. I’m sure Bill Armstrong would love to lock him up sooner than later, but yeah, lots of excitement around this player. On the flip side of that, has there been anybody on the team who just kind of like needs to step it up a little bit, you think, or or is the team just in a mode right now where that doesn’t need to happen? I think, you know, there’s some disappointment around Losen Krauss last season. This is a player who has 20 goal upside and just last year the numbers weren’t there and it was disappointing especially because okay if the offense isn’t there he at least has the size where he can back it up physically but like even the hits were down last year. So it he was probably the most disappointing on the player uh on the team last season and would love to see a rebound from him next season because he is a bit of a uh unique player in this league, right? because you don’t get a lot of players who are 6’4 and they can hit and they can score. So like he very much has potential to be a guy who can get 20 goals and 250 hits and that didn’t happen last season. Yeah, for sure. Um what are the season expectations you think for this year? I think playoffs. Bill Armstrong has made those comments that it’s essentially playoffs are bust. I think they’re probably right on the doorstep now. It’s so tough, right, with this new playoff system where it’s essentially only five spots because it’s either top three in your division or you got to get one of the two wild cards. So, you look at the central division and I don’t think they’re ahead of Winnipeg. I don’t think they’re ahead of Colorado. I don’t think they’re ahead of Dallas. So, that really just leaves two spots open, right? So, um they do still have some cap space left. Uh I don’t know if they’re done yet, but they do still have I mean, if you get creative, they have about $10 million or so to spend. I would love to see them still add one more center. I don’t know if they’re going to do that, but I think if they can add that one piece that would really push them over the edge over the edge to get into that last playoff spot. Do you have a player in mind? Oh, I’ve I’ve probably annoyed the Utah fan base with my uh admiration for Marco Rossi. Now, he doesn’t really fit into a Bill Armstrong team because he’s only 5 foot n uh but I always say like he’s not small, he’s just short. like he’s he’s got that Max DOI built, right, where he’s thick and he’s like a fire hydrant and he got 60 points in Minnesota last year. I know he didn’t have the best end of the year where he was on the fourth line in the playoffs, but still unsigned by Minnesota. So, still some hope on my part that he could move. Oh, he got the assets to do it as well. That’d be a that’d be a good move. I Oh, now that you got Right. and he has some ties with Andre Turney because they were together with the Ottawa 67s in the OHL, right? Okay. Maybe Cor Corey, maybe you just figured it out. Maybe that’s the plan. If if that happened Yeah, there you go. Uh, okay. The Mammoth logo in Jersey. Now, this went on for forever. And I got to ask you, are you a fan of it? Yeah, I’m a fan. uh when the whole process started and they put out I think it was 20 or so names. Uh I like Yeti. Yeti was always top of my list. I think it just rolls off the tongue. I think you can do some interesting stuff. And when those the logos leaked, uh I didn’t mind the logo. I really like the mammoth logo, too. Uh but I think what’s different about the mammoth is there’s an actual tie there, right? With I think Utah is the number one states in terms of uh fossils found for mammoth, whereas Yeti is just this madeup thing, right? So with Mammoth having an actual tie to the state, I thought that was really cool. And I was not at all a fan of the Outlaws, I think that’s just too, you know, EA Sports of a team name. I think that can apply to a lot of places, but it probably doesn’t apply to Utah. I mean, if you go back to like the Butch Cassidy days and those sorts of things, but I Yeah, I think it’s just a little too cartoony for me. I I I like it. Um, my thing was I had a I think in the You probably may have seen it in the messinger in our chat in Daily Face Off there. Uh, I almost said what the name was, but uh, we, uh, I, what did I say? I said the Utah rock because if they were going for music ones, you got the Utah Jazz, go for the Utah Rock. I I don’t know. I was just spitballing names. But honestly, I like I like Mammoth. Uh, I think the logo The logo has really grown on me. The jersey is really I love the jersey. I think that that blue is so unique. It’s one of my favorite colors. So, I’m really excited to kind of see that jersey out there. And it was nice to see it at the draft and Caleb Denoy wearing it. But, uh, what do you make of the away jersey still just saying Utah? Yeah, I I would like to see a powder blue jersey with the logo on it. I wonder if they’re saving that for maybe a couple years down the road, they can bring that in, get some more revenue off of that. they can do. Uh the commissioners already made some comments of a potential outdoor game uh in Utah, so maybe it’s an opportunity to debut it there. Um yeah, I think yeah, that that shade of blue, nobody else in the league uses it, right? So like let’s take advantage of it and really blow it up. Yeah, for sure. Uh f we ask everybody this. Uh what is your favorite jersey aside from Utah? Um you know what? I might go New Jersey. I think I just like the simplicity of the logo. I like that it’s only red, white, and black. Um I I like that they took out the green. That was a little too Christmy for a hockey jersey. Uh I just like the simplicity, the NJ. It just it looks really well. And I mean um you look at the history of that team, right? That logo means Stanley Cups and Scott Stevens and Marty Berd. So yeah. Uh that’s a great answer. We’ve never had anyone say that one. So that’s a good answer. I like that. Uh hey Corey, you guys do great stuff over at Clean Hits Hockey. Why don’t you kind of tell our viewers uh what you guys do over there? And uh I also want to ask you another question just to kind of follow up with that. You can answer it first though. Who’s been your favorite interview? You guys have had some fantastic people on. I mean, so since we both know each other from DFO, I I probably have to plug uh Frank Saravelli here, but um you know, I think a really fun one was, and I mean it sucks that he’s no longer on the team, but Michael Castle Ring uh was a great interview. He was kind of uh uh speaking about some of the other teammates in a in a fun way, mocking uh so Jack McBain and Dylan Gunther live together and they’ve become like friends through going making Costco trips and stuff like that and they bought an inflatable hot tub and they have it in their their backyard in Salt Lake City. So, uh making fun of that because it broke and it just sits there and kind of just rots away. So, uh, no, he was a really fun interview to have and that was probably one of the most disappointing aspects of him getting traded is, you know, now he’s no longer part of this team. Oh, that that’s awesome. Uh, why don’t you just kind of tell everybody about your podcast and where they can find it. For sure. So, uh, cleanhits hockey.com. And this was something we started when the team left Arizona for Utah because, you know, as long-term fans in Arizona had a lot of knowledge of the team and was coming into a market that they have some really nice hockey reporters there, but this was a new entity to them and we thought we could share our knowledge of the team. So, this started uh I believe it was the end of May of last year. So, we’re just over a year here now and pumped out 60ish episodes and had some exciting guests on the show and uh really looking forward to our second season here. It almost feels like a second first season, right? Because the first season was as the hockey club and now it’s going to be as the Mammoth. So, and could be a potential playoff year as well. So, lots of excitement around the team and lots of excitement about what we can do with this podcast. Awesome. Hey, Corey, thanks so much for joining me today, man. You’re the best. Awesome. No problem. Appreciate it. Thank you. That was Corey Wilkins from Clean Hits Hockey and Daily Face Off. Uh fantastic interview with him. Thanks so much to uh to Corey for uh donating half an hour of his time. Uh that about does it for today’s episode of Get Live. Uh tomorrow, uh we got a fun one tomorrow. Not going to spoil it, though. Uh so keep an eye out on our socials. Uh usually around 8 9:00 Pacific time. So, uh, we we usually tweet out, uh, who the guest of the day is or guests if we have a double header. But, uh, that about does it for us here over at Game Day Tarps. So, uh, back tomorrow, 11 a.m. Pacific time, 2:00 Eastern, right here on GDT Live. What’s going on everyone? Thank you for tuning in to another video over here on the Game Day Tarbs podcast and the Hockey Podcast Network. We’ve got so much more where this came from. So, smash the like button, subscribe, and don’t forget to hit the bell. Turn the notifications on so you never miss a beat. For myself and the rest of the guys over at Game Day Tarps, we thank you and we’ll see you next time.

Today on the show, I’m joined by Cory Wilkins from Daily Faceoff and Clean Hits Hockey to dive into all things Utah Mammoth. We’ll break down the NHL’s newest franchise — from building their identity, early fan reception, and standout players, to the challenges of building a contender from scratch. Plus, we’ll talk about which young stars could shape the Mammoth’s future and how quickly they might become playoff threats.