SALT LAKE CITY – In exactly 31 days, head coach Andre Tourigny and the Utah Mammoth will face the Colorado Avalanche on October 9 as they officially begin their second season in the National Hockey League.
With a refreshed roster, increased depth and playoff expectations in the fifth year of a rebuild, Tourigny sat down with KSL Sports to discuss the team’s approach.
Andre Tourigny discusses the Utah Mammoth’s upcoming season
Q: How did the Utah Mammoth’s roster improve this offseason?
Tourigny: “I think there’s three ways we got better. We got better by addition. Veteran addition; Peterka, Schmidt, Tanev and Vanecek. No doubt about it. We’ll get better because the young players will push. I don’t know how many will make it, I don’t know if any will make it. But they will push.”
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“The third reason we’ll improve is the growth inside our team. The experience we had last year. The young players getting a year older and stuff like that. Those are the three ways we’ll get better.”
“Last year against really tough opponents, we played really well. There was a number of games where we were there with ten minutes to go. We made one more mistake, we lack experience, maturity or patience. We learned from that but now we need to apply those lessons.”
Q: What does adding JJ Peterka do for this team?
Tourigny: “He’s another good young talent who has speed and who can generate offense and will fit well in our top six.”
“He’s a guy who wanted to play for us, who signed a long contract with us. I think all of that is exciting…no doubt about it, he makes us a better team, more competitive team, and he fits right into our core with his age, position and everything.”
Q: What does Mikhail Sergachev mean to the Utah Mammoth?
Tourigny: “Where he means the most is he knows how to win & he wants to win. He’s an unselfish player. He’s not a guy who will fight us for minutes or wants to create offense at any cost.”
“He knows it’s defense first. I would describe him as a defense first guy. Is he productive? Is he good offensively? Big time. But he’s been there in the trenches in game seven of the Stanley Cup. He knows if you want to win, you need to defend first.”
“It’s not just about scoring goals. It’s about playing your game. It’s about winning & he helped a lot to send that message.”
Q: What do you want to see from Vejmelka and Vanecek this season?
Tourigny: “Vanecek will bring a lot. He brings experience, he’s played a lot of games in the league, and he’s a capable goalie in the NHL.”
“That will be important to have a good mix with Vej.”
“It’s important for Veg to not live in the past & to just stay in the present. He has a good thing going right now.”
“He’s a smart guy, he’s really calm, & levelheaded…we need to help him as much as possible in terms of workload & quality of shots he will face.”
Q: It’s year five of the rebuild. What needs to happen this season?
Tourigny: “I think last year, the LA, the Winnipeg, Vegas, Dallas, we were nose to nose with them with ten minutes to go and we lost most of those games by one goal, either in regular or overtime because of impatience, trying to do a little bit more, too quick and being a little bit nervous in those situations.”
“That is the next step for our team. We have the talent, but we need to learn to play in those situations and be comfortable…we need to be able to control our emotion and play the right way.”
Q: Bill Armstrong said he expects to see Simashev and But play NHL minutes this season. How does that play out and take shape?
Tourigny: “You put them on the ice, and you let them answer the question. That’s it. Who will beat who during the camp? It’s true for them. It’s true for the other guys.”
“There’s some guys who are fighting for a job so we will let them play and they will tell us who is best.”
Q: Have you noticed a different mentality in the team since last year after barely missing the playoffs?
Tourigny: “Last year was excitement. This year is confidence…we know what we have to do.”
“Bring the season. We know what we have to do. Now the guys know we’re good, it’s tough, but we know how to react…we have a different level of confidence.”
Cole Bagley is the Utah Mammoth insider for KSL Sports. Keep up with him on X here. You can hear Cole break down the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.
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