SANDY — Lineups on the first day of training camp rarely mean a great deal, but Mammoth newcomer JJ Peterka could be making some waves with his arrival in Utah.

The 23-year-old German winger played alongside fellow “young guns” Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley in the first five-on-five drill as training camp opened Thursday at the new Mammoth practice facility in Sandy.

“They were all right,” head coach Andre Tourigny said of the trio in a dry, measured response.

It could all mean nothing, but it gives us a chance to break down what the forward position group looks like with Utah’s first preseason game just 72 hours away.

First line: Logan Cooley (C, USA), Dylan Guenther (RW, Canada), JJ Peterka (LW, Germany)

At 21, 22 and 23 years old, Cooley, Guenther and Peterka would likely be the youngest first line in the league if the practice lineup translates to real games.

Guenther and Peterka are both entering the first year of lengthy contracts with the Mammoth, earning in the range of $7 million per year, while Cooley is extension-eligible in the final year of his rookie deal.

“For me, it’s all about just this season and helping this team get to the playoffs,” Cooley said when asked about contract discussions. “I want to dominate. I want to be the best player I can possibly be. So, kind of leaving that to the agents, but obviously I love it here; just focused on this year.”

Cooley had a breakout year in Utah’s inaugural season with 25 goals and 40 assists, good for the second-most points on the team behind captain Clayton Keller.

It was enough to get the attention of Team USA, who brought him and Keller to the 2025 IIHF World Championship in May, where Cooley recorded four goals and eight assists en route to the team’s first gold medal since 1933.

Another step forward for Cooley in a contract year could give the 21-year-old Pennsylvania native and University of Minnesota alum an outside chance at a Team USA roster spot for the Winter Olympics in February.

Second line: Barrett Hayton (C, Canada), Nick Schmaltz (RW, USA), Clayton Keller (LW, USA)

If Cooley has an outside chance of making the Olympic roster, Keller is a near-lock as the Missouri native enters his prime following a 30-goal, 60-assist season that got him to 90 points for the first time in his NHL career and placed him 11th in the league in points last season.

The Utah captain played in 81 games and was the leading forward in average time on the ice, just in front of fellow midwesterner Schmaltz, who figures to anchor the second line for the Mammoth alongside former top-five NHL draft pick Hayton.

Keller was surpassed as the highest-earning forward on the Mammoth during the offseason with Peterka’s $7.7 million yearly salary topping Keller’s $7.15 million.

Peterka may well be taking Keller’s spot in the first line as well, though, who starts may not matter as much after Schmaltz averaged more time on the ice than Cooley and Guenther last season, despite being on Utah’s second line.

Schmaltz also had more points than Guenther last season, thanks in large part to playing in all 82 of Utah’s games. Hayton finished fifth on the team in goals in 2024-25 behind Keller, Guenther, Cooley and Schmaltz with 20.

Hayton and Schmaltz are both entering the final year of their contracts, providing extra incentive for the pair to avoid any drop-off in production from the first to the second line for Utah.

Third line: Jack McBain (C, Canada), Alexander Kerfoot (LW, Canada), Lawson Crouse (LW/RW, Canada)

McBain was the big internal signing for Utah over the summer, agreeing to stay with the franchise for five more years after waiting a few days into the early-July free agency period. His new $4.25 million yearly salary makes him the highest-paid center on the team, at least until Cooley signs his extension, with a deal that lasts until McBain turns 30.

Kerfoot is already on the other side of 30, entering his ninth NHL season after playing four years of college hockey at Harvard. He played in 81 games last season as a leader on Utah’s inaugural team and finished tied for eighth on the Mammoth in points with Kevin Stenlund at 28.

Crouse, nicknamed “The Sheriff,” had a down year in his first season in Utah, dropping to just 18 points in 81 games after back-to-back 40-point seasons in Arizona. A return to form could be the difference between the playoffs and another top-10 draft pick for the Mammoth.

“You can go down two roads,” Crouse said in a moment of introspection at media day. “The one that makes excuses and just thinks it’s going to be easier. The other road is correcting your mind, getting into a healthy spot and demanding more from yourself. And that’s the road I’m going down.

“I put a lot of work into that,” Crouse continued. “It feels good coming into a fresh start, and I can’t wait to get going here and show everyone what I’m truly capable of.”

Fourth line: Kevin Stenlund (C, Sweden), Brandon Tanev (RW, Canada), Michael Carcone (LW, Canada)

Stenlund had an NHL career-high 28 points for Utah last season, tied with Kerfoot. He played in all 82 games last year and enters the second year of a two-year deal with the Mammoth, looking to earn another NHL deal.

Tanev was one of two veteran signings in free agency alongside defenseman Nate Schmidt. He is known around the league for his wide-eyed headshot, which new teammate and fellow Toronto-area native Sean Durzi described as “the scariest headshot in the league.”

Utah offered Tanev a three-year contract worth $2.5 million per year as the 33-year-old undrafted winger moves to his fourth NHL team in 10 years at the top level.

Carcone also earned a new contract from the Mammoth in the offseason, agreeing to return to Utah for $775,000 on a one-year deal. He finished tied with the now-departed Nick Bjugstad and Josh Doan at 19 points a season ago.

Liam O’Brien, known by fans as “Spicy Tuna,” will start the year off the ice with an injury after putting up just 2 points in 28 games last season.

Prospects: Tij Iginla (LW, Canada), Daniil But (LW, Russia), Cole Beaudoin (C, Canada)

Iginla, the first pick in Utah NHL history, had the highlight of the first day of training camp on Thursday with a drill-winning goal to save “Team Black” from skating ladders as punishment.

The 19-year-old son of Hall-of-Fame Calgary legend Jarome Iginla is fully healthy following double hip surgery last year and looking to break into the NHL after a pair of seasons with his hometown Kelowna Rockets of the WHL.

If Iginla is a little bit undersized for the NHL, But is on the other side of the spectrum at 6-foot-5 and 203 pounds. The towering Russian winger still has a raw game that could use some time adjusting to North American hockey in the AHL.

Beaudoin splits the difference at 6-foot-2 and has But beat on weight at 209 pounds after bulking up in the offseason. The 2024 late first-round pick could play one more season in the Ontario Hockey League before becoming an overage player on his 20th birthday next April.

The most recent first-round forward drafted by the Mammoth, Caleb Desnoyers, might be the most hyped of the bunch as a top-five pick, but fans will have to wait a little longer to see him as the Quebec native is sidelined for 12 weeks following wrist surgery last month.

This concludes our 2025 Utah Mammoth position previews. The team begins preseason play on Sunday in Colorado with split-squad games against the Avalanche.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.