Players and management made clear at Wednesday’s media day: The expectation is a postseason berth.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Mammoth General Manager Bill Armstrong answers questions during Utah Mammoth development camp in Park City, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.

Sandy • It was defenseman Sean Durzi who pointed out the difference between the Utah Mammoth’s first season and their second.

In the past, the team might have been happy with a season in which “the only expectation was to grow as a team,” as Durzi put it.

Now, though?

There’s no doubt: a Mammoth appearance in the NHL playoffs is the expectation.

“You want the expectation to win. You want the pressure to win. It’s why you do it, and it’s what makes winning feel so good, is having that pressure,” Durzi said.

Throughout the team’s media day on Wednesday, the unofficial start of the 2025-26 campaign, “playoffs” was the buzzword on everyone’s lips. Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong said it would be a disappointment to fall short again, after missing out on the postseason for 13 of the last 14 seasons, first in Arizona and now in Utah.

“I think we’re good enough to make the playoffs. It comes down to a lot of things, obviously. There’s a health factor, right? If you get banged up, there’s some things that are out of your control. But as we stand right now, going in, we believe we are a playoff team,” Armstrong said.

Why does the team think it has made that next step?

First, the additions the team has made to its roster should improve its on-ice quality. Winger JJ Peterka, arriving via trade, put up 68 points with the Buffalo Sabres last year and figures to add speed and creativity to a top six that struggled with inconsistent scoring at key parts of last season.

New signings Nate Schmidt and Brandon Tanev, meanwhile, could bring much-needed quality to the deeper parts of Utah’s bench. And goaltender Vitek Vanecek, at age 30, has a four-year history of time-splitting at a capable level in Washington and New Jersey before an up-and-down year with the Sharks and Panthers in 2024-25.

Connor Ingram, last year’s starting netminder before the emergence of Karel Vejmelka, will be waived by the club by mutual agreement after participating in the NHL’s Player Assistance Program last season due to mental health concerns. (Third-string Jaxson Stauber didn’t stand out in his six games, either.) Vanecek, signed to a one-year deal, will likely save goals at a higher rate than Utah’s backup goaltenders last year.

Armstrong anticipated continued growth from the team’s youngsters — especially Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, and Peterka. Cooley spoke of improving his abilities when the Mammoth don’t have the puck, improving his impact as a defensive presence from the center position. Stick control was also a focus of Cooley’s.

Guenther, meanwhile, worked with a new trainer up in his home city of Edmonton, Alberta. He said he got stronger, too, which should help him down by the net, holding onto the puck in traffic and scoring “greasier goals,” as he put it.

And of course, there’s a new state-of-the-art practice facility to train at in Sandy — players reported they’re likely to spend more time there than at the Utah Olympic Oval, the team’s temporary home last season. The renovations to the Delta Center will help, too, with improved cooling at floor level, keeping the arena’s ice more solid and more speedy throughout the season, which the team thinks will benefit Utah’s youth.

But head coach Andre Tourigny believes that perhaps the greatest change will come about 6 feet above the ice — in the players’ heads.

“Excitement and hope, that’s what we had before,” head coach Andre Tourigny said. “I feel right now excitement and confidence. Confidence in knowing what the task ahead is, and what we need to do to succeed in our task.”

“The difference will be in our consistency. The difference will be in our mental toughness and being able to stay in the moment — in big games, in big situations, being able to stay composed,” Tourigny said.

It won’t necessarily be an easy push. Armstrong called the Central Division the “toughest division in hockey,” with the Winnipeg Jets, Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, and St. Louis Blues all finishing above Utah in the standings last year. All look strong again this season.

That means, even given all of the improvements above, oddsmakers have the newly christened Mammoth at roughly just a 55% chance of making the postseason before training camps begin.

“It’s going to be a punch in the face competition, and it’s going to be a battle to get in. It’s not going to be an easy thing for us,” Armstrong said. “We’re going to be right on that line.”

“Game one for us is game seven,” he continued. “It’s on, and it’s on from the get-go.”