{"id":470657,"date":"2026-02-25T04:44:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T04:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/470657\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T04:44:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T04:44:27","slug":"nhl-utah-mammoths-2026-trade-deadline-plan-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/470657\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Utah Mammoth’s 2026 trade deadline plan \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vancouver Canucks fans know how not to conduct a rebuild.<\/p>\n

I experienced it as a diehard until I handed in my fan card for a media job, and Utah Mammoth GM Bill Armstrong recognizes it in the midst of his second rebuild as an NHL executive.<\/p>\n

For the last decade and a half, Canucks fans have been frustrated at the owner\u2019s desire to sacrifice long-term success for a year or two of shallow playoff runs. Time and again, they\u2019ve traded good draft picks and prospects for short-term solutions, and it has always landed them back<\/a> in the \u201cmushy middle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armstrong does not want to take his team in that direction. He showed that on free agency day last summer and he\u2019ll proceed with his philosophy at the March 6 trade deadline and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had patience to acquire (a good young core), and we\u2019re going to have patience to implement that,\u201d Armstrong told the Deseret News ahead of the Olympic break.<\/p>\n

Does that mean he won\u2019t make a big splash? No. But it does mean he\u2019s not keen on trading his up-and-coming stars for veterans whose primes will expire before the team is in its Stanley Cup-contending era.<\/p>\n

How to conduct a proper rebuild in the NHL<\/p>\n

Dating back to 2020 when he was hired as GM of the Arizona Coyotes, Armstrong has been committed to a full, proper rebuild.<\/p>\n

It began with a few write-off seasons, which allowed them to draft the likes of Logan Cooley, Dmitri Simashev and Tij Iginla with high picks awarded for finishing low in the standings.<\/p>\n

Throughout the process, teams paid Armstrong extra draft capital to take on their bad contracts, landing him Dylan Guenther and Maveric Lamoureux, among others. And he got a bit lucky when the lottery balls fell the Mammoth\u2019s way despite barely missing the playoffs in 2025, allowing them to snag Caleb Desnoyers<\/a> at fourth overall.<\/p>\n

After years of hardship and a move to Utah, things are finally looking up for the group that Armstrong has constructed. But it\u2019s still too early to go all in.<\/p>\n

Again, patience is the motto.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look every day at improving our club, right? I think we\u2019ve been pretty disciplined in the deals we\u2019ve chosen to go with and who we\u2019ve chosen to go with,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s a huge thing. You watch a lot of teams now, they press the \u2018go\u2019 button too early and sometimes it can really affect them later on. … We\u2019re not like those Canadian teams where they\u2019re putting their chips in every year and then soon enough, there\u2019s nothing left. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done a long, slow, patient rebuild. We\u2019re pretty aggressive in the sense that we want to get better, and I think we just do it with a good outlook and being smart about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mammoth\u2019s 2026 trade deadline plan<\/p>\n

With just five games to go before the trade deadline, time is running out to bolster the roster for a playoff push. Don\u2019t expect any rash decisions from Utah, but also don\u2019t count them out of moves that could help the team both in the present and the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just really trying to get in and see if we can put a guy in a great position, and what can we acquire and how much it\u2019s going to cost us,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n

With all their core guys still in their mid-20s, the Mammoth are in a good position. And with three rising, young stars in their early 20s, it\u2019s only matter of time until they start contending. Oh, and don\u2019t forget the six first-round draft picks who are all knocking on the door of NHL jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do expect to improve and get better, and I think we\u2019ve done that in a lot of different areas,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cI still think there\u2019s some areas we can improve, but I\u2019m happy with the club, in a lot of ways, and the strides we\u2019ve made from last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

From here on out, it\u2019s the little details that determine the direction of the franchise.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, it\u2019s fine-tuning. Like, how long do you think this prospect will take to get here, and is there a window for him to come in and make the team? … I think it\u2019s a really good situation and a really good time for the club, just because there\u2019s some really good cornerstone pieces \u2014 the Sergachevs and the Kellers and those type of players that are already here, that are in place, that we can build around.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next in the Mammoth\u2019s rebuild?<\/p>\n

Even with all the progress, Armstrong doesn\u2019t expect his team to win the Stanley Cup right away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of patience that goes in, you know? Most clubs that become championship clubs have to go through some pain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He referenced the 2019 Tampa Bay Lightning \u2014 one of the best regular-season teams in NHL history \u2014 who got swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Columbus Blue Jackets, who had never won a single playoff series until that point.<\/p>\n

The Lightning, of course, appeared in the following three Stanley Cup Finals, winning the trophy twice in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying we\u2019re going to be immune to that pain. I mean, you\u2019re asking me what comes next \u2014 probably pain. Growth and pain, growth and pain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how you get a little bit better, each time, but I like where our club\u2019s at. We\u2019ve been pushing here. We\u2019re right where we\u2019re supposed to be, where we want to be, and we\u2019re pushing down the stretch to get into the playoffs, and that\u2019s a huge thing. So I don\u2019t want to look too far ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Utah Mammoth right wing Dylan Guenther (11) celebrates his goal against the Detroit Red Wings during game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vancouver Canucks fans know how not to conduct a rebuild. I experienced it as a diehard until I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[462],"tags":[5,3157,4,465,466],"class_list":{"0":"post-470657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl-draft","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-news-feed-local","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-nhl-draft","12":"tag-nhl-entry-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116129448885390474","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}