Key Highlights
- | Scott G Winterton, Deseret NewsBrogan HoustonTue, March 3, 2026 at 2:29 AM UTC·7 min readAs rumors swirled around the Utah Mammoth ahead of NHL free agency day last summer, GM Bill Armstrong gave a word of caution to the local media: “Don’t believe everything you read, alright?”While everyone was saying the Mammoth would pursue big fish, such as Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad, they instead targeted sensible, veteran depth players who could fill specific roles: Nate Schmidt, Brandon Tanev and Vítek Vaněček. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWith Friday’s trade deadline approaching rapidly, the rumor mill is active once again — and the Mammoth are again at the center of everything.
- It’s clear that Armstrong and his staff are looking to add, but, again, don’t believe everything you read. Armstrong explained in a recent interview with the Deseret News that patience has been the name of the game throughout the rebuild.“I think we’ve been pretty disciplined in the deals we’ve chosen to go with and who we’ve chosen to go with,” he said.
- “I think that’s a huge thing and you watch a lot of teams, they press the ‘go’ button too early and sometimes it can really affect them later on.“ … We’re not like those Canadian teams where they’re putting their chips in every year and then sooner or later, there’s nothing left.
- We’ve done a slow, steady, patient rebuild, and we’re pretty aggressive in the sense (that) we want to get better.
- I think we just do it with a good outlook and being smart about it.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDoes that mean the Mammoth won’t target big-name players?