‘The expectation needs to be to win the Cup here’: Mammoth raising sights for next season after playoff exit

Utah Mammoth left wing Lawson Crouse (67) celebrates with defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (52), right wing Clayton Keller (9), defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (98) and center Nick Schmaltz (8) after scoring his second goal of the game during the second period of game 3 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, April 24, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News After bidding their playoff beards adieu, each Utah Mammoth player met with the media Sunday, one by one, to evaluate the season and give a glimpse of what the future holds. History suggests that although everyone on an expiring contract stated a desire to return next season, not all of them will — that’s the business side of the game.

But a common theme among virtually everyone is how much promise the team has. “The potential for this group is — right now, there’s just no reason not for us to think that we can win the (Stanley) Cup," said MacKenzie Weegar, a veteran defenseman whom the team acquired at the trade deadline . “I think the belief for the group at the beginning of the year was to make the playoffs and to kind of see what could happen.

Now, I believe that we have the potential to win the Cup. ” After a quarterfinal exit in the group’s first playoff appearance since the pandemic as Arizona Coyotes and first since the inception of the new franchise in Utah, there’s still plenty of work to be done. But with how close each playoff game was except perhaps the last, combined with the constant improvement of the team’s young core, it’s not unrealistic to expect the Mammoth’s Cup-contention window to open soon.

“The standard’s obviously high. The expectations are really high. We’ve got to know that it’s really hard.