‘Come up, come ready’: GM’s message to Mammoth prospects

Tij Iginla during practice as the Utah Mammoth hold rookie camp at their new practice facility in Sandy on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News How many playoff teams in the NHL have half a dozen prospects who could push for roster spots next season?

It’s probably just one: the Utah Mammoth. That’s the result of a long rebuild, which began well before the group moved to Utah. GM Bill Armstrong and his staff executed trade after trade to accrue draft picks in the early part of the decade, and those picks have now blossomed into several prominent NHL players and a cupboard overflowing with prospects.

While Armstrong did not yet have an answer in his Tuesday exit interview regarding the specific needs he’d like to fill over the offseason, he did speak on how up-and-coming prospects could satisfy some of those needs. “We want to encourage our prospects to come in and try and make our club,” he said. “You never want to take a dream away from a prospect — and you don’t know.

Sometimes, they can just show up and they earn their way in. “We want to make sure that our prospects, that are probably seeing this press conference, come up, come ready. Be fighting for a job.