With their 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators and the Anaheim Ducks beating the San Jose Sharks 6-1, the Utah Mammoth officially clinched a playoff spot for the first time in franchise history on Thursday. It’s a big moment for the franchise. For some players, it will be the first time they play in NHL postseason games. For others, it will be the first time in a very long time that they’ll continue their season past Game 82.
The thoughts from the locker room the day after were all unique. Proud, thrilled, rewarding, playoffs should be the standard. Yet there was one consistent feeling from everyone: excitement for what’s next. Here are the reactions from the Mammoth after securing a playoff spot.
What is Playoff Hockey Like?
It’s an exciting time of year if you’re a fan of a team going into the postseason. You’re rooting for one of the 16 teams that will have the opportunity to lift the Stanley Cup.
Last season was an exciting time for Utah fans, as it was the franchise’s first season, but it ended in heartbreak when the team barely missed the playoffs. Before this season started, everyone in the organization said that this would be the year where the team made the playoffs, taking a significant step in the rebuild.
“It’s been a lot of hard work, but this is what we all demanded from ourselves coming into the year,” Lawson Crouse said. “There’s a lot of excitement, but the job’s not done. We need to finish the season on the right foot and go into the playoffs with confidence.”
It was definitely a lot of hard work throughout the season. Though the team started hot, a middling November and December brought up rumbblings of a coaching change. A calendar flip to 2026 began some of the Mammoth’s best hockey, momentum they rode past the Olympic break and into April, where they finally clinched a playoff spot.
This is a Mammoth team consisting of a few players who haven’t made the NHL playoffs in their careers. Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley, Karel Vejmelka, and JJ Peterka are just the big names who have not played Stanley Cup playoff hockey.
Yet, there are many more who have played only a select few games in their careers. One of those players is Sean Durzi, who has made the postseason twice in his career, both times with the LA Kings.
“It’s high pace, there’s physicality, you’re gonna see it all,” Durzi said. “Everything ramps up, everything takes another step, takes another level. It’s a game of mistakes, which is funny. Whoever can limit the most usually can come out on top. But hockey is such an amazing sport that you never know what can happen. It’s just playing that consistent game and going from there.”
MacKenzie Weegar is the newest member of the Mammoth. After waiving his no-movement clause and being traded from the Calgary Flames during the trade deadline, the defenseman has been a great fit in the Mammoth’s top four on the blueline.
While Weegar didn’t make the playoffs during his four seasons with the Flames, he did make the playoffs three times with the Florida Panthers. Having that experience gets him excited to play that type of hockey in the Delta Center in front of the Mammoth fanbase.
“It’s a thrill,” Weegar said. “I can’t wait to see this crowd in playoff hockey. They’re already having a great time just during the regular-season games. I can’t wait to hear how loud they are during playoff games. It’s fast, it’s physical, it’s tense at moments, but they’re going to have so much fun.”
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Brandon Tanev, who signed with the Mammoth in the offseason, has had a couple of seasons of playoff hockey, making it three times with the Winnipeg Jets, including last season, and twice with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
However, it’s his playoff appearance with the Seattle Kraken during the 2022-23 season that might be the most valuable to his new team. That was the Kraken’s second season in franchise history, the same as the Mammoth currently. During that playoff run, the Kraken upset the Colorado Avalanche in the first round and took the Dallas Stars all the way to Game 7. Tanev knows from that run how valuable playoff hockey is early on when a franchise is new.
“It was one of those good experiences, new team, new franchise, get into the playoffs,” Tanev said. “Fans experience the atmosphere, the energy. Playoff hockey is a different animal, and it’s gonna be great to get in there with this group. I think it’s going to be great for the city, the fans, and our organization.”
Then there are those guys who have won Stanley Cups in the locker room. In total, seven Stanley Cups have been won by players now on the Mammoth. Mikhail Sergachev has won two of those seven with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Having gone the full distance, he knows that you must play your best hockey throughout the postseason because one mistake could cost you the series or even the Stanley Cup.
“It’s one mistake and costs you a series, one mistake and costs you a game,” Sergachev said. “I’ve been through that. I made those mistakes, and I was on the other side too, when I made great plays, and I scored a game-winning goal. It’s a very tough game, and you just have to focus on defense, most of all. When an opportunity presents itself, you’ve got to put it in. There aren’t a lot of opportunities out there. They’re very limited. I believe in our team, we’re very skilled.”
Vítek Vaněček has played 10 playoff games between the New Jersey Devils and the Washington Capitals, but also won the Stanley Cup last season with the Panthers, backing up Sergei Bobrovsky. While he didn’t play in that run, he got a unique perspective on what it takes to win it all.
“For the goalie, it’s the same thing,” Vaněček said. “When you start overthinking, it’s bad, but for the players, everything’s gonna get harder. There are a lot of hits, a lot of screens in front of the net for the defense, screening the guys from in front of the net. It’s faster speed, and it’s way harder.”
Ian Cole might have the best playoff experience out of anyone. The defenseman has won two Stanley Cups and has made the playoffs almost every season in his career. Cole’s standard isn’t just to make playoffs but to win in them. Just because the Mammoth made the playoffs doesn’t mean it will be sunshine and rainbows in the first round. It’s hard to win, and he knows it firsthand.
“There’s a lot that goes into that recipe of winning a Stanley Cup,” Cole said. “You need to play great, you need to score timely goals, you need to get unbelievable goaltending. You need to get bounces, you need to get lucky, you need to get calls. It has to be a perfect storm to win, because it is so tight, the margin for error is so small. Every team in the playoffs is very good, and it’s really hard to win and win four, seven-game series. People say it’s the hardest playoffs to win for a reason. It’s such a grind, physically, mentally, emotionally, and being able to reset and not get too high, not get too low, is key.”
Heading into this season, the playoffs weren’t a hope for the Mammoth. They were an expectation. Even for a guy like Nick DeSimone, whose only NHL playoff experience comes from being on the 2019 San Jose Sharks roster set a high bar for himself and his teammates.
“It’s what we talked about day one of training camp, and even at the end of last year, that it’s not good enough to not make the playoffs anymore,” DeSimone said. “That’s our goal, and it’s nice to accomplish that, but we’re not just happy with that. So four games left to keep playing the way that we’ve been and put ourselves in a good spot to be confident in Game 1 and ready to keep winning.”
Yes, it’s the first playoff appearance in franchise history. Everyone has a right to be excited. However, you need to factor in the history of the Arizona Coyotes to really get the whole picture. This rebuild was started back in 2021. This is what it’s been building up to. On paper, it’s only been two seasons of the Mammoth existing, but in reality, finally making the playoffs five seasons after general manager Bill Armstrong took over was the plan.
Even for guys like Cole, who joined the team last season, don’t think making the playoffs is good enough. It should be a standard every season.
“We should absolutely make the playoffs every single year,” Cole said. “I know that we had the battle to get there, and it was a little, you know, iffy there for a second, in the middle of the season. But for me, making the playoffs should be the baseline. Every single season. Should make the playoffs. Are you an above-average team? Great? You should make the playoffs because 16 teams make the playoffs…I understand it’s great, because it is the necessary first step to doing what we want to do. But there shouldn’t be pats on the back, because we did it.”
That’s not just Cole voicing that. That’s a feeling that head coach André Tourigny agrees with, despite never coaching an NHL playoff game before.
“We made it to the station, but the destination is still to be reached, and there’s still a lot of work to be done,” Tourigny said.
Experience for Youth, Reward for the Day One Players
This year’s playoffs will provide some of the Mammoth’s younger players with experience, which will be big moving forward as more and more rookies come into the lineup. Guys like Guenther and Cooley will get their first taste of playoff hockey, which will allow them to see what it’s like to play some of the hardest hockey they’ll ever play.
Another one of those rookies who will play postseason hockey in one of the first seasons of his career is Dmitri Simashev. The Russian defenseman does have one advantage over guys like Cooley and Guenther, though. Simashev has played in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, going all the way to win the Gagarin Cup last season.
While it’s not the NHL playoffs, it’s arguably the closest thing to it, and the defenseman has seen what it takes to win it all. Simashev knows how intense those games can get and thinks this playoff appearance for the Mammoth will be important for the young guys like him to witness.
“It’s a really good experience to watch how the guys play in the playoffs,” Simashev said. “I’ve played the big games in the KHL. But with the NHL, it’s different. I hope I can play in the playoffs…I’m ready to play every game. I’m really excited.”
On the 2017 Penguins Stanley Cup-winning team, rookie Jake Guentzel took the playoffs by storm, scoring 21 points in 25 games. He was a big reason why that Penguins team won the Cup. Cole, who was part of that team, was a firsthand witness to how important rookies can be in the postseason. He expects the Mammoth to help out their younger players adjust and help the team win.
“They don’t truly understand that experience until they’ve been through it,” Cole said. “It’s a trial by fire type thing, and because that is the case, the more we can keep our game in order, the more we can be a full team to help bring along these guys and help make that experience good and show exactly this is what it takes to win. It’s super important.”
Perhaps the thing that should be celebrated with the playoff clinch is the rebuild entering its next stage and the people who have stuck around since the beginning finally getting into the playoffs. As mentioned, you need to go back to the days of the Coyotes to really understand how important the first playoff clinch is.
In Armstrong’s first season as a general manager, the team went 24-26-6. In his second season, 25-50-7. In his third season, the Coyotes improved to 28-40-14. The team continued to improve and rack up more wins as they moved from Arizona to Utah to the point where the long rebuild is starting to show results.
“We’ve learned every year, taking strides,” Clayton Keller said. “Teams got better. We’ve signed some players, traded some players. We just tried to build our culture and build our team every year.”
There are very few players remaining from the start of the rebuild. Keller, Crouse, Nick Schmaltz, and Barrett Hayton are the only ones who remain. Tourigny has also coached the team since that season.
Those seasons in Arizona were rough. Outside of being one of the worst teams in the NHL on the ice, the team faced arena issues moving from a horribly placed Gila River Arena to a too-small Mullett Arena. The Coyotes didn’t play a single home game during the preseason during those seasons at Mullett. Their practice facility was located far away from both arenas. On top of all of that, new relocation rumors seemingly popped up every day.
While a move to Utah left behind a passionate fanbase that cared about the team, it opened the door to being cared for by Ryan and Ashley Smith, who gave them everything they needed to be successful and excited to play hockey. A new top-of-the-line practice facility, a renovated home arena right downtown, and a permanent home. Tourigny finds the whole journey unbelievable and is forever grateful for the Smiths.
“We were pretty deep in the ocean,” Tourigny said. “We had four different cities for our practice facility, three different cities for our game rink, and two different states. One year, we played home games during the preseason. All the other years, we didn’t even play a home preseason game. We’ve been in all kinds of situations, and we’ve been so fortunate to have Ryan and Ashley Smith and Utah arrive in our lives at the perfect time and treat us like kings.”
Keller, Crouse, Schmaltz, and Hayton could’ve left at any time via requesting a trade or leaving in free agency. Yet, they all chose to stick around. Crouse and Hayton signed extensions in 2022, choosing to see the rebuild through.
“I’m very proud of the group, but I’m even more proud of the day one core that’s grinded through a lot,” Crouse said. “We’ve gone through a lot of pain to get here, so I’m really looking forward to it, and we’ve got to make the most out of it.”
It will be the second playoff appearance for all four of those players. For Keller, Crouse, and Hayton, it’s been six years since their playoff game, which was in 2020. The trio played throughout the Coyotes bubble run, one that saw Darcy Kuemper carry the team past the Nashville Predators in the play-in round and into the first round against the Colorado Avalanche, where they got steamrolled in five games. Schmaltz didn’t even play during that postseason because of injury.
That whole playoff run was played in empty arenas in Toronto and Edmonton. Crouse joked that there was no playoff atmosphere because no one was in the stands. In all seriousness, the forward said it was hard to play with no fans in the stands, making him more excited for what’s to come.
“It was a little difficult, with no fans,” Crouse said. “We played Nashville in the play-in series because we didn’t finish the season that year. We ended up beating them and then going on to Colorado, who had a great team that year as well. It’s tough to kind of remember back then, but I’m excited. I’m looking forward to this here in Utah; the fans are gonna be very into it.”
Anticipation for Playoffs at the Delta Center
No matter what the Mammoth players felt about making the playoffs, there was one thing that remained consistent. They’re excited to see how Utah shows up for Game 3 at the Delta Center.
The newest fanbase in the NHL has shown up big time ever since the team’s first game last season. The Mammoth have sold out every single game, and the same thing is expected to happen in the postseason. The players are genuinely excited for it.
“It’s gonna be crazy,” DeSimone said. “Tuesday night’s regular season game was pretty crazy, so I can only imagine when it’s the playoffs. It’s really exciting, and we all love how pumped up they are.”
“We’ve got great fans, great atmosphere in the building on a regular season night, any day of the week, so it’s just gonna get amplified even better and better,” Tanev said.
“I can’t wait to see the atmosphere like it’s gonna be,” Durzi said. “I can’t imagine. I can think about Game 1 at Delta, and then how everything’s ramped up from there, and seeing the playoff towels going and everything.”
It’s incredible to think it was five seasons ago; this team was one of the worst in the league. The Coyotes had become a place where older players were dumped off by their prior teams because of their cap hit. There were barely any prospects in the cupboards thanks to previous management squandering draft picks. It feels like yesterday this team was sharing a home with Arizona State’s NCAA hockey team.
Yet here we are. As Armstrong promised when he took over, five seasons have passed, and the playoffs are here. Not a lot of people were confident that was going to happen. The whole Mammoth organization, through years of pain and growing, has proven them all wrong.
“The story is unbelievable,” Tourigny said. “We went out achieving what our goal was five years ago, when we built a plan, when Bill and his team built a plan, and we said, we can be playoff-bound in five years. I don’t know how many people believed in that…We pushed the cart across the finish line.”
It truly is a special moment for this organization, one that has been undermined for so long. It is the first reward of a rebuild that so many people put countless hours into helping make possible. It’s one that fans of these players have waited so long for. It’s a moment that will be remembered forever.
However, the job is not finished. There are four rounds that need to be won to get to the actual goal. The Mammoth will play in some of the toughest games they’ve played in all season long. They’ll face adversity and emotional moments. That’s just playoff hockey.
You can imagine what that play is like, but until you actually play in a postseason game, nothing will prepare you for how much the intensity and willingness to do whatever it takes to win increase from Game 82 to Game 1 of the playoffs. However, if you manage to survive it, it’s the best feeling of all. Coming from a guy who has played 159 playoff games, coached 89 of them as well, and has won a Stanley Cup, it’s the most exciting hockey you could play.
“It’s different, and it’s different in a good way,” Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Intensity ramps up, and the excitement level. Each play has such an impact on everything, not just that game; it’s your season. Each little play, the weight that’s carried on it, and that’s what makes it so exciting.”
Playoff hockey has been a long time coming for this Mammoth group. The rebuild is over. The exciting climb to Lord Stanley now begins.
