The Utah Mammoth have been busy to start the offseason. Their business began when they executed a trade with the Buffalo Sabres that brought J.J. Peterka to Salt Lake City. They then used their first-round pick to draft Caleb Desnoyers fourth overall. Once free agency opened, the Mammoth added Brandon Tanev, Nate Schmidt, and Vitek Vanecek for more depth at all three positions, and most recently, re-signed Jack McBain to a five-year contract.
Related: Utah Mammoth’s 2025-26 Roster Projection 2.0: Post NHL Draft & Free Agency
Even with all of the movement, the Mammoth still have some decisions to make with the remaining holes in their roster. Recently, we talked about Mammoth prospects who will be challenging for roster spots. Now, let’s cover a few of the remaining external options the Mammoth could get via trade or free agency.
Victor Olofsson
I’ve already suggested Victor Olofsson as a target for the Mammoth in another piece I wrote recently about value-free agent options. Well, he is still available on the open market, and the price is likely dropping as teams seem to be ignoring the value he brought to the Vegas Golden Knights last season.
As I wrote in my piece before free agency opened, “Throughout the first part of his career, Olofsson was highly unreliable on the defensive end, having five straight seasons where he finished with a negative relative goal share compared to the team’s share. That was until 2024-25, where he showed a ton of improvement on the defensive end, finishing with a positive relative expected goal share, scoring chance percentage and high-danger chance percentage while on the ice at five-on-five for the Golden Knights.” (via Natural Stat Trick).
Olofsson finished the season with a plus-6 net defensive rating, which ranked among the top two percent of players in the NHL. He also scored 15 goals, six of which came on the power play, and added 14 assists for 29 points in 56 games with the Golden Knights. According to The Athletic Player Cards, Olofsson played at a $6.7 million value while earning only $1.1 million. Olofsson would be an excellent middle-six option for the Mammoth and would be a valuable addition to the second power-play unit. (The Athletic, NHL Player Cards: Pacific Division, April 18, 2025).
Pavel Zacha
On our own NHL Trade Bait List for 2025 Offseason here at The Hockey Writers, we have Pavel Zacha, 17th of 18 players left on the list. He is under contract with the Boston Bruins through the 2026-27 season at a reasonable average annual value of $4.75 million and has an eight-team no-trade clause. With Zacha having a lot of control over the situation and the Bruins having little reason to move a contract like this, it seems unlikely the Mammoth get their hands on Zacha. However, the position and the play style he plays would be a perfect fit in Utah.
The Mammoth are thin at center, especially in the case of injury. As it stands, the Mammoth’s centers on their top two lines will be Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton. Cooley proved last season that he is a reliable top-line center and is only going to get better. Hayton, on the other hand, has been incredibly inconsistent offensively throughout his career. With the Mammoth looking to compete for a playoff spot this season, Hayton would be better suited in a third-line center role where his defensive reliability can shine and his offensive inconsistencies can be better hidden.
Zacha is an excellent playmaker, ranking 27th in the NHL in assists over the last three seasons at five-on-five. At 28 years old, Zacha feels like an ideal fit for the Mammoth lineup while they wait for Desnoyers or Tij Iginla to emerge as the top six players they are projected to be. In the short term, Zacha’s playmaking would be a massive asset alongside Clayton Keller, Peterka or Dylan Guenther’s goal-scoring ability. He would also be a significant addition to the Mammoth’s penalty-kill unit, as he graded among the top six percent of players in net rating on the penalty kill. (The Athletic, NHL Player Cards: Atlantic Division, April 18, 2025).
Ilya Sorokin
On a recent episode of The Kevin Karius Show, Frank Servalli said, “I do think at varying points there’s been some conversation around Ilya Sorokin“, and back before the draft, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic said that he had “heard they’re [the Mammoth] chasing a starting goalie” in a post on X (formerly Twitter.)
Last season, the Mammoth re-signed Karel Vejmelka to a four-year contract extension. This offseason, they added Vanecek in free agency as an insurance piece in case Connor Ingram does not return for the start of the 2025-26 season. While Vejmelka had an exceptional last season, his lacklustre history before that still leaves a lot of room to question his reliability as a starting goalie. Then, whether Ingram returns or not, along with Jaxson Stauber’s development and Vanecek’s struggles in recent seasons, there is considerable uncertainty between the pipes at the moment.
Sorokin would quiet all of these questions. At 27 years old, Sorokin is under contract with the New York Islanders through the 2031-2032 season. Over the last three seasons, he has saved 56.65 goals above expected, the third most in the NHL over that time frame. He also boasts a .913 save percentage and a .842 high-danger save percentage, both of which rank in the top 10 in the NHL over the last three seasons.
The last missing piece to this Mammoth rebuild is a bona fide starting goalie. Even though Vejmelka showed signs of that last season, and Michael Hrabal looks to be a promising prospect in the pipeline, the Mammoth are ready to compete for a playoff spot now. Sorokin would be pretty expensive to acquire, but he has proven to be one of the best goalies in the NHL and could be the Mammoth goalie of the future as he is just entering the prime of his career.
With the offseason acquisitions the Mammoth have already made, they have the most complete team they have had in years (dating back to their time as the Arizona Coyotes.) Still, another forward that can be trusted playing middle-six minutes or a bona fide starting goalie, could take them from a potential playoff contender to a real threat to upset some teams in a playoff series.
All stats via Natural Stat Trick
