Utah Mammoth’s 2025-26 Report Cards: Jack McBain

The Utah Mammoth’s 2025-26 season is officially over. The team finished with a 43-33-6 record, good enough to clinch the first wild card spot in the Western Conference. Despite a strong series, the Mammoth lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in Round 1 in six games. Meanwhile, their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners, finished with a 34-28-10 record, placing seventh in the Pacific Division, outside of a playoff spot.

With the season in the books, it’s time to look at the 49 players under an NHL contract and grade their 2025-26 season. Over the course of this summer, we’ll take a look at their season, their future, and give them an overall grade. We’re going alphabetically by first name. Next up is Jack McBain.

Player Info

Age: 26

2025-26 NHL Stats: Nine goals, 16 assists, 25 points in 75 games

2025-26 Postseason Stats: Zero goals, zero assists, zero points in two games

Originally Acquired: Acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Wild for a 2022 second-round pick on March 20, 2022, by the Arizona Coyotes

Contract Status: In the first year of a five-year deal with a $4.25 million annual average value (AAV). Unrestricted free agent (UFA) in 2030

Season Overview

Fresh off an intense contract negotiation with the Mammoth during the summer, which resulted in the two sides going to arbitration and eventually agreeing on a five-year deal, McBain came into the 2025-26 season looking to build upon a career-best 27-point season where he also scored a career high 13 goals.

The forward’s season looked promising early as he scored in the second game of the season against the Nashville Predators. However, McBain went without a point for the next month despite the early goal. Despite that, his physical presence didn’t go away. In the home opener against the Calgary Flames, he was part of a line scrum. That same night, he ended up fighting Adam Klapka.

Late in October, McBain suffered an upper-body injury in a game against the Colorado Avalanche. The forward only played five minutes in the game, and while he returned in the next game against the St. Louis Blues, injuries would be a big story in McBain’s season.

In the fourth game in November, McBain finally got his second point of the season, an assist against the Montreal Canadiens. He produced three more points during the month, including a goal against the Dallas Stars. McBain also had another fight, this time a great tilt against Keegan Kolesar.

December brought McBain’s first multi-point game of the season, a two-assist night against the Anaheim Ducks. He followed that game up with an assist in the very next game against the Vancouver Canucks. McBain finished out December with two more points, both of which were goals. One of which was a game-winning goal against the Detroit Red Wings, his first and only game-winning goal of the season.

It was the following month that McBain had one of his most important months of the season. In January’s game against the Blues, the forward fought Alexey Toropchenko. It was a much-needed fight after Toropchenko kneed Logan Cooley, causing him to exit the game. No one on the Mammoth forgot about that dangerous collision, and McBain was the one who answered the call to stand up for his teammate.

McBain had nine points in January, which included a three-point game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He followed the month up with three points in four games across February. The forward also played his 300th career NHL game during the month. 

March was more of a quiet month for McBain. He scored his first goal since Jan. 13 in a game against the Stars, kicking off back-to-back games with goals. He also fought in the Stars game against Lian Bischel. McBain scored his final goal of the season at the end of March, an empty net goal against the Los Angeles Kings. March was his highest scoring month of the season with three goals across 15 games.

Bainer with the shorty! pic.twitter.com/q3g4jFxCy3

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) March 17, 2026

McBain played in the Mammoth’s first game of April against the Seattle Kraken. However, he left the game early after blocking a shot. The shot caused a lower-body injury, which forced the forward to miss the rest of the regular season.

After finishing within the top 10 in goals last season, McBain finished 11th on the Mammoth in goals this season with nine. He did finish second on the team in penalty minutes with 84, just four minutes behind MacKenzie Weegar. McBain also finished fourth in faceoff win percentage on the Mammoth with a 51.3% success rate, a higher percentage than in the prior season.

Despite missing the final couple of weeks of the season, McBain did play in Game 1 of the playoffs against the Golden Knights. However, in nine minutes, the forward didn’t make a big impact and was clearly still playing injured. McBain didn’t play again until Game 6, where, similar to Game 1, he was clearly not at 100% and was a minus-one with one shot on goal as the Mammoth were eliminated by the Golden Knights.

McBain played a total of 18 minutes across the entire playoff series against the Golden Knights. The shot he blocked against the Kraken clearly dealt the forward a very big injury that lingered long enough to keep him away from the postseason. Still, McBain was proud of his adversity during his recovery and is planning on continuing to grow from his experiences this season.

“It’s been tough the last couple of weeks dealing with certain things,” McBain said. “I’m proud of the fact of dealing with adversity and trying to do what I can and stuff, but I think I continue to learn more off the ice, going with the guys and what it takes to try to be a leader within the team.”

The Future

After playoff exits, there are usually a lot of what-ifs. What if that puck went into the back of the net? What if the goalie made one more save? For the Mammoth, perhaps one of the biggest what-ifs is what if McBain were healthy for the entire playoff series?

It’s an intriguing alternate reality. McBain’s style of play screams a style of play that thrives in the playoffs. His physicality, combined with an ability to chip in here and there, could’ve made a huge difference in a series where the Golden Knights dominated at times in that department, especially in overtime. McBain easily could’ve been a guy who scores an overtime winner. It’s disappointing, but no one is more disappointed in the lack of play in the postseason than he is.

“I think I bring something pretty unique,” McBain said. “I’m a really physical guy that also plays a 200-foot game and can be productive. You watch these (playoff) series going on right now, and it’s very physical, it’s very detailed. There’s not a lot of space out there. It suits my game really well. Playoff hockey was something I was looking forward to for a long time.”

This season wasn’t a bad one for McBain. He brought the same physicality you expect from him every game. He put up similar offensive stats as he’s done the past couple of seasons. However, the hope for McBain this season was to score a couple more goals and continue hitting double digits in the goals category. Unfortunately, he regressed to nine goals. 

While injuries knocked out seven games and four playoff games for McBain this season, it wasn’t a fantastic season for the forward even before that. It wasn’t a failure of a season either. It was simply a mediocre season. Everyone knows McBain can chip in at least 10 to 15 goals. For him, especially because it’s the first year of a brand new five-year contract, this summer is a big one for him.

“A big thing for me is always my skating and just getting quicker,” McBain said. “I think I can be stronger and heavier on pucks and battles and continue to improve my down low game. I’d like to continue to improve my finishing and my shot release and stuff like that. It’s big for me this summer.”

McBain does bring this young Mammoth team a unique physical presence. He can win puck battles and fights, something guys like Liam O’Brien and others who play a similar type of game don’t do as well. He has more offense than guys like that as well. However, McBain is being paid a lot more than O’Brien or even Brandon Tanev. There needs to be more offensive production from the forward heading forward.

The good thing is that McBain won’t have to worry about signing a contract this summer. Unlike last season, all he’ll need to focus on is improving for next season. We’ll see if a distraction-free offseason will help McBain take another step forward in his game.

Overall Grade

You know what you’re going to get with McBain at this point. The forward is going to bring physicality and solid two-way play to every game. The hope now becomes, can he increase his offensive play? 

In the next couple of seasons, prospects will begin filtering into the Mammoth’s lineup. It will begin pushing more and more players down the lineup, which could affect McBain’s spot. It’s up to the forward to continue proving why he’s an essential part of the team. His physicality will be needed to protect those younger guys. McBain proved this year that he’s willing to stand up for his teammates, no matter how long he has to wait. Stuff like that is bound to happen next season, and the forward will need to answer the call.

Overall, McBain is getting a C-plus for this season. While his physicality remained important to the Mammoth, his offense regressed a touch. Especially after last season, at times, it appeared McBain found a way to produce consistently; he didn’t build upon that this season. Going forward, you’d like to see the forward hit 30 points or 15 goals.

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about McBain’s season is that he didn’t get to fully play in the playoffs. While the injury was out of his control, the forward could be a player who really shines in the postseason. With the addition of his hard-hitting two-way play, the Mammoth are a deeper team. A fully healthy and even more improved version of that could give the team enough of a boost to make a dent in a playoff series. That’s exactly what the Mammoth want to see from McBain going into the 2026-27 season.