Utah Mammoth Logan Cooley (92) take control of the puck against the Chicago Blackhawks Ryan Greene (20) at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thu Mar 12, 2026 (Utah Mammoth X photo)
March 12, 2026
by Tom Walker
SALT LAKE CITY–Nick Schmaltz was cheered following his 8-year contract extension, as was MacKenzie Weegar in his Utah Mammoth home debut, but the Chicago Blackhawks completed the 4-0 season sweep in overtime with a 3-2 win Thursday night.
The Mammoth (34-26-5) returned to action at Delta Center on Thursday following a successful 3-1-1 road trip. The team made headlines a day earlier when it was announced on Wednesday that forward Nick Schmaltz had signed an 8-year $64 million contract extension, locking up one of the final key pieces of the team’s core for the long term.
At the conclusion of Utah’s inaugural season, several players remarked during exit interviews how much they enjoyed moving to Salt Lake City, particularly the players with young families who had integrated with their neighborhoods and had found so many activities for their children. A short recap of some of their remarks at the time:
Defenseman Sean Durzi (signed through 2028): “One thing I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about is how well the organization has handled things and treats us, and then you look at the group and the direction we’re heading in, it’s gotta be a destination. I can’t say enough good things, from top to bottom, what this organization has done for myself and for the guys.”
Forward Liam O’Brien (signed through 2027): “It’s such a great city to have a family. My wife and my daughter really enjoy it. … It’s been great and I think there’s so much to do, too, with the kids in this area as well, so we really appreciate that. … We’ve got four or five guys with kids all within maybe six months of each other.”
Forward Logan Cooley (signed through 2034): “Right when we got here in the summer last year, the whole ceremony of welcoming us and the whole place is sold out and you could feel the excitement right away, and the first game was just unbelievable. … Neighbors have been great.”
Forward Dylan Guenther (signed through 2033): “I think the ownership group is unbelievable, everything’s first class, our new practice facility is crazy nice, and the players they want to be here and they want to play here and they want to win in Utah.”
Goalie Karel Vejmelka (signed through 2030): “I love the nature here, I love Utah. … It’s really easy to live here and I really like to spend some time outside when I have a day off. … The community and the hockey fans are great. We couldn’t ask for a better organization as a brand new team, so it’s just fun to play here and to live.”
Defenseman Ian Cole (UFA at end of 2026): “I feel like [Utah] is very family oriented. There’s trampoline parks and play places, and a ton of fun stuff.” A teammate’s daughter was having a birthday party at a trampoline park later that day, to which Cole added, “that’ll be a ton of fun and I think that it’s something that kids love and there’s so many options, … so it’s a great place to raise a family for sure.”
Forward Lawson Crouse (signed through 2027): “I think when you take a look at our team, where we’re headed, the abilities and the skills that we have, that this is going to be a top place to play in the league. … I love waking up to the mountains every day. I find a sense of calming in that. Obviously we get a lot of sun here which is huge outside of the rink, and it’s just so beautiful when you drive around here, it’s a beautiful place. People are so friendly, and I couldn’t think of a better spot to raise my daughter here.”
Forward Alexander Kerfoot (UFA at end of 2026): “We’re building a lot of good things here. It’s an exciting time to be a part of this team and a part of this organization … we’re excited for the future. … I think that the trajectory that this team is on right now is something that we want to be a part of. I want to be on a team that’s trending in the right direction, and I think that the future here is really bright, and we want to be a part of that.”
Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (signed through 2030): “Utah is my home now. I could live here after I’m retired. I love this place. People are very nice. It’s great. … Especially the guys who have families, I think this is the place to be. I haven‘t seen anything better yet.”
Head Coach André Tourigny (signed through 2027): “What impressed me most are the people. Everywhere I go, from the restaurant, from everywhere in the crowd, even when I was coming in the Jazz game, it’s not necessarily the same fans, but people were talking about how much they embrace hockey, they didn’t know hockey and now they love the game, they love the team, and they love to come to the game. You never know, you’re going in a new city, people were talking about the culture of hockey, it’s not the same – we didn’t feel that at all. We didn’t feel we were kind of unknown or whatever, we really feel the people embrace our team and how excited they were. When you go somewhere and you feel people want you, that makes you feel really damn good. It’s tough to not get up, get out of your bed and not be excited, you’re excited, let’s get better today, let’s get at it, and I think that’s a credit to the people I just mentioned before, from our players to our ownership, but especially the fans.”
General Manager Bill Armstrong: “The experience for myself, my family, my wife, it’s been incredible in Utah. Our neighborhood, the kids. We went to the grocery store the other day, and a lady was petting our dogs and we were walking and she found out that we were with the hockey club, and she couldn’t thank us enough, ‘Thank you for coming!’ I can’t express the gratitude we have for our fans and the people of Utah.”
Other key players under contract for several years to come include Captain Clayton Keller (2029), forwards JJ Peterka and Jack McBain (2030), newly acquired defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (2031), and now Nick Schmaltz, Keller’s longtime linemate, signed through 2034 when the Winter Olympics come to Salt Lake City. “Getting guys locked in long-term just shows the commitment to winning here,” Schmaltz said to the assembled media at the new Mammoth practice facility in Sandy. “I think we’re right on the edge of being a really great team.” Of linemate Keller, Schmaltz said, “We’ve got a special bond. I think me and Keller have a special chemistry that you can’t really find around the league. He’s definitely a guy that I want to play with for the rest of my career. He makes my job a lot easier and we read off each other super well.”
“There was never a doubt that Utah is where I want to play the rest of my career, and I’m thrilled to sign an eight-year extension,” Schmaltz said. “We have a great core of players, and I know we can do some special things together here in Utah. We have a very bright future, and I am thankful to Ryan and Ashley Smith for wanting me to be a part of the group that will one day bring a Stanley Cup to Utah.” Of the Mammoth ownership, Schmaltz added, “Ryan and Ashley, they’ve given us every single tool to get better every single day. They built this amazing practice facility, they’ve done stuff at the Delta Center, renovations to make the building better. It just seems like they’re all-in on us. They do whatever it takes to win and they make our job easy, just to go out and perform.” Schmaltz recalled his first impression of Utah when the players first arrived after the announcement of Smith Entertainment Group’s acquisition of the franchise. “Seeing hundreds of kids lined up, excited to have an NHL team, then going to the Delta Center that night with a sold-out crowd just to see us walk on the stage. It was eye-opening.”
With the new contract, which includes a full no-movement clause for the next two seasons, a no-trade clause for the following two seasons, and conditional no-movement clauses beyond that, Schmaltz can safely put down permanent roots. “My fiancée and I love it here, so we’re super excited to get settled down and hope we can find some real estate here.” He shouldn’t have any difficulty doing that.
General Manager Bill Armstrong admitted that he had lost sleep over Schmaltz’s pending unrestricted free agent status. “The thought of losing Nick left me sleepless night after night after night, thinking about what he would get in free agency,” Armstrong said. “We didn’t want to lose him.” Armstrong joked about the text messages he would receive from Schmaltz’s agent when he had a hat trick or other noteworthy performances, and how at one point during a game he caught the glare of Schmaltz’s fiancée, telepathically messaging to him to get the contract done.
“We are thrilled that Nick chose Utah and wants to remain with the team for the next eight years,” Armstrong said. “Nick is a tremendous player and person who is very deserving of this contract. We expect him to continue producing on the ice and leading our young, skilled forwards for years to come. This is another great day for Mammoth fans and our organization.”
“There’s a lot of momentum building around our team, and extending Nick Schmaltz is an important part of continuing that,” SEG Chairman and CEO Ryan Smith said at the press conference. “Utah is becoming a true destination in the NHL, and Nick’s long-term commitment reflects the excitement around what we’re building here.” Smith continued, “I think people are starting to see, ‘Utah’s actually a place I want to live. You leave this facility, you’ve got that beautiful mountain range right in the back. You can get anywhere around here. You can fly anywhere. Utah’s pretty special and I think everyone is starting to see that.”
Getting back to Thursday night’s hockey game between the Mammoth and the visiting Chicago Blackhawks (24-29-11), Utah had gone 0-2-1 against them in their three prior encounters this season, two of them having taking place just this month. In the starting lineup for the Mammoth was MacKenzie Weegar, acquired in a trade with the Calgary Flames during the road trip.
The opening period was a scoreless draw, with Spencer Knight stopping all 6 Utah shots on goal, and Karel Vejmelka turning away all 4 shots from Chicago.
Dylan Guenther opened the scoring in the second period, netting his team-leading 31st goal of the season on a snap shot at close range over the right shoulder of Knight into the top corner of the net, assisted by Logan Cooley and Mikhail Sergachev, who returned to the lineup after a four game absence with a lower body injury. Guenther becomes the first player in franchise history to score 31 or more goals, surpassing Clayton Keller’s inaugural season tally of 30. The remainder of the frame remained scoreless, with Knight stopping 6 of 7 Mammoth shots and Vejmelka turning away all 8 attempts by Chicago.
19 seconds into the third period, Jack McBain and Ilya Mikheyev got into a tussle and went to the penalty box for roughing against one another. During the 4-on-4, Chicago’s Sam Rinzel used his arm to raise Clayton Keller’s stick into his own face, and was miraculously awarded the benefit of a high sticking penalty against Keller. Replays showed just how blatant Rinzel’s self-harm was, but the Blackhawks cashed in on the 4-on-3 advantage to tie the score when Tyler Bertuzzi put the puck past Vejmelka for his 28th of the season, assisted by Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, as the booing fans made clear their contempt for the officiating. Near the midpoint of the third, Chicago pulled ahead 2-1 when Frank Nazar scored his 10th og the season, assisted by Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi. With just over six minutes remaining in regulation, JJ Peterka tied things up again at 2-2 with his 22nd of the year, assisted by Michael Carcone, which ultimately sent the game into overtime.
The Mammoth and Blackhawks traded chances for nearly four minutes of the bonus frame, but with just over a minute remaining, Nick Schmaltz went hard at the Chicago net and crashed into the boards as the Blackhawks recovered the puck and drove the length of the ice with a 3-on-2 where Connor Bedard completed Chicago’s season sweep over Utah with 63 seconds left on his 27th goal of the season, assisted by Alex Vlasic and Nick Lardis.
Mammoth forward Jack McBain, who recorded a career-high 10 hits in the game (Liam O’Brien owns the franchise record with 11), faced the media in the locker room after the game. “I thought our group had a really good effort, we were really physical,” McBain began. “It’s a team that’s gotten the best of us so far this year, and again tonight, but I thought we played a good game.” Of teammate Michael Carcone, who registered 8 hits of his own, McBain said, “[Carcone] is a good player, he’s feisty, he gets into battles, he’s really good on the forecheck, he’s obviously really fast, and he’s a fun guy to play with. I thought he had a strong game tonight. He made a great play on the backcheck there. It’s a huge point for us, obviously, two would’ve been better, but we’re going to be proud of the effort and carry on.”
JJ Peterka, who initially tied the game in the third period, spoke on the challenge of playing the Blackhawks this season. “They play with a lot of speed, they’re obviously a highly skilled team. They make a lot of good plays. I think they had very good chances. I think that’s what we’ve been struggling with.”
Head Coach André Tourigny began his post-game comments by saying, “Not the result we wanted, but we played a hell of a game. We hit, we were physical, we’re fast. We generated a lot of offense. We actually had 33 shot attempts from the slot, probably our highest of the season. Jack McBain was a force out there, physical. It was huge for us. I think there’s a lot of positives, a lot of stuff I like about that game. Carcs, hell of an effort on the tying goal, tracks, trip. Timely goal from JJ, but we’re in that stage where we need to find a way to get two points, no doubt. But as well, we got a big point, and we played a hell of a game. I liked the way we played, and if we play like that, the result will follow. Proud of the guys, proud of the effort. The attitude on the bench, chatting in the room, four lines going, four lines buying pressure and being tough to play against. Other than the score, there’s not much I didn’t like.” Speaking of Chicago, who rank 30th out of 32 teams this season, Bear said, “Yeah, they’re a better team than people think. Look at their game, before they played us last game, they had just lost in overtime against Dallas. They’re in the game every night. Before the break, they had a hell of a stretch where they were in the game all the time. They can skate, they have size, and their goaltending is really good, so they’re in the game every night, so you need to be as close as possible to perfection. It’s a good team. We’ve been there where we were the younger team, where we were in the probably 60 games during the season, where we were in the mix, but we had a stretch of games where we lost too many games and that got us out of the race. That’s exactly what has happened to Chicago. They had a stretch where they could not win games. They won something like two or three games on a stretch of 15 and 16 games that pushed them out of the race. Other than that, if you look at their record, every other stretch of the season, they are as good as any team who are in the mix to make the playoffs. So they’re a good team. There’s no excuses. We are capable of beating that team. I don’t want to use excuses. I want to give them credit, and I know tonight, we played well enough to win. It was not like that during all the games against them, but tonight, I liked our effort.” Tourigny skillfully declined comment about Rinzel’s lifting of Keller’s stick into his own face.
Utah (34-27-5) wraps up a brief two-game homestand on Saturday with an evening tilt against the Pittsburgh Penguins (32-18-15), after which they’ll hit the road for a pair in Dallas and Las Vegas. The Penguins are tied with the Los Angeles Kings for the most overtime losses this season.
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