Training Camp: Day 8

After a team day off, the Mammoth were back to work with practice on Wednesday. Utah also announced several cuts to the training camp roster Wednesday morning.

Forwards Coster Dunn and Carson Harmer were released from their try-out agreements and will report to their respective junior clubs. Defensemen Ludvig Lafton, Tomas Lavoie, Max Pšenička, and Veeti Väisänen will be assigned to their respective junior teams.

Liam O’Brien joined the team for skill work in a no-contract jersey before the Group A practice session got underway. Head coach André Tourigny said the forward “had a good skate, had a little bit of contact the other day … but he should be in contact soon.”

Barrett Hayton joined Group A today after he was day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Tourigny said the forward “looks good, as far as I know he’s good,” and he will check in with the medical staff.

Today’s Groups:

Group A

Forwards: Lawson Crouse, Kevin Stenlund, Kailer Yamamoto, Brandon Tanev, JJ Peterka, Nick Schmaltz, Barrett Hayton, Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, Tij Iginla, Gabe Smith, Andrew Agozzino, Ben McCartney, Sammy Walker, Cole Beaudoin, Daniil But, Michael Carcone

Defensemen: Sean Durzi, John Marino, Nate Schmidt, Maveric Lamoureux, Scott Perunovich, Artem Duda, Dmitri Simashev, Maksymilian Szuber, Mikhail Sergachev, Nick DeSimone, Ian Cole, Olli Määttä

Goaltenders: Karel Vejmelka, Dylan McKay, Vitek Vaněček

Group B

Forwards: Michal Kunc, Sam Liptin, Austin Poganski, Miko Matikka, Ryan McGregor, Maksim Barbashev, Noel Nordh, Julian Lutz, Ty Tullio, Curtis Douglas, Owen Allard, Cameron Hebig

Defensemen: Montana Onyebuchi, Kevin Connauton, Lleyton Moore

Goaltenders: Matt Villalta, Jaxson Stauber, Dylan Wells

The Next Steps

With three preseason games in the books, the Mammoth are ramping things up every day. Tourigny discussed what the group is working on after evaluating how the team picked up the systems.

“(We need) to eliminate the pause in our game,” Tourigny explained. “Have a little bit more pace. I think there’s a lot of thinking. We knew that, we built it that way … there’s nothing we’re not expecting, but now we need to push it in a little bit.

“Tomorrow is the last day of the first phase of camp,” Tourigny also shared. “Then after that we go with four good practices and then we go with a few games … I think from there we’ll see more cohesion, a little bit more flow, and then we gain a little bit more.”

Growing in Camp

Training Camp has been an opportunity for younger players like forward Cole Beaudoin and defenseman Artem Duda, to learn from Utah’s veterans and grow their individual games.

“It’s been good so far,” Duda shared. “Lots of battles, (high) intensity practices (that are) an hour and a half. I think it’s good to get ready for our season. We have some preseason games as well with intensity, hits, battles, and powerful play. It’s good to compete with each other and get better every day.

“There’s a lot of small details I have learned,” Duda continued. “I am trying to improve on the ice and off the ice. (Some) small prompts from coaches and veteran guys, they just help me get better.”

“Learning from the older guys and asking questions,” Beaudoin said. “Asking the coaching staff questions, just trying to learn the systems as fast as possible so that when the preseason games come along, I’m able to adjust, I’m able to play my game, and just be able to not think out there and just play hockey.”

Beaudoin has turned to forward Michael Carcone over the last year for guidance and support.

“I think since Day 1, even from last year, Carcone’s someone that always helped me,” Beaudoin explained. “Always helped me in the gym, always helped me on the ice, and he’s been a huge help for me and I give him a lot of props.”