Among the biggest things that the Utah Mammoth would like to improve in the 2026-27 season is their defense. Last season, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't all too great either. The Mammoth have already hired assistant coach Adam Foote to help, but their depth at the position will be critical.
With Ian Cole gone, the next veteran in line to help Utah will be Nate Schmidt, who, after winning a Stanley Cup in Florida in 2025, had a pretty good season with Utah last year.
Nate Schmidt will be big for Utah's depth
With some losses on the defensive side of things, certain players will be pretty big for depth. Utah will hinge a lot of its defensive hopes on Dmitri Simashev, who played in less than 30 games last season but will be big for Utah's defense next season.
Schmidt in the 2025-26 season scored five goals and added 17 assists, but most notably, he had a nice 31 +/-. That +/- was second to only John Marino, who turned into one of the best defenseman in terms of that stat last season and earned a big contract extension. Utah hopes that depth at this position willl be a strong point next season.
With Cole's loss, the only player to have played in all 164 games in Utah so far, Schmidt will be important for his depth and experience. If Utah wants to succeed in the 2026-27 season, they definitely need to get some important minutes from some of their top defenseman. Mackenzie Weegar, Mikhail Sergachev, and Marino are the best for now, but Schmidt will be critical.
Utah wants to rely on some of its younger guys, so they need leadership, experience, and someone to clean up another player's mistakes when needed. Schmidt had a nice 2025-26 season, and Utah hopes to get something like that again this next season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google