The Utah Mammoth are now trying to enter the next stage of the rebuild- the stage where the team can now compete while still having a lot of youth and talent. The Mammoth have already made a couple of big moves in the last week, trading for a superstar, signing a veteran star, and trading for a goalie, all while not giving up all of their youth and assets. So far, the front office has made some really good moves, and it just made another pretty darn good one. This may not be the biggest move of all time, but it will help the team.
Mammoth add depth defenseman after losing Ian Cole
The only player to have played in all 164 games so far for the Utah Hockey Club and Mammoth, Ian Cole, decided to depart and sign a one-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks on July 1st. This took away some of the great depth that the defenseman position had in the 2025-26 season for the Mammoth. The Mammoth still have several great defenseman in Mikail Sergachev, John Marino (42 +/- last season), and MacKenzie Weegar. Weegar struggled last season, but he can still be a critical player for Utah, and he played much better with the Mammoth, whose defense was better than the Flames' in the 2025-26 season.
With that being said, the Mammoth decided to sign Andrew Peeke, a former Boston Bruin and Columbus Blue Jacket, to a one-year, $1M deal. The deal is not risky at all and is good for Utah, considering they may still add to their offseason victories so far. Peeke was able to be a pretty good defenseman for the Bruins, even if his numbers weren't super amazing: 5 G, 9 A, 14 PTS, -12 +/-. Peeke managed to block a lot shots last season, and with how fast and good the Mammoth were this last season, Peeke may find more success in Utah.
For the Mammoth, this seems like another big W for a team that has continued to rack them up this offseason. Peeke isn't a bad defender at all, and Utah was able to sign him to a very low-risk, high-reward kind of deal. As it stands now, there may be no team in the NHL that has had a better offseason than the Mammoth.
Add us as a preferred source on Google