Takeaways and observations from Utah Mammoth development camp

The Utah Mammoth held their first day of development camp on Monday. It’s a chance for the players to show what they’ve got and for the team to instill some of its wisdom on the youngsters.

Here are some thoughts that prevailed on day one.

Iginla, Desnoyers don’t seem hampered by their injuries

Tij Iginla, the franchise’s first-ever draft pick, missed the bulk of last season after getting double hip surgery — but you wouldn’t know it with the way he skated on Monday.

The first hour of camp was nothing but power skating drills, which are designed to utilize all parts of the body, hips included. Iginla led the pack, participating fully in every drill at the front of the group.

In his Sunday press conference, Iginla mentioned that he’d be ready for full contact within the next month or so. With that in mind, don’t necessarily expect him to participate in the 4-on-4 game on Thursday, but do anticipate that he’ll be ready for game one of the Kelowna Rockets’ season.

Caleb Desnoyers, whom the Mammoth drafted fourth overall on Friday, was also hampered by injuries last season: both wrists. He told reporters at the combine that it affects everything that you use your hands for in hockey.

The second hour of development camp focused on shooting, stickhandling and passing, and Desnoyers seemed to have no trouble with any of it.

GM Bill Armstrong said on Sunday that Desnoyers won’t require surgery to repair his wrists.

Dmitry Simashev can move

Dmitri Simashev skates like he’s 5-foot-10, not 6-foot-5. That was evident at camp, where he stood out like an adult among children in the skating drills.

Simashev, along with fellow Mammoth prospect Daniil But, won the Gagarin Cup this spring with the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv in the KHL (that’s the second-best hockey league in the world, by the way).

They both signed with the Mammoth a short while later, and they’re both expected to see NHL action this year.

It sounds like Simashev prefers to play the right point, even though he shoots left. If that’s where Utah intends to put him, it could make sense to pair him with veteran and fellow Russian Mikhail Sergachev. Sergachev has spent some time with Simashev in Russia this summer, taking the rookie-to-be under his wing.

“Mammoth” fits these players perfectly

The top criticism of Utah’s NHL squad is that their top-six forward group has too many small bodies — but that’s where their smallness ends. Nearly every player at development camp is tall enough to draw looks from passers-by in public.

Director of amateur scouting Darryl Plandowski said in a press conference on Saturday that size is a factor in the organization’s drafting decisions, but they have to have way more than a big body to garner consideration.

“We always try and take the best player available,” he said. “We always make sure he has talent; We always make sure he can skate; We always make sure that he has the ability to get bigger and stronger and a place to develop. We were after players all draft that weren’t that big, and they went before us, and these were the next-best players on the board for us.”

Utah shows up

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The practice session spanned from 9:45 a.m. to about 2:30 p.m. on Monday, and it was 45 minutes from downtown Salt Lake, but that didn’t stop a crowd of Mammoth fans from showing up to support their squad.

The stands of the Park City Ice Arena weren’t at capacity, but they were full enough to emit a chorus of “Ohhh!” every time someone made a nice move. Hockey in Utah has worked great so far, but that wouldn’t be the case without so many passionate people supporting the team.