The Arizona Coyotes’ entire existence was a perpetual rebuild. With the exception of one Conference Finals appearance, they never made it out of the Quarterfinals during their time in the desert.
GM Bill Armstrong set out to change that when he took the reins in the fall of 2020. He spent a few years letting his team play from the bottom of the standings, accruing what must be a record number of draft picks along the way.
Now, with the move to Utah, the group is ready to take the step from “rebuilding” to simply “building.”
But how far from Stanley Cup contention are the Utah Mammoth? Let’s take a look at some teams that have recently accomplished the feat after enduring long rebuilds.
Florida Panthers rebuild
The gold standard for roster construction right now is the Florida Panthers. You don’t go to three straight Stanley Cup Finals and win the trophy in back-to-back years by accident.
That makes it easy to forget the 24-year span during which they didn’t win a single playoff series.
For many years, the Panthers dwelt at the bottom of the standings. They’d gather top prospects through the draft, but it never mattered because they couldn’t get anyone to stick around and attracting free agents was nearly impossible. Sound familiar, Coyotes fans?
It seems crazy now, because South Florida is widely considered one of the best places in the league to play — but that’s how it was for a long time.
The rebuild kicked into high gear in the early 2010s when they hit home runs on a few high draft picks:
- Jonathan Huberdeau, 3rd overall, 2011
- Alex Barkov, 2nd overall, 2013
- Aaron Ekblad, 1st overall, 2014
It still took the better part of a decade for the Panthers to be considered a dangerous team. What really put them over the top was a series of unbelievable trades and signings, some good supplemental draft picks and possibly the greatest waiver pickup of all time:
- Matthew Tkachuk
- Sam Reinhart
- Sam Bennett
- Gustav Forsling
- Sergei Bobrovsky
- Carter Verhaeghe
- Brandon Montour
- Eetu Luostarinen
- Anton Lundell
- Spencer Knight
Once they had the core in place, mid-level free agent signings and big trades put them even higher on the totem pole. Brad Marchand and Seth Jones are among the most prominent, but you could make a long list of other guys who made big differences for the team over the three Stanley Cup Final trips.
From the time they’d drafted all three stars, here’s how long it took them to hit various playoff milestones:
- Make the playoffs: 2 years (2016)
- Win a round: 8 years (2022)
- Make the Stanley Cup Final: 9 years (2023)
- Win the Stanley Cup: 10 years (2024)
Colorado Avalanche rebuild
In 2016-17, the Colorado Avalanche finished in last place — and it wasn’t close: They were 21 points below the next-worst team. Five years later, they hoisted the Stanley Cup.
Here’s how they did it.
Like the Panthers, the Avalanche’s rebuild began many years before they ever saw success. Their 2009 draft was paramount to their eventual win, even though none of those players were on the eventual Cup-winning squad:
- Matt Duchene, 3rd overall: traded for a pick that became Bowen Byram
- Ryan O’Reilly, 33rd overall: traded for a package that included JT Compher
- Tyson Barrie, 64th overall: traded for Nazem Kadri
And, of course, a number of their own draft picks in subsequent years ended up contributing in major ways:
- Gabriel Landeskog, 2nd overall, 2011
- Nathan MacKinnon, 1st overall, 2013
- Mikko Rantanen, 10th overall, 2015
- Cale Makar, 4th overall, 2017
- Bowen Byram, 4th overall, 2019
- Alex Newhook, 16th overall, 2019
Like the Panthers, they supplemented their home-grown picks with some top-tier trades and free agents when the time was right.
From the time they’d drafted Mikko Rantanen, they were looking to get out of the rebuild (though Makar came a couple years later). Here’s how long it took them to hit each playoff milestone after that:
- Make the playoffs: 3 years (2018)
- Win a round: 4 years (2019)
- Make the Stanley Cup Final/win the Cup: 7 years (2022)
Tampa Bay Lightning rebuild
The Tampa Bay Lightning preceded the Panthers as the league’s most dominant team. They won the Cup in both 2020 and 2021 before losing in the 2022 Final.
The Lightning are the poster child for building through the draft. They had a first- and a second-overall pick on their Cup-winning team, and they had the fourth-last pick in the 2011 draft — all home-grown.
Their key draft picks included:
- Alex Killorn, 77th overall, 2007
- Steven Stamkos, 1st overall, 2008
- Victor Hedman, 2nd overall, 2009
- Nikita Kucherov, 58th overall, 2011
- Ondřej Palát, 208th overall, 2011
- Andrei Vasilevskiy, 19th overall, 2012
- Jonathan Drouin, 3rd overall, 2013 (eventually traded for Mikhail Sergachev)
- Brayden Point, 79th overall, 2014
- Anthony Cirelli, 72nd overall, 2015
Although the Lighting were mostly built through the draft, they did have a few key acquisitions mixed in — especially on defense.
Here’s their playoff milestone timeline, tracked from the time they started leaving rebuild mode (2010):
- Make the playoffs: 4 years (2014)
- Win a round: 5 years (2015)
- Make the Stanley Cup Final: 5 years (2015)
- Win the Stanley Cup: 10 years (2020)
Utah Mammoth rebuild
What are the common threads among all three of those teams?
- Proper rebuilds take the better part of a decade before winning the Cup.
- Depth players can come from anywhere, but your stars are almost always acquired through the draft.
- Development is seldom linear.
Armstrong has repeatedly said he doesn’t expect Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther to push the team into contender status until they’re in the 25-27 age range. He understands that rushing a rebuild causes you to cut corners, and that’s not what he’s trying to do.
He’s put a lot of effort into building through the draft, but he’s only had one top-three pick to work with. Fortunately for the team, Cooley seems to be more or less the best player in his draft, and Guenther might end up top-three in his. The jury is still out on the rest of the first-rounders in the system, most of whom have yet to play in the NHL.
The team has also drafted a ton of players in the second round and beyond, but history shows that the majority of eventual NHL difference makers come in the first half of the first round. Everything after that is just darts thrown at a board.
Utah’s only home-drafted players on current the roster are:
- Clayton Keller, 7th overall, 2016
- Barrett Hayton, 5th overall, 2018
- Dylan Guenther, 9th overall, 2021
- Logan Cooley, 3rd overall, 2022
They also have six first-rounders looking to become full-time NHLers in the next few years:
- Maveric Lamoureux, 29th overall, 2022
- Dmitri Simashev, 6th overall, 2023
- Daniil But, 12th overall, 2023
- Tij Iginla, 6th overall, 2024
- Cole Beaudoin, 24th overall, 2024
- Caleb Desnoyers, 4th overall, 2025
So, where are the Mammoth at in their rebuild? They’re certainly through the toughest part, losing on repeat until they get high draft picks (and they can thank Coyotes fans for enduring that so that they didn’t have to).
The next step is to make the playoffs. That’s their goal this year — and judging off of last year’s results, it should be within their reach. If they take a few seasons to make it out of the first round, don’t fret. Young teams need to learn how to play playoff hockey by experience.
Remember, though, that rebuilds aren’t linear. If they make the playoffs one year and miss them the next, don’t panic.
