With their 41st game in the rearview mirror, the Utah Mammoth are officially halfway through the racetrack that is the 2025-26 season.
While they haven’t exactly been Lewis Hamilton at the wheel of a Ferrari, they have navigated the course without falling to the back of the pack. Here’s an overview of how things have gone so far, and where they could end up when they cross the finish line.
The goal
Last season, Utah made it clear that they wanted to be in a position to compete for a playoff spot. Whether they made it or not was less relevant than whether they were in the running. This year, their goal is to actually make it.
It’s a natural progression designed to build a winning culture. As skilled as their stars are, many of them are barely older than the legal drinking age — they have a lot to learn in life, both on the ice and off of it. Teams that win consist of players that know how to win, and this system is designed to teach them winning habits.
That’s the reason why they’ve focused so heavily on acquiring guys who have won before — whether it’s the Stanley Cup, championships at the junior or collegiate levels, international gold medals, etc. Players who have won know what it takes to do it again.
The math
At the time of writing, the Mammoth have enough points to make the playoffs, but they’ve taken more games to reach that number than some of their counterparts, meaning they’re not officially in a playoff spot.
There are 10 teams realistically contending for the two wild card spots in the Western Conference. Simple math dictates most of them won’t make it. But there’s one factor that will prove beneficial to the two teams that ultimately squeeze in: This is a loser’s race.
All 10 of those teams are among the bottom 12 in the entire NHL. As a whole, the Eastern Conference has been much stronger than the West this season, to the point where all but one Eastern team would have enough points to hold a playoff spot if they were in the Western Conference.
That means a lane is wide open for someone to run away with the lead. All it’ll take is a strong second half.
The second half
Sixteen of Utah’s remaining 41 games are against those teams with which the Mammoth are competing for playoff spots. They call those “four-point games,” because winning them not only earns you two points, it also prevents the opponent from getting two of their own.
The schedule favors Utah in the second half. They have 24 home games remaining, which is tied for the most in the league (Vancouver and Edmonton also have 24). The NHL rulebook gives the home team advantages in line matching and face-offs, in addition to the natural advantages that come from playing in front of a home crowd and sleeping in your own bed.
There’s also the advantage of extra rest during the Olympic break, though every team will get more or less the same amount of time off. But Utah’s track record suggests they might have an additional advantage.
Last season, the NHL took nearly two weeks off to hold the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. After the break, Utah came back with extra vigor, managing a 14-9-3 record to close out the season. If they can pull off something similar this year, they could put themselves in a great position.
The requirements
No team wins every game in the NHL, but the good ones manage their losses. They’ll fall short in one game, but they’ll make sure to win the next two or three.
The Mammoth aren’t at that point yet. All but three of their losses have been parts of consecutive defeats, and they’ve had three separate skids of three games or more.
Consistency is the name of the game. They need to leverage the momentum on more of their wins, turning them into streaks. They were justifiably thrilled with their 7-2 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday, but if they lose the rest of the games on their Eastern swing, that road trip can’t be counted as a success.
Again, losses come naturally over the course of any NHL season, but it’s imperative to take three steps forward for every one step back.
