Hockey returns this week. Kind of.
Friday marks the beginning of Utah Mammoth rookie camp, as well as many others around the NHL. As soon as that wraps up, main camp and the preseason begin.
Rookie camp begins with on-ice sessions at the Mammoth Ice Center Friday, followed by three Rookie Faceoff games in San Jose. These games are typically streamed free of charge on the hosting NHL team’s website.
The Mammoth’s game schedule is as follows:
- Saturday, 4 p.m. MDT vs. Vegas Golden Knights
- Sunday, 6 p.m. MDT vs. San Jose Sharks
- Tuesday, 2 p.m. MDT vs. Los Angeles Kings
Here are a few things to watch for at rookie camp this year.
Is Caleb Desnoyers healthy?
Forefront in Mammoth fans’ minds when the team announced its rookie camp roster was the health of 2025 No. 4 overall pick Caleb Desnoyers.
With a little more than seven minutes left in the final game of the World Junior Summer Showcase in August, Team USA forward Wyatt Cullen ran into an unsuspecting Desnoyers, taking his legs out from behind.
Desnoyers favored his left leg as he got up and headed straight to the locker room. He did not return to the game, leaving fans with more than a month to wonder if he’s OK.
Team Canada did not respond to the Deseret News’ request for comment regarding Desnoyers’ status at the time.
His presence at rookie camp doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s ready to play. It’s possible that he participates in the off-ice sessions, and perhaps even the practices, without suiting up for any games. If he does play in the games, though, it’s likely that he is good to go for the season.
Who steps up as leaders?
Maveric Lamoureux and Cole Beaudoin have assumed leadership roles at the last two development camps, but others will have to step up this time. Lamoureux is not attending and Beaudoin has been traded to the New York Rangers.
It’s an opportunity for the likes of Desnoyers and Tij Iginla, who both wore letters for their respective junior teams last season, to prove themselves off the ice as much as they already have on it.
Fans could also see Dmitri Simashev step up into that role. Yes, there’s a language barrier between him and the bulk of his teammates, but he and Daniil But have the most pro hockey experience of anyone there (and his English is improving steadily).
Also look for Owen Allard — an absolute rookie camp veteran at this point — and Gabe Smith to lead the way. Those are two later-round draft picks who could earn their way into the NHL through sheer determination.
Do the fringe NHLers dominate?
Skill-wise, rookie showcase groups are probably equivalent to major-junior all-star teams. Dominating in these tournaments doesn’t automatically mean a player is NHL-ready, but it does give an idea of where he excels and what he can do to improve.
In particular, Utah’s game on Sunday against the San Jose Sharks’ rookie squad will be telling. Like the Mammoth, the Sharks boast one of the deepest prospect pools in the league.
Their attendees include the No. 2 overall picks from the last two drafts, Ivar Stenberg and Michael Misa, as well as Igor Chernyshov, Quentin Musty and Filip Bystedt — a trio of late-first/early-second-rounders who have had immense success at the pro level for a few seasons.
Don’t read into the final score, but do watch how Utah’s top prospects do on the little things:
- Do they take panic shots, or do they hold onto pucks to get to prime scoring areas?
- Do they get beaten defensively, or do they hold their own?
- Do they measure up to their competition in net-front and corner battles?
- Do they look confident?
Again, there’s not necessarily a full conclusion to be drawn from these games, but they can highlight areas where a player excels and areas where he needs to grow.
Tij Iginla facing off against former line mates
For much of the 2025-26 season with the Kelowna Rockets, Tij Iginla played on a line with Carson Wetsch or Vojtěch Čihař — and sometimes, the three of them even played together as a line.
This weekend, they’ll face each other: Iginla for the Mammoth, Wetsch for the Sharks and Čihař for the Kings.
Wetsch raved about Iginla in an interview with the Deseret News ahead of the Memorial Cup in Kelowna in May.
“He’s an amazing player, super talented,” Wetsch said. “I mean, I feel like he can kind of do a little bit of everything out there, and I think he just makes everything out there a little bit easier.”
Joining Čihař on the Kings’ rookie team is defenseman Nate Corbet, another 2025-26 Rocket. Iginla will also see former Seattle Thunderbirds teammate Jordan Gustafson when the Mammoth play the Golden Knights.