What Can Utah Mammoth Learn From the Florida Panthers?

If there is anything the Utah Mammoth can learn from the Florida Panthers, the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, it’s that winning teams are always looking to improve.

Jun 17, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) hoist the Stanley Cup after game six of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

If there is anything the Utah Mammoth can learn from the Florida Panthers, the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, it’s that winning teams are always looking to improve.

A year removed from its 2023–24 Stanley Cup victory, Florida, like every team, would lose pieces of its championship roster—including Utah’s own Kevin Stenlund.

However, with the Panthers’ key core intact and an aggressive trade deadline that brought in pivotal pieces like Brad Marchand and Seth Jones, the Panthers clearly are an adaptable team.

Calling the Utah Mammoth a winning franchise is certainly premature, considering its previous history as the Arizona Coyotes. As the Coyotes, the team made the playoffs only once in the past 13 seasons, and that was due to the qualifying round format of the 2019–20 COVID season.

But at the same time, Utah’s 89 points were just seven shy of the final Wild Card spot held by the St. Louis Blues. It has been a long time since this team has been that close to the playoffs.

And even the Panthers were once a team that endured long stretches with minimal playoff success before making five consecutive postseason appearances.

So while Utah hasn’t been a winning team, its important that it remembers these three lessons from Florida:

Mar 22, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Hockey Club defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (98) lines up during the national anthem before the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Peter Creveling-Imagn Images

The development stage of this Utah team is in a pivotal transitional period as its young prospects continue to grow and build team chemistry.

But another key reason for the success the Utah Mammoth saw was the addition of three defensemen—Mikhail Sergachev, John Marino, and Olli Määttä—all acquired through various trades either prior to the 2024–25 season or early in the season.

Plus, back when GM Bill Armstrong was making trades when the team was known as the Arizona Coyotes, defensemen Sean Durzi and Michael Kesselring were also acquired in trades.

When everyone was healthy, all five players were logging important minutes for the Utah Mammoth, proving how valuable those trades were.

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So while it’s not likely the Utah Mammoth will continue trading for defensemen, it does need to keep its ears open for high-value trades, just as the Panthers did with both then-unsatisfied Jones in Chicago and when it capitalized on a struggling Boston Bruins looking to sell Marchand.

Plus, the Panthers also acquired forwards Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Sam Reinhart through trades in years prior to this season.

That doesn’t mean Utah needs to flip its fourth overall pick in the upcoming draft, especially since Utah’s cap space is around $20 million despite having already signed most of its roster.

But what Utah needs to do is remain an active listener. Rather than making impulse buys in free agency just for the sake of spending money, Utah needs to remember that some of the greatest opportunities for the Panthers come at the trade deadline.

Mar 16, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Utah Hockey Club defenseman Michael Kesselring (7) stick checks Vancouver Canucks forward Dakota Joshua (81) in the third period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images

Utah’s play style isn’t nearly as aggressive as the Florida Panthers, there’s a reason the Panthers are hoisting another Stanley Cup. But while the Panthers defense is certainly better right now, Utah should only get better on defense next year.

With Marino and Durzi both playing less than half the season, Utah not only played through injuries, but also lacked the time to develop team chemistry.

Now, with an offseason to work together and everyone entering the season healthy, the Mammoth should already be set to have an improved defense it can rely on as it continues to figure out how to improve its offense that ranked 21st in goals scored last year.

But while Utah’s offense will need Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley to regain the chemistry they had before Cooley went down with injury—and not be so reliant on Dylan Guenther one-timers—it’s arguably more important that Utah leans on goalie Karel Vejmelka and the defensive talent Armstrong has assembled.

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The Florida Panthers have certainly been scoring this postseason, but the Panthers are only allowing 2.43 goals per game, which is by far the best mark in the playoffs. That stat alone shows their commitment to the defensive play style Florida plays with.

Being a physical team that makes life hard on opposing offenses, anchored by Sergei Bobrovsky, is where it all starts for the Panthers.

Utah is certainly poised to be a better team as it stays healthy on defense and has Vejmelka as its clear-cut starting goalie. The Mammoth will only benefit on offense as it will get to continue developing its offense, but also not have to worry about always making a comeback like it did so often last season.

But if Utah can play with more physicality, cut down on some of the careless mistakes in its own defensive zone and rely on its defensemen to stay strong like Florida does, the Mammoth will make a jump next season.

Apr 14, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Utah Hockey Club center Logan Cooley (92) celebrates a goal with his teammates against the Nashville Predators during the second period at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

One of the most apparent differences between the Oilers and Panthers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs was what happened when star players weren’t able to score.

For the Panthers, they had players like Marchand chipping in with six goals of his own and had their defense playing at an elite level. Florida was scoring at will and getting contributions across the board.

But when the Oilers were struggling to score against the Panthers, they didn’t’ have anyone else carry the load unless it was their leading scorers—Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard.

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While Utah is going to need its core of Keller, Guenther and Cooley to all produce and step up in big moments, it will need more than just its top three players to contribute come playoff time.

That isn’t to say Utah doesn’t need top-end production from its best players—after all, the Oilers made it to the Finals in back-to-back years for a reason.

But when Utah faces top-end defense in the playoffs, if it’s too reliant on its first line, it won’t be able to go very far.

Even now, the Mammoth had stretches in the regular season where, if it wasn’t getting scoring from anyone but the first line, it couldn’t win.

So getting a more balanced attack won’t just help Utah win more regular season games, it will make the team more built for the playoffs.

Source: Utah News