Mammoth Top Prospects Excited to Be Part of Unique and Rare Situation in Tucson

The American Hockey League is a developmental league. Typically, the average age of an AHL team is in the early 20s. With that, you don’t typically see a team chock-full of future NHLers all at once.

It depends on their NHL affiliate’s situation. A team rebuilding will have most of its prospects up with it. A team competing likely doesn’t have many future NHLers. Even a team in the mushy middle has its prospects strewn everywhere between juniors, college, and the pro level.

Enter the Tucson Roadrunners. They are in a unique situation where the incredible amount of stockpiled draft picks from the Arizona Coyotes days that with good drafting by the Utah Mammoth has turned into a collection of future NHLers. With the Mammoth having a playoff roster, it creates this rare scenario where these prospects get to play with each other before they all head to Salt Lake City one day.

Tij Iginla, Caleb Desnoyers, Michael Hrabal, Tomas Lavoie, Gabe Smith, Yegor Borikov, Vadim Moroz, and Gregor Biber. Mammoth fans will find some of those names familiar. Those eight names are some of the team’s most highly touted prospects and are all more than likely going to be key parts of the Mammoth one day. That group of names doesn’t even include Artem Duda, who received his first NHL call-up recently after playing the first six games with the Roadrunners.

Usually, these young prospects only get the chance to play with each other during development camps, rookie camps, and preseason until they all reach the NHL. A big advantage that these eight names will have to start their pro careers is that they’ll have already shared a locker room with each other by the time they play with the Mammoth.

It creates a feeling of knowing each other really well, both in a team and personal environment. That creates great chemistry for the next faces of the Mammoth.

“I think it makes it fun, having young guys and a young group that are friends and good buddies,” Iginla said. “It definitely makes coming to the rink a lot of fun.”

It also allows the team to build some chemistry with each other on the ice. The Roadrunners have already made it a mission to start developing two pairs of prospects into the next dynamic duo, like Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz or Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther.

In the forward group, Iginla and Desnoyers have been paired with each other, no matter where they play in the lineup. They’ve also been playing with each other on the top power-play unit. While they haven’t been producing full force yet, you can see the vision. Both have started to make smart plays and creative passes like through the legs to each other.

On the blueline, Lavoie and Biber have been paired with each other for every game this season and have quickly turned into the team’s most effective defensive tandem. Lavoie already has his first pro goal, and Biber has two assists.

Speaking of Lavoie, he played against Smith and Desnoyers for the past couple of seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. When the three of them turned pro, it put them all on the same team in the same position: ground zero. Getting to learn how to live the life of a pro alongside each other has been very beneficial for not just the QMJHL trio but everyone.

“I think it makes it easier to be around the young guys that are learning like me to be pros,” Lavoie said. “This year, we learn a lot from the veterans. They're great veterans. They help us in practice, and even in the room between periods. That's all them because they make it easier for us.”

Speaking of the veterans, Roadrunners general manager John Ferguson has done a very smart job of constructing this team to have veterans insulate the rookies. Ben McCartney and Cameron Hebig have been with the Roadrunners for a long time and know what it takes to win in the AHL. They, too, are doing whatever it takes to earn their first NHL games.

Ferguson also brought in Zac Jones and Joshua Roy this summer while bringing back Robbie Russo, Austin Poganski, and Kevin Rooney, who has had 331 games of NHL experience. The team also received an unexpected and welcome surprise in Brandon Tanev, adding 608 more NHL games.

“It's great to have young guys, but at the same time, a lot of the old guys who wouldn't tell you they're over 30 years old, they're great guys,” Hrabal said. “I think there's a lot of good character on this team. I'm very happy to be part of it. It's been fun so far, and we just want to keep it going.”

Those veterans create a fantastic opportunity for the Roadrunners rookies to learn from longtime pros every day. It’s an opportunity the veterans want to create as well, with Rooney in particular making it clear it was a goal of his heading into this season.

It’s fun for these rookies to just be around players their age as well. There are additional younger players on the Roadrunners like Cal Thomas and Brandon Holt who are fighting for NHL contracts. That’s not even mentioning Owen Allard and Maveric Lamoureux, who are currently injured. A lot of these players have already done a lot off the ice with each other, like go-karting, golfing, and checking out the University of Arizona’s campus.

“It's fun,” Desnoyers said. “I’m getting really good along with them. They're great people too, so it's really fun.”

In the AHL, the Roadrunners are the 13th youngest team, with the average being boosted by guys like Russo and Tanev. They are still learning and growing. A prime example was the recent 3-2 overtime loss to the San Diego Gulls, where Desnoyers stepped on the ice for the extra period and was immediately outpaced by Nico Myatovic, who scored the game-winner.

However, that creates learning experiences that everyone can learn from. The AHL, at its core, is a developmental league. This lets rookies make mistakes and find ways not to repeat them when they reach the NHL.

“It's definitely nice having a bunch of younger guys to have their first pro experience with me,” Smith said. “Everyone's in the same boat with that, so it's nice to have them there. I'm just gonna try and do our best this year. We're excited for it.”

Roadrunners head coach Steve Potvin has stated that once the group finds its bearings and develops chemistry, there’s no telling what this group can accomplish. While the league is a developmental league first, there’s always an urge to win no matter what level you’re at. Getting playoff experience even in the AHL is great for everyone.

There’s certainly hype around the Roadrunners to do just that. Try to win their first division title since the shortened 2019-20 season. Try to win their first playoff series since 2018. There could be something special here, and the rookies know that.

“We have a great group,” Biber said. “Got a lot of young guys, a couple of older guys. We got a good group. Now we just have to work on the small things, and then we'll have a lot of fun this season.”

On and off the ice, this season will be a unique, fun, and memorable experience for these eight rookies as they begin their pro careers in North America and their paths to the NHL. A rare situation that the Mammoth have created in the AHL, putting together eight highly touted prospects in the same room as each other, could really help those prospects come into the NHL guns blazing and help the team’s contention window stay wide open for a very long time.