The Utah Mammoth have a high-quality hockey team, but they don’t have the goalie talent that a true contender would want.
That has brought Connor Hellebuyck to the forefront of Utah trade rumors in recent weeks. The Winnipeg Jets‘ netminder has been on the block since the summer, but it feels like recently, the Mammoth keep being mentioned as a possible landing spot.
Sportsnet’s Michael Amato was the latest to bring up Hellebuyck to Utah, and he did it in a very potent way — Amato thinks Hellebuyck is the missing piece for the Mammoth to contend for a title.
Mammoth Trade for Connor Hellebuyck Would Fill Need
Amato’s headline for his blurb in his new article on Sunday was this: “Mammoth are a goalie away from being a championship contender.”
The Mammoth just gave up six goals on Saturday to really emphasize this point.
“If there’s one flaw people will point to about the Mammoth, it’s their goaltending and you can understand why,” Amato writes. “Karel Vejmelka’s numbers don’t really jump off the page at you. He owns an .879 save percentage this season and an .899 over his career. Vejmelka’s goals saved above expected won’t blow you away either, as he ranked 29th out of 65 qualified goalies heading into Saturday. He’s essentially a league-average goalie who can be very inconsistent, which I suppose you could say about half the goalies in the NHL.”
The Mammoth have built a great roster, though, with the likes of Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz.
They’ve also made solid trades in recent times for the likes of Vincent Trocheck, Mikahil Sergachev and MacKenzie Wegar.
It wouldn’t be unlike Utah to make another trade. This would be the biggest.
Would Connor Hellebuyck Fit Utah?
There’s the question of whether Hellebuyck, with a no-trade clause, would approve a trade to Utah.
But if he would, the Mammoth could definitely use him.
“The question is, how many chips do the Mammoth want to push into the middle this season?” Amato writes. “This is uncharted territory for a franchise that should now have real belief that they can beat anybody. If you watched Hellebuyck in the gold-medal game back in February, you know what a difference-maker he can be, and it would be a huge statement if the Mammoth were to make a play for him. The rest of the league is starting to understand how good Utah is, and making a splash to upgrade its roster would show that the Mammoth believe in themselves.”
This is a fascinating case. The Mammoth are a new team. They’re a bit of an unknown commodity. But it would be quite the statement of intent to trade for Hellebuyck.
Mammoth Trade for Connor Hellebuyck is Missing Move for Utah