In first game as Mammoth, Utah visits Avalanche team with title hopes

The Colorado Avalanche entered the season with an increased sense of urgency to win another Stanley Cup. They started strong with a 4-1 win at the Los Angeles Kings in their opener on Tuesday night and will begin their home campaign Thursday night.

Colorado hosts Utah in the Mammoth's first game of the season in Denver. Utah is beginning its second season in its new home after the franchise moved from Arizona. The Mammoth name was added after the team played as the Utah Hockey Club in the 2024-25 season.

Utah finished seven points out of the final wild card spot last spring and the club is attempting to return to the playoffs for the first time since the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season, when they were still the Coyotes. It has a core of players that can close that gap in Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley, who reportedly turned down an eight-year, $77 million contract extension before the start of the season.

The 21-year-old Cooley can become a restricted free agent next summer.

The Mammoth have other young talent, namely defenseman Dmitry Simashev, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2023 draft. Simashev made the roster out of training camp and will likely be in the lineup on Thursday night.

"He's doing a really good job in terms of his focus, skating and his one-on-one battles," head coach Andre Tourigny said. "He showed he had pro hockey inside of him in the past, so it helped a lot."

Utah won't have forward Alex Kerfoot, who starts the year on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.

The Avalanche are also dealing with injuries, most significantly to top goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, who has a lower-body injury and didn't make the trip to Los Angeles. Colorado opted to carry three goaltenders instead of putting Blackwood on IR, so he should return soon.

The most celebrated return is captain Gabriel Landeskog, who has not played a regular-season home game since March 5, 2022, because of a significant knee injury. He returned for the Avalanche's Stanley Cup run two months later, but he didn't play again until Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs this April.

He logged 11:12 of ice time Tuesday night while playing on the second line.

Landeskog is one of the many different faces from last year's opener. Colorado significantly overhauled its roster since then and returned many of the midseason acquisitions, including Brock Nelson, Martin Necas, Blackwood and his backup, Scott Wedgewood, while adding veteran defenseman Brent Burns this summer.

The Avalanche have depth throughout the lineup and two of the top five players in the league in center Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Cale Makar. The strength of the roster is a main reason the Avalanche feel another title is realistic.

"Just no question marks at the moment," Makar said. "I think coming into the year like that, where everybody can kind of be together and you know what you're getting right off the bat, that's exciting. And I think it shows."

--Field Level Media