OverDrive - Armstrong on the Mammoth's managerial viewpoint, the trade for Peterka and building a winning roster

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

Utah Mammoth President of Hockey Operations Chris Armstrong joined OverDrive to discuss the management perspective of the Mammoth, the team acquiring JJ Peterka and the fit on the roster, the architecture of forming a deal in Utah, the fan base of the Mammoth emerging, the outlook of the roster building the team and more.

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I'm from the Glorious Sons. Hi, I'm Nellie Furtado. Made in Canada, the station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca or the free iHeartRadio app Chris Armstrong from the Utah Mammoth Chris. Thanks so much for joining us

Good to be with you guys. Thanks for having me on take us take us behind the curtains As we're into the final minutes before the draft. What is life like for you and the organization at the moment? Things are good here in Utah. We had a beautiful day and we just did a team photo. I feel like we're out there for a wedding. But it's always a special day to have our whole group, our whole operation together and lots of excitement, enthusiasm around the team as you guys well know. How different is the draft process for you guys this year not being on location in Los Angeles? Yeah I think it's very similar to what we're actually accustomed to in the sense that

our process hasn't really changed this week in terms of our meeting schedule and everybody's availability. I guess the difference is we're on a table in a room full of uh... fifteen thousand people uh... but from a process standpoint it's it's felt pretty similar to uh... two years past chris what's the tone out there we will there's a lot of uh... hope at least cross fingers around hockey media and hockey fans that that we could be seeing

uh... draft right with trades and some big deals being made here uh... how do you sort of uh of read the tea leaves as the draft approaches? Yeah, I mean you never know there's certainly a lot of buzz out there today. A lot of different things being discussed and we'll see if any of them become a reality tonight. But I think that's great from a fan perspective and for the game to have so much attention and conversation around the draft and yeah hopefully we're one of those teams that it makes an impact on people.

Chris Armstrong the president of hockey operations for the Utah Mammoth joining us on overdrive. It's been a really busy day just breaking now the Florida Panthers have signed Sam Bennett to an eight-year contract worth eight million dollars per season. We've also seen a lot of trades, Noah Dobson being traded earlier today. You guys acquired JJ Paterka earlier this week. How easy or difficult is it to pull off trades right now given the fact that it seems like much of the NHL landscape is a team of buyers and not a lot of teams right now who are willing to say that we are in the total rebuild phase of our franchise. Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment for sure.

I think, you know, generally people underappreciate how hard it is to make trades in professional sports, right? You define what both sides feel is fair and equitable value and the right needs for their organization. I think at a time like this, and especially coming up on free agency, it's important to be deliberate and patient to see how other pieces on the board move

and to be disciplined and making sure that the things that you're doing are taking you forward, addressing the needs that you have. And in our situation, we're we're fortunate to be able to to consider everything in anything right now and then that's a great place to be what do you do you tell them if like about j j peterski obviously you trade for him you sign into a contract is you know been just under a thirty goals for

the last couple seasons what do you see is the outlook for him on your team yeah really high-offensive stealing with with JJ obviously being able to put him with the talent level that we already have in Logan and Kels and Dylan Gunther among other Sergi for example we think you know we should be in a great spot to have two really solid offensive threats in our top six, in both of our top lines rather, and that we've got a really solid top six now with the addition of JJ. By the same token, we also said goodbye to two exceptionally young, talented players

and high character people in Donner and Kessin. We think the fans of Buffalo are going to fall in with with both of those guys as our fans did in in in in our inaugural season, so But to we're excited about what JJ brings and just gives us that additional offensive punch that we were looking for on the left side Chris has been a lot of talk with the news that Sam Bennett signs that 8x8 million with the Florida Panthers has been a lot of talk of the great performance of these Florida-based teams obviously the Panthers and the Lightning winning back-to-back before them and how their zero state tax advantage has been used to great effect to get players under contract at

potentially possibly under market value I mean I'm not the Utah tax isn't zero as it is in some US states that what I'm not even sure what it is. I believe it's four something percent. But how do you see that? We know the commissioner has said that some teams have complained that there should be some sort of an equalization in the cap to make up for this. Where do you stand on this?

My view to that whole conversation is build a great program and you'll attract great players. Right, but I mean, is it as big a perceived advantage as some of us make it out to be? I don't believe so. I think that that's, I understand the narrative, but I think it has more to do with the program that you build and the environment that you create

for players to reach their full potential. And the quality of the city in general and how they treat people is far more important than tax. Now, if you have a great program and you happen to be in a state that has tax advantages, then of course you're going to be able to play that as one of the attractive elements of coming to play for your organization. But I think fundamentally it starts with just build a great organization and you'll attract great players.

And you know what? It's so true because if you look at what those teams in Florida, what Dallas, what Vegas have built, great practice facilities. We just saw the Florida Panthers build one and good organizations where you go and you feel like you have a chance to win. Now you guys are in a situation in Utah where you have a very motivated owner you guys are making upgrades to the arena you're building a state-of-the-art practice facility can you kind of you know tell us about what's going on in Utah as far as you know building something that players

will see as an attractive place to go in the future yeah I mean we really want to try to and aspire to setting the standard for what a modern professional sports franchise should look like and And really try to lean into this unique opportunity where we're building something from the ground up and we have The good fortune of being able to look at it through the athlete experience and and get that feedback from our players our coaches our staff About what actually makes a difference what actually matters? In terms of in terms of their experience inside of our organization. So that's what we're focused on is making sure that our players want for nothing, that their families are taken care of, and that their singular focus can be on their

craft and being the best hockey players they could be. That's really sort of the ethos that has been set by our ownership and Ryan Ashley Smith and we've been very fortunate to have unlimited resources and support to build that experience for our players so far. Chris Armstrong, the president of Hockey Operations for the Utah Mammoth joining us on Overdrive and you know given the progression of this organization which you can still go back to the Arizona days but maybe even more particular with this new fan base that everything worked well in the first year but you really want to captivate that new group of fans that you have how much urgency is there going into this offseason or in the midst of this

offseason that that you you are willing to go out and maybe make a big move that you wouldn't have a couple years ago knowing that you're ready to do it but also you got something special in a new city? Yeah I think that's a great question. You know from the very beginning what we've what we said we want to build here is framework for sustainable success right and so we are definitely going to look at everything and anything that makes us better and gives us a better shot to to be a top three team in our division and to make the playoffs next year. Those are the ambitions, those are the objectives, but our fan base also knows from day one that we want to build something sustainable.

We want to be a contender for a long period of time, a window like Florida is experiencing now and that takes time and it takes patience and it takes disciplined decisions and I think you know we'll be in on everything because we have that advantage and that opportunity but we will only do the things that we think are consistent with that long-range ambition. Well I started our conversation by saying it's not often you get the president of hockey operations literally minutes before the draft begins so with that we don't take that lightly we appreciate you taking some time to join us today good luck with today's draft and good luck with the rest of the offseason thanks guys very much it was great to be with you appreciate your coverage of the

game there you go uh... chris armstrong from the utah mammoth mistakenly canadian artists raising the bar It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Bryan Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from the Gloria Sons.

Hi, I'm Nellie Furtado. Made in Canada, the station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required, just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca or the free iHeartRadio app.