Clayton Keller Leads Mammoth Utah Into First Playoff Run
The mammoth utah era has arrived in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Utah Mammoth are still alive after five games in their first-round series with the Vegas Golden Knights. It is the franchise’s first playoff appearance, and the core that came over from Arizona has turned a rebuild into a team that can test a veteran opponent right away.
Clayton Keller’s First Run
Clayton Keller is in his 10th season and second as Mammoth captain, and this is his first playoff appearance in six years along with the rest of the core that came over from Arizona. Utah has not just reached the field; it has made the opening round close enough to face elimination with real offensive production from the players carrying the roster.
Keller led the team with 88 points, while Nick Schmaltz posted 33 goals and 74 points and Lawson Crouse added 44 points. Crouse is tied for the Mammoth playoff scoring lead with five points, the same total as Dylan Guenther has produced in the series.
Guenther And Cooley Drive Utah
Bill Armstrong built and rebuilt this roster through the draft and other moves, and the first-round showing has put the younger pieces at the center of the story. He selected Dylan Guenther ninth overall in 2021 and Logan Cooley third overall in 2022, and both have delivered in the series.
Guenther posted his first career 40-goal campaign this season. Cooley put up 43 points in 54 games, then carried that form into the playoffs with three points through the first five games. Those numbers give Utah a top end that can match pace with Vegas instead of chasing it.
Arizona Core, Utah Stage
Only four players from the 2019-20 Coyotes squad remain on Utah’s active roster, a short list that includes Keller, Schmaltz and Crouse. The Coyotes last made the post-season in 2019-20 before selling all their hockey assets to Utah, and this run is the clearest proof yet that the franchise change has produced more than a new name.
Utah now faces elimination in the series, but the first five games have shown that the Mammoth can compete on this stage. For a roster built through the draft and shaped by Armstrong, that is the part that will carry forward even if this round does not.
