Caleb Desnoyers poses for a portrait after being drafted by the Utah Mammoth with the fourth overall pick during the first round of the 2025 Upper Deck NHL Draft at JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE on June 27, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
(Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – After selecting fourth overall in the 2025 NHL Draft and making seven total picks, the Utah Mammoth will now transition to development camp to get a better look at their deep pool of prospects. Ahead of Monday’s first skate in Park City, Caleb Desnoyers, Tij Iginla and Bill Armstrong shared a few notable updates with the media.
This week should be great.
Lots of talent ready to compete.#TusksUp https://t.co/LoslD9sG4C
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) June 29, 2025
The very first thing you notice about Caleb Desnoyers is his confident demeanor and a deep desire to win.
Related: Who Is Caleb Desnoyers? Meet The Utah Mammoth’s 2025 NHL Draft Selection
First impressions of Desnoyers, the kid just emits confidence and a hunger to win. You can see it in his demeanor and by the way he talks.
He’s won at many different levels and he wants to do that in Utah.#TusksUp
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) June 29, 2025
Not that it comes off as cocky, but after winning at so many different levels throughout his young career, he’s not looking for that to end any time soon.
In addition to three gold medals with Team Canada in the span of nine months in 2024, Desnoyers led the Moncton Wildcats to a QMJHL Championship with 30 points in 19 games this past season.
Understandably, he has every reason to be incredibly confident and his desire to be the best is palpable.
Desnoyers is a winner. https://t.co/hjvforjOw8
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) June 28, 2025
“That desire to win is the thing that makes me so competitive. I hate losing, but it’s mainly that I love winning so much,” Desnoyers explained.
“Just always so hungry, never satisfied…always starving.”
Desnoyers describes how competitive he is: “That desire to win is the thing that makes me so competitive. I hate losing, but it’s mainly that I love winning so much.”
“Just always so hungry, never satisfied…always starving.”#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/i5wUtKdZSv
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) June 29, 2025
So, what’s his plan for development, rookie and eventually training camp in the fall?
According to Desnoyers, he wants to make the team.
However, anticipating that he’s not quite ready yet, the young center also said that the NCAA could now be a “consideration” for him rather than returning to juniors.
“My goal right now is to surprise everyone and make the team next year,” he said.
“I’m the first person to realize how tough and hard it’s going to be but I’m the first person also to do everything that it will take. After that…we’ll take the best decision that I’ll have to take after.”
Looking ahead to this week, Desnoyers was unable to confirm his status as he’s still nursing a pair of injured wrists.
Not that it’s a major concern as Bill Armstrong confirmed after the draft that he won’t need surgery, but we’ll see if he skates very much this week.
Caleb Desnoyers was unable to confirm if he’ll be a full participant in development camp.
He is still nursing a pair of injured wrists.#TusksUp
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) June 29, 2025
Regardless, Utah clearly drafted a winner who has incredibly high expectations and goals for his future in a Mammoth sweater.
After playing just 20 games for his junior squad in Kelowna this past year, former 2024 first round selection Tij Iginla’s season was cut short in the juniors as he required hip surgery.
On Sunday afternoon, Iginla expounded on the procedure, explaining that he actually underwent double hip surgery in the span of approximately six weeks this past winter.
Tij Iginla confirmed he had double hip surgery and has just been working on healing and getting better.
He also said he expects to be full skating and contact in about a month or so.#TusksUp
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) June 29, 2025
“It wasn’t what I expected at 18-years-old, getting double hip surgery,” Iginla explained.
“I try to trust the process and believe that it will all work out for the best…compared to some other surgeries like knee and stuff, it’s not too bad. It’s all pretty smooth. A lot of boring days but at this point I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Despite undergoing an uncommon surgery for an 18-year-old, Iginla has remained positive and is expected to skate this week during development camp with the hopes of being cleared for full contact in about a month.
Bill Armstrong confirmed that Tij Iginla will be a participant at development camp but he’ll be in a non-contact jersey and won’t go through all the drills.#TusksUp
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) June 29, 2025
Iginla’s development and progression will certainly be something to keep an eye on as he battles back from such an uncommon pair of procedures.
While Utah’s prospects prepare for development camp this week, Bill Armstrong and the rest of the front office will also attend to current roster needs as the free agency window opens on July 1.
Related: How Will The Utah Mammoth Approach Free Agency?
In terms of what Utah will be focused on, Armstrong confirmed that the club needs to add some depth between the pipes.
Bill Armstrong addresses the need for a goaltender & Connor Ingram’s status: “As a GM you just have to make sure there’s depth…we’ll explore depth.”
“He’s in the program. I hear through roundabout that he’s doing really well & we’re really excited for him.”#TusksUp
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) June 29, 2025
Now, that doesn’t mean that they’re looking to move on from Connor Ingram, but they do have to prepare in case he isn’t ready to rejoin the team.
“As a GM you just have to make sure there’s depth…we’ll explore depth,” Armstrong said.
“He’s [Ingram] in the program. I hear through roundabout that he’s doing really well & we’re really excited for him…just building depth.”
In terms of goaltending, this free agent market is fairly dry, although guys like Jake Allen (34) and Ilya Samsonov (28) should be available and could offer fairly inexpensive, short-term contracts.
The Utah Mammoth will host the second consecutive prospect development camp at the Park City Ice Arena and Utah’s Olympic Oval from June 29 to July 3.
On-ice sessions are scheduled for 9:45 – 11:45 A.M. and 12:15 – 2:15 P.M. on Monday, June 30 and Tuesday, July 1. Both practice sessions will be open to the public.
With an inability host a full development game at Delta Center, the mammoth will participate in a four-on-four intra-squad scrimmage that will simulate a mock game with on-ice officials on Thursday, July 3 at 12 P.M. at Utah’s Olympic Oval.
The Mammoth will host 500 youth hockey players throughout the Utah Amateur Hockey Association to watch the closed scrimmage.
