After an unpleasant start to their season, the Hawks continues their season-opening trek out west against a team that will play its initial game of the 2026-27 season on Thursday night: the Utah Mammoth.
Utah is a club on its ascension, continuing in that direction with a postseason berth last season that ended with a six-game defeat to the eventual conference champion Golden Knights in the first round. Going back to the 2021-22 season, this Utah/Arizona franchise had just 57 points but has steadily improved from 70 to 77 to 89 to 92, with plenty of reasons to believe this northward trajectory will continue.
The first reason is Utah’s blossoming forward talent, spearheaded by players approaching or within their prime years. Captain Clayton Keller — who’s 28 years old — has been at a point per game in three of the last four seasons, including 88 (26 G, 62 A) in 82 last season. Dylan Guenther (23), the 2021 No. 9 overall pick, erupted for 40 goals last season. Logan Cooley (22), the 2023 No. 3 overall pick, was limited by injuries but still had 43 points (24 G, 19 A) in 54 games. He’s just beyond his prime years now, but old friend Nick Schmaltz (now 30) remains a solid top-six producer who had 74 points (33 G, 41 A) last season. Hopes also remain higher for Danil But, the 2023 No. 12 overall pick who had just 7 points (3 G, 4 A) in 29 NHL games last season but impressed in the AHL with 39 points (19 G, 20 A) in 41 games.
While the team lost JJ Peterka in a trade that netted a pair of first-round picks, another reason for optimism with the Mammoth is the talent brought in during the offseason. Veteran forwards Anders Lee and Vincent Trocheck may not produce at the same rates as before, but they can still provide depth scoring to supplement the offense, with Trocheck providing that vaunted Cup-winning experience. Utah also added goaltender Sebastian Cossa in an offseason trade with Detroit, hoping he can spell starter Karel Vejmelka this season after he played in an absurd 64 games last season with a league-leading 3,692 minutes of ice time.
The blue line is an overall veteran group led by a trio of trade acquisitions in Mikhail Sergachev, MacKenzie Weegar and John Marino, who were the three ice-team leaders — in that order — on the team last season. It’s also worth keeping an eye on Dmitriy Simashev, the 2023 No. 6 overall pick who appeared in 28 games last season with an average ice time of just 15:06 but could see an expanded role this season.
Last season, this Utah team was one that possessed the puck well (top-five in both shot attempt share and expected goal share), scored at a decent clip (3.27 per game, 12th in the league) and prevented them at a decent rate as well (2.93, 11th). That all adds up to one of the better 5-on-5 teams in the league, which would’ve seemed like a massive problem for a Blackhawks team that has been consistently bad at 5-on-5 play for several seasons. Yet, the Blackhawks actually swept all four games against Utah last season, including a trio of wins over 12 days in March. Hockey’s weird like that sometimes.
This post from Monday seems like a solid projection of the Utah lineup in this game:
As for the Hawks, redemption is necessary after a subpar — which may be generously stating it — start to the season on Tuesday night. While it was a top-tier opponent in Vegas, the Hawks were outplayed for too much of the evening, mustering a brief pushback in the third period before a VGK goal within a minute after one scored by Chicago put the game out of reach. That lackluster performance led to some lineup shuffles at practice on Wednesday which are expected to remain in place for this game, including Teuvo Teravainen’s inclusion in the lineup as a replacement for the injured Andrew Mangiapane.
No morning skate occurred to confirm that or the starter in net, but it feels like another Spencer (K)night.
The pessimistic thoughts ahead of his game aren’t hard to find after Tuesday’s dispiriting opener. The most optimistic take we can find is that the Hawks may have the benefit of one game under their belt with Utah still burdened by the sloppiness associated with the preseason. We’ll find out of that comes to fruition soon enough.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Mammoth
45.60% (30th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 53.13% (4th)
42.25% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 52.66% (5th)
2.56 (30th) — Goals per game — 3.27 (12th)
3.29 (27th) — Goals against per game — 2.93 (11th)
46.0% (31st) — Faceoffs — 49.2% (23rd)
16.9% (29th) — Power play — 20.0% (18th)
83.6% (2nd) — Penalty kill — 78.1% (19th)
(All stats from last season)
How to watch
When: 8:30 p.m. CT
Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City
TV: N/A (Annoyingly, this game is exclusive to the apps below)
Webstream: ESPN+/Disney+/Hulu
Radio: WGN 720