Earlier in the summer, we went over how the Canucks stack up against their seven Pacific Division rivals. Check out those previews below:

– Vegas Golden Knights
– Los Angeles Kings
– Edmonton Oilers
– Calgary Flames
– Anaheim Ducks
– Seattle Kraken
– San Jose Sharks

In this mini-series, we’ll be covering the Rest of the West…but not every team. After taking a step back last season, the Canucks are more competing with the teams competing for the Wild Card, rather than the top or bottom of the division.

With that in mind, we’ll kick this off by diving into the…

The Mammoth were expected to be big players this offseason, and they lived up to it. It may not have been the big free agent splash, but they acquired one of the biggest names on the trade market: JJ Peterka.

In a blockbuster move the day before the 2025 NHL Draft, the team sent defenceman Michael Kesselring and forward Josh Doan to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Peterka. The trade also came with a five-year, $7.7 million contract for Peterka from the Mammoth. It became clear that Peterka had no desire to re-sign in Buffalo, and Utah swooped in and got the deal done.

Fast forward to free agency, where the Mammoth replaced Kesselring and Doan with Nate Schmidt and Brandon Tanev, as well as finding their new backup netminder in Vitek Vanecek. Not only that, but Utah signed a pair of their 2023 first-round picks, Dmitri Simashev and Daniil But, to entry-level contracts. They likely won’t make the team next season, but they’re certainly on their way.

According to Daily Faceoff, here are the Mammoth’s projected lines for next season:

Up front, the Mammoth have the younger, faster crop of forwards. The two teams aren’t too far off in terms of firepower if the entire Canucks team isn’t having down seasons, but we would side with the Mammoth.

Young forwards such as Cooley and Guenther are primed to break out. Cooley had a 21-point jump from his rookie season, finishing with 25 goals and 65 points in just 75 games. Guenther was the hottest player in the NHL to start the year, scoring five goals through his first three games. He would eventually cool off his heater and suffer through a mid-season injury, but still finished with a 27-goal, 60-point season in a 70-game campaign. And of course, who could forget about their captain, Clayton Keller? He’s been the straw that stirs the drink for this Mammoth/Hockey Club/Coyotes offence since joining the organization, and is coming off his career-high with 90 points.

However, defence and goaltending are a landslide in the Canucks favour. That’s not to say the Mammoth have a bad blueline or goaltender, the Canucks just have arguably a top-five defence corps and goaltending tandem. Sergachev is a number one defenceman, but he’s not sniffing the Norris Trophy level play like Quinn Hughes. Vejmelka and Vanecek are serviceable, but nothing compared to a Vezina finalist and Kevin Lankinen.

Looking into last season’s standings, the Canucks and Mammoth were separated by just one point. Utah finished with one more regulation loss than the Canucks did, ergo the one point fewer.

Head-to-head, the Mammoth swept the low-scoring season series. The Mammoth managed to hold the Canucks to just four goals in three outings, defeating them 3-2 (OT), 2-1 and 3-1. Funny enough, and what seemed to be the tale of the Canucks season, Vancouver opened the scoring in all three games and just were not able to hold onto the lead.

On paper, you’d like to give the edge to the Canucks. They have the better defence and goaltending, and while it’s close, you’d probably lean Utah up front, but it’s much closer than the other two position groups. However, it’s hard to argue with that head-to-head battle from one year ago. Plus, Utah only got scarier up front by adding Peterka.

But with a full bill of health in 2025-2026, as well as Demko bouncing back to his level 2023-2024 form, the Canucks should still have the edge over the Mammoth – even if they’re one of the biggest teams on the rise.

Friday, December 5 @ Rogers Arena

Monday, February 2 @ Delta Centre

Saturday, April 4 @ Rogers Arena

What do you think, Canucks fans? How do you think the Canucks stack up against the Utah Mammoth? Let us know in the comments below!