- Bill Armstrong says Tij Iginla and Caleb Desnoyers have nagging day-to-day injuries
- Both forwards miss Utah’s three Rookie Showcase games in San Jose but should be ready for main camp
- Read below for Armstrong’s update and what it leaves the Mammoth with this weekend
Utah is going to the Rookie Showcase without its two best prospects.
Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong said Friday that Tij Iginla and Caleb Desnoyers are both hurt and will not play in the team’s three rookie games in San Jose.
Armstrong was asked about the two forwards at a media availability following Utah’s first on-ice session of rookie camp:
“They’ve got some nagging day-to-day injuries that will push them out, so they’ll both miss,” Armstrong said, per Brogan Houston of the Deseret News. “They’ll be available at some point during main camp, but it’s day-to-day right now.”
KSL Sports’ Cole Bagley passed along the same note from the GM on Friday afternoon:
Desnoyers has been carrying his since Aug. 1. Predators prospect Wyatt Cullen took his legs out from behind in the final minutes of the World Junior Summer Showcase, and the 2025 fourth overall pick headed straight to the tunnel without returning.
Watch the collision that ended his summer early:
Iginla’s injury is the bigger mystery. The 2024 sixth overall pick had a pair of arthroscopic hip surgeries in his draft-plus-one year, then came back and put up 41 goals and 90 points in 48 games for the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets.
He said in July that he feels NHL ready and wants an opening night job out of camp, which makes a week of off-ice work an annoying way to start.
The rookie camp roster Utah released on Sept. 1 had four former first-round picks on it. Dmitri Simashev and Daniil But are still playing. Iginla and Desnoyers are not.
Throw in Ethan Belchetz, this year’s No. 17 pick, who is sitting out to protect his NCAA eligibility, and Cole Beaudoin, traded to the Rangers this summer, and the Mammoth will play the rookie tournament without a first-rounder from the last three drafts.
The Mammoth open against Vegas on Saturday at 4 p.m. MT, meet host San Jose on Sunday and close with the Kings on Tuesday.
Main camp is the one that counts here. Iginla and Desnoyers are both expected to turn pro this season, in Utah or with AHL Tucson, and neither can afford to watch that one in a tracksuit.
