SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Mammoth announced the signing of four players on Tuesday, including two Stanley Cup champions who just won the title with the Florida Panthers.
Defenseman Nate Schmidt signed a three-year deal worth $10.5 million. In his one season with the Panthers, Schmidt played in 80 games and ranked third in third in goals and fourth in points among the team's defensemen.
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Schmidt finished with nine assists in helping Florida win its second consecutive championship.
“Nate’s depth of playoff experience and most recent impact in helping the Florida Panthers to win the 2025 Stanley Cup complements our group of existing veterans extremely well. He will play a big role in helping to move our team forward this coming season," said Mammoth president of hockey operations, Chris Armstrong.
Coming to Utah with Schmidt is teammate Vitek Vaněček, who was Florida's backup goaltender for some of the regular season and the entire postseason, although he sat behind Sergei Bobrovsky.
Utah also signed Brandon Tanev to a three-year contract averaging $2.5 million a season after the forward split time with Seattle and Winnipeg a season ago.
In 79 games with the two teams last season, Tanev scored 10 goals. Since making his NHL debut in the 2015-16 season, Tanev has skated for the Jets, Kraken and Pittsburgh Penguins.
“[Tanev] brings playoff experience, is good on the penalty kill and will upgrade many areas on our team. We look forward to having Brandon in Utah,” said Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong.
In addition to the Schmidt and Tanev signings, the Mammoth also announced it has signed defenseman Scott Perunovich and forward Kailer Yamamoto to one-year, two-way contracts.
Yamamoto played in 12 games with Utah last season, scoring twice during his time in the NHL. Perunovich played with both St. Louis and the New York Islanders last season.
