On Monday, the Utah Mammoth announced that the team has signed forward caleb desnoyers to a three-year, entry-level contract that will begin at the start of the 2026-27 season, formalizing the jump from his standout junior campaign in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League to the NHL ranks.
Caleb Desnoyers: What does the contract include and what did the club say?
The Utah Mammoth made the signing official on Monday: a three-year, entry-level contract set to begin with the 2026-27 season. Bill Armstrong, general manager of the Utah Mammoth, said, “We are thrilled to sign Caleb to an NHL contract. Caleb is an incredibly skilled player who has seen much success throughout his Junior career with Moncton. He has an extremely bright future ahead and we look forward to watching him play for the Mammoth for years to come. ” The deal locks in the fourth-overall pick from the 2025 NHL Draft as a member of the organization under an entry-level framework.
How did caleb desnoyers earn this opportunity?
Desnoyers arrived in the draft conversation on the back of a decorated junior resume. As captain of the Moncton Wildcats, he posted 22 goals and 56 assists for 78 points in 45 games this season while carrying a +36 rating. Across three QMJHL seasons and 161 regular-season games, he produced 77 goals and 141 assists for 218 points and a +89 rating. His playoff totals include 10 goals and 22 assists for 32 points in 23 postseason appearances.
Individual honors and tournament performances punctuate that production. He was named a QMJHL First-Team All-Star and received the Mike Bossy Trophy as the league’s best pro prospect, along with the Guy Lafleur Trophy as playoff MVP after helping Moncton capture the QMJHL championship and reach the Memorial Cup. Internationally, his resume includes gold medals at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and the IIHF Under-18 World Championship, a gold at the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge, and six assists at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship as Canada finished with a bronze medal.
What comes next for the player and the team?
The entry-level contract begins the formal development relationship between Desnoyers and the Mammoth. The signing affirms the club’s investment in a player described as an exceptional playmaker with size, vision with the puck, and a knack for creating scoring opportunities for teammates and himself. For the organization, the contract secures a top-four pick from the 2025 draft and a player whose junior and international track record includes championship experience and individual awards.
For Desnoyers, the path now shifts from junior milestones—league titles, playoff MVP honors and international medals—to professional development within the Mammoth system under the timeline of a three-year entry-level contract starting in 2026-27. The deal is both an endpoint to his junior chapter and the beginning of a new development phase with the NHL club.
Back where the announcement began, the formal signing on Monday reframes the achievements that filled his junior seasons: playoff runs, a Memorial Cup semifinal appearance, and tournament medals now sit alongside a signed entry-level contract. That linkage — from Moncton captain to a Mammoth-contracted prospect — is the immediate, measurable next step in a career that accumulated awards, points and leadership in the QMJHL and on the international stage.
