Mammoth put Dylan Guenther on IR, Logan Cooley out

The Mammoth's injury report landed about an hour before puck drop at T-Mobile Arena, and it was ugly from top to bottom.

Cole Bagley

@BagleyKSLsports

Lots of injury updates: Logan Cooley will not play tonight (upper-body) and is listed as day to day. Dylan Guenther will not play tonight (upper-body) and has been placed on Injured Reserve (IR). He will miss approximately 2-4 weeks. The Mammoth have recalled forward Daniil But from the Tucson Roadrunners. Defenseman Nate Schmidt has been placed on IR retroactive to 11/5. Forward Kailer Yamamoto has been activated off IR and will play tonight.

So that's 2 of Utah's best young forwards out on the same night. Guenther goes to IR with an upper-body injury, and the 2-4 week timeline means he misses a real chunk of November. Cooley has an upper-body injury too and is day to day, which could mean back next game or could mean the label hangs around for a while. Nate Schmidt also went on IR, backdated to November 5, and Kailer Yamamoto came off IR to plug at least one hole up front.

The Guenther news may have been coming for a while. He's 23, and he has been a power-play weapon for this team, but CBS Sports noted he had only 3 points over his last 10 games and that Andre Tourigny's recent comments hinted the injury might be worse than it looked. When a guy who scores that easily goes quiet for 10 games and then lands on IR, it's fair to wonder if he was playing hurt.

Brogan Houston

@houston_brogan

Tons of injury updates for the Mammoth. This will be a tough game to get through with no Guenther, Cooley, Schmidt, Marino. They'll be glad to have Yamamoto back.

Utah Mammoth PR

@UtahMammoth_PR

ROSTER UPDATES The @utahmammoth have recalled forward Daniil But from the Tucson Roadrunners (AHL). Forward Dylan Guenther will not play tonight (upper-body) and has been placed on Injured Reserve (IR). He will miss approximately 2-4 weeks. Defenseman Nate Schmidt has been placed on IR retroactive to 11/5. Forward Logan Cooley will not play tonight (upper-body) and is listed as day to day. Forward Kailer Yamamoto has been activated off IR and will play tonight.

That's the problem in a nutshell. No Guenther, no Cooley, no Schmidt, and Marino out too, against a Vegas team that's always tough at home. Getting Yamamoto back helps, but he doesn't replace 2 top-6 centerpieces. Somebody from the bottom of the lineup has to move up and take minutes they don't normally get.

Brogan Houston

@houston_brogan

Daniil But is back in the lineup immediately, and he’s skating on the top line. Sebastian Cossa in net. #TusksUp #VegasBorn

Utah Mammoth

@utahmammoth

Lineup in Vegas. ⬇️ t.co/f4YH4aQu9i

That somebody is Daniil But. He got the call from the Tucson Roadrunners and went straight onto the top line, which tells you how thin Tourigny's options are right now. It's a big chance for a young forward who's been riding the AHL shuttle, and if he holds his own up there he could keep the spot until Guenther gets back. Sebastian Cossa got the start in net too, so this lineup isn't the one anybody had pencilled in at the start of the week.

For anyone betting the Mammoth, the news matters more than the final score of one game. A lineup missing Guenther for up to a month, plus Cooley's status changing day to day, shifts how this team should be priced, especially on the power play, where Guenther has carried a lot of the scoring. Watch Cooley's status before every game, see how long But stays on the top line, and expect Utah to look like a different team until Guenther's 2-4 weeks are up.