Madden ’25: Utah’s PK Is the Only Thing Keeping Mammoth in the Game

John Madden is running Utah’s penalty kill like it’s Franchise Mode on easy

You’re going to hear a lot more about John Madden very soon.

And no, not because Nicolas Cage is playing the legendary coach/broadcaster/video-game namesake in an upcoming biopic.

And no, not because we’ll all soon be gathering around the Turducken. Happy Thanksgiving, by the way.

I’m not talking about Brett Favre’s biggest fan (other than his civil lawsuit attorneys). I’m talking about John Madden, the Utah Mammoth assistant coach who has been running the team’s most effective unit: the penalty kill. You know, the one where they play with fewer players than the other team. No kidding, that’s been Utah’s actual strength this season.

The Mammoth have the perfect guy to drive the bus for this group (and yes, that’s a very clever John Madden joke).

Madden, known as “Mad Dog” in his playing days, is no stranger to killing penalties. It’s been his calling card for his entire adult life. When he broke into the NHL with the New Jersey Devils in 1999, he led the league in shorthanded goals with six. Here’s a crazy way to put that in perspective: the Utah Mammoth/Hockey Club, with all its players combined, has only scored four shorthanded goals in 101 games as a franchise. Throughout his entire career, Madden was a non-negotiable PK1 guy and arguably the best penalty killer in all of hockey.

It was that skill and tenacity that anchored him as an undersized and not-exactly-naturally-gifted centerman in the NHL’s dead-puck era. He carved out his niche, covering all 200 feet of ice like an ultra-competitive psycho, and racked up three Stanley Cups and a Frank Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward.

So when it comes to leading a team’s man-down unit, there may not be a more qualified human being on the planet than John Madden, the hockey coach. Utah’s success on the PK is a direct testament to what he’s building.

Before evil nitwit Macklin Celebrini scored a power-play, game-winning goal in overtime on Tuesday (sidenote: Grrr…), the Mammoth had killed 20 straight penalties, largely thanks to the structure, discipline, and committee-clear mindset mindset Madden has drilled into them. Both Lawson Crouse and Nate Schmidt were singing Madden’s praises following Utah’s overtime loss to the Islanders last Friday when their successful PK streak had reached 18.

You don’t have to be on the ice to know Madden’s crew has been killing it—literally. If you’ve been on Mammoth Twitter (or X, whatever), first of all, please step off the ledge you’re standing on. Second, you’ll also agree that fans are in consensus over a few things: posters belong in hockey, we’re really not that interested in the Utah Jazz this season, a lot of the Mammoth players are pretty cute, and the power play and 5-on-5 play have been bad lately.

One more unanimous statement: Madden has been masterful.

Now, I’m not saying Utah should replace head coach André Tourigny right now. It’s the holiday season, for Christ’s sake. But if they ever did, Madden may be the leading candidate to serve as interim — with a legitimate shot to keep the job permanently, depending on how all these hypotheticals shake out.

It makes a lot of sense to me. His identity as a player is exactly what the Mammoth need to become as a team: pesky, relentless, uncompromising and gritty. A “put your tusks up their butt” attitude. (By the way, I recently heard someone in the upper bowl yell, “COME ON UTAH, PUT YOUR TUSKS UP THEIR BUTT!!” and I spit beer out of my mouth — it was so funny.)

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Bear. I just think very highly of Madden. A lot of people do. For a team looking for consistent sandpaper, especially at forward, Madden is the model.

So hop on the bus. His stock is only going up.

I wonder if Nic Cage will play him in the other John Madden biopic.