{"id":470509,"date":"2025-07-01T15:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T19:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=470509"},"modified":"2025-07-01T15:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T19:36:09","slug":"new-york-islanders-sign-rfa-defenceman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/07\/01\/new-york-islanders-sign-rfa-defenceman\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah Mammoth Signs RFA Defenceman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/06\/30\/utah-mammoth-trade-maccelli-to-maple-leafs\/\" target=\"_self\">Utah Mammoth<\/a> have <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/sports\/2025\/07\/01\/utah-mammoth-scott-perunovich-signing\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agreed to a sign<\/a> a contract with a defenceman. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/perunsc01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-19_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scott Perunovich<\/a>, a restricted free agent, has signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Mammoth. His cap hit will be $775,000 in the NHL level and $400,000 in the AHL.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at:\/\/did:plc:muhgyr4fdi4nq642t5lvouhv\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3lswbpvnazw2k\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreif6p6e23o5tzeo5nr7n3yi3sp4c5tm3vbiujgwbkwrutpnjgwjwdm\">\n<p>The #TuskUp have signed 26 y\/o UFA D Scott Perunovich to a 1 year $755K Cap Hit 2-way contractNHL: $775KMinors: $400KGuaranteed: $500KRep&#39;d by Ian Pulver @WillSportsGroup https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/player\/scott-perunovich?68641cb2aa2b4<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; <a  href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:muhgyr4fdi4nq642t5lvouhv?ref_src=embed\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PuckPedia (@puckpedia.com)<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:muhgyr4fdi4nq642t5lvouhv\/post\/3lswbpvnazw2k?ref_src=embed\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2025-07-01T18:00:33.844Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/static\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Scott Perunovich Signs With Utah Mammoth<\/h2>\n<p>Perunovich played in 11 games with the Islanders after being <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/27\/new-york-islanders-acquire-another-veteran-defenceman\/\" target=\"_self\">acquired<\/a> from the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?s=st.+louis+blues\" target=\"_self\">St. Louis Blues<\/a>. In those 11 games, he recorded three assists with no goals. The Islanders acquired the former Hobey Baker Award winner following multiple injuries to their defence.<\/p>\n<p>In 24 games with the Blues last season prior to the trade, the 2018 second-round pick scored two goals (his first NHL goal) and recorded four assists.<\/p>\n<h3>Perunovich Seeking Full-Time Opportunity<\/h3>\n<p>Perunovich began with the potential to be a strong offensive defenceman. However, things have not yet clicked in the NHL. He has had opportunities to make an impact, but has unsuccessful in taking advantage of them. In 97 games with the Blues, Perunovich was even given the opportunity on the power play, but only managed nine assists.<\/p>\n<p>It seemed Perunovich would get a larger role with the Blues last season due to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/krugto01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-19_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Torey Krug<\/a>&#8216;s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/07\/18\/torey-krug-injury-creates-opportunity-for-young-defenceman\/\" target=\"_self\">season-ending injury<\/a>. However, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/08\/20\/edmonton-oilers-decide-whether-or-not-match-offer-sheet-rfa-defenceman\/\" target=\"_self\">acquisition<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/brobeph01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-19_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Philip Broberg<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/07\/10\/twice-bought-out-defenceman-signs-with-st-louis-blues\/\" target=\"_self\">signing<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/suterry01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-19_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Suter<\/a> continued to limit Perunovich&#8217;s role. Even with the Islanders,\u00a0 a team dealing with defensive injuries, he had trouble getting into the lineup.<\/p>\n<h3>Keys to Getting into the Utah Lineup<\/h3>\n<p>A strong training camp and preseason will help Perunovich make an impression. At 26-years old, there is still time for Perunovich to find his spot in the NHL.<\/p>\n<p>As an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2025-26 season, a strong season could help Perunovich earn a big payday next summer. That payday could come with the Mammoth or a team seeking an offensive-minded defenceman.<\/p>\n<p>However, should Perunovich fail to make an impression, he could find trouble finding a suitor next season.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: John Jones- Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Utah Mammoth have agreed to a sign a contract with a defenceman. Scott Perunovich, a restricted free agent, has signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Mammoth. His cap hit will be $775,000 in the NHL level and $400,000 in the AHL. The #TuskUp have signed 26 y\/o UFA D Scott Perunovich to a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":470510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,2,4547,4548,21],"tags":[662,1880,3357,8184],"class_list":["post-470509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-mammoth","tag-nhl-free-agency","tag-rfa","tag-scott-perunovich","tag-utah-mammoth-news"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470509"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":471829,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470509\/revisions\/471829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}