Utah Mammoth Assigns Dmitri Simashev to Tucson After Weegar Activation, Bolstering Defense

Utah Mammoth announced that defenseman Dmitri Simashev has been assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners, after the Mammoth activated MacKenzie Weegar. The team PR stated, “Utah Mammoth assigned defenseman Dmitri Simashev to AHL affiliate Tucson Roadrunners after activating MacKenzie Weegar. The move bolsters Roadrunners' defensive depth.”

Simashev has fluctuated between Tucson and Utah all season, with SportsForecaster logging a string of recalls and reassignments in February and March 2026, including assignments on Feb. 20, Feb. 25 and Mar. 6 and recalls on Feb. 24 and Mar. 5. KSL beat reporting and a Cole Bagley tweet previously noted a Dec. 2, 2025 reassignment to Tucson tied to Sean Durzi’s return to Utah’s lineup, a decision framed as preventing Simashev from becoming a healthy scratch.

The Roadrunners’ release highlights Simashev’s AHL productivity this season: “Simashev, 20, has recorded 14 points (4g, 10a), a plus-4 rating and 11 penalty minutes (PIM) in 14 games during his rookie season with the Roadrunners.” Tucson’s copy adds that the 6-foot-5, 201-pound defenseman is “averaging 1.00 points-per-game through his first 14 AHL contests, a pace that leads Tucson, all AHL rookie defensemen, and ranks tied for third among all league blueliners with at least 10 games played.” The team also noted he is one of two Roadrunners to record multiple three-assist games and that he owned the club’s longest point streak of the 2025-26 campaign, tallying eight points (3g, 5a) across six consecutive games from Dec. 6-27.

Not all published accounts list identical season totals. Other published summaries put Simashev at 28 points (8g, 20a) in 30 appearances with Tucson. The discrepancy between the Tucson release and those other stat lines remains in the public record; team and league stat pages should reconcile games-played and point totals for a definitive number.

At the NHL level Simashev opened the season with Utah. Tucson’s release reports he “posted one assist and 18 PIM in 24 NHL games,” while other accounts emphasize 24 Mammoth games with one assist and 26 blocked shots. SportsForecaster’s game log includes specific NHL entries, such as a Dec. 1, 2025 appearance with 18:04 time on ice and 2 PIM and a Mar. 5, 2026 appearance logging 12:30 of ice time.

Development and scouting context informed the reassignment. Tucson and KSL framed the move as a chance for Simashev to play top-pair minutes and work on penalty kill usage to rebuild confidence. SportsForecaster’s scouting lines describe him this way: “A huge physical specimen on skates, he is extremely mobile for his size. In fact, he can play on either side of the ice, which is a testament to his agility and awareness. Is competitive but will need to become a more physical defender in order to maximize output in the NHL,” and its long-range potential summary reads, “Mammoth all-around defenseman with good upside.”

Simashev, the sixth overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and a May 28, 2025 entry-level signee with Utah, also carried AHL recognition into the shuffle: he was named to the Pacific Division team for the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic, announced Jan. 15, 2026, for the Feb. 10-11 event at the BMO Center in Rockford, Illinois. With his size, AHL production and All-Star nod, the assignment to Tucson is positioned as a move to maximize minutes, special-teams work and continued offensive development as Utah sorts its NHL blueline following the activation of MacKenzie Weegar.