Utah Mammoth position preview: Will increased goaltender stability lead to more shutouts?

SALT LAKE CITY — The NHL has dubbed this week "Goalie Week" on its social media accounts, giving us a reason to begin our position previews ahead of the 2025-26 Utah Mammoth season with the netminders.

Utah's goaltenders put together just two shutouts in the team's first season in Utah, with the first coming 24 games in from AHL call-up Jaxson Stauber, and the second 23 games later with Karel Vejmelka in the net.

Vejmelka's strong play down the stretch earned him a five-year, $23.75 million extension with the Mammoth, making him the presumptive starter going forward; but as Utah fans learned last year, depth in the crease is a must over an 82-game season.

So, with that in mind, here is where the goaltender position group sits heading into training camp.

Starter: Karel Vejmelka (Czechia)

The 6-foot-4, 29-year-old spent three years as a part-time starter in Arizona, and assumed a similar role after the move to Utah, backing up Connor Ingram. After a stretch during which Utah won just three of 12 games, however, head coach Andre Tourigny turned to Vejmelka during a Thanksgiving road trip to the East Coast.

Vejmelka struggled a bit in the middle of the season, during which Stauber earned the team's first shutout, but locked in near the end of February and started all but one game over the final two months of the season.

His five-year extension was signed on March 6, just three days before Ingram entered the league's player assistance program, from which he was cleared last month.

While Vejmelka managed just one shutout, his 2.58 goals-against average was the best on the team and of his career by a decent margin, and ranked 11th-best in the NHL last season.

NHL.com projects Vejmelka to be a part of the Czech Olympic team heading to Milano Cortina 2026 in February, along with the Anaheim Ducks' Lukas Dostal and Philadelphia's Dan Vladar.

Backups: Vitek Vanecek (Czechia), Connor Ingram (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)

Thanks to the uncertainty surrounding Ingram's time in the NHL player assistance program, the Mammoth now have three NHL-caliber goalies on their roster. Considering the only other goalies to see the ice last season behind Vejmelka and Ingram were AHL call-ups Stauber and Matt Villalta, this is a surplus of depth.

The club signed fellow 29-year-old Czech tender Vitek Vanecek to a one-year, $1.5 million contract on the first day of NHL free agency on July 1. Vanecek played for three teams over the last two years, culminating with a Stanley Cup champion season last year with the Florida Panthers.

His best season came with the New Jersey Devils in 2022-23, when he started 48 games and put up a 2.45 goals-against average.

Vanecek and Ingram will likely battle it out during training camp for the backup spot behind Vejmelka, with Ingram still possessing plenty of goodwill with the franchise from his 48-start, six-shutout campaign in the final Arizona Coyotes season in 2023-24.

Ingram also has the financial investment advantage, making $1.95 million in the final year of his three-year, $5.85 million contract.

Prospects: Michael Hrabel (Czechia)

There's something about Utah goaltenders and Czechia. Micahel Hrabel, the 20-year-old, second-round pick by the Coyotes in 2023, has been touted as perhaps the first "great goaltender" to potentially make his NHL debut in Utah.

The 6-foot-7, 215-pounder is entering his third year at UMass and put up a 2.39 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage over 35 starts in 2024-25. His 1,028 saves ranked second all-time in program history for a single season and his wins total tied for third all-time in a single season at UMass.

Hrabal is not expected to compete for an NHL roster spot until the 2026-27 season at the earliest.

Arizona took Swedish tender Melker Thelin in the fifth round in 2023 and Utah skipped the position in 2024 before going back in the fifth round this year to grab Russian Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko with the 142nd pick.

None of the club's goaltender draft picks will be part of the rookie training camp beginning next Wednesday, Sept. 10, with all three goalies on that roster being amateur tryouts, showing the franchise's trust in its experienced trio of NHL veterans.

Keep an eye out for our defensemen and forward position previews over the coming weeks, leading up to the Utah Mammoth preseason opener on Sept. 21 in Denver.

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