Utah Mammoth Place Goaltender on IR

Karel Vejmelka Placed on IR With Upper-Body Injury

The injury bug continues to hit the Mammoth. It was bad enough to lose Logan Cooley, but suffering an injury to the starting goalie certainly doesn’t help. Vejmelka has been the backbone of the Mammoth for nearly five years. The 29-year-old appeared in a career-high 58 games last season, winning 26. This year, Vejmelka has compiled a 16-10-2 record, a 2.70 goals-against average and an .894 save percentage. His play has kept Utah afloat in the Western Conference 2026 Stanley Cup Playoff Wild Card position race, but the Mammoth are in a tough Central Division.

Prior to the injury, Vejmelka won in four of his last five starts.

Utah Will Have To Rely on Their Backup

As long as Vejmelka is out, backup goaltender Vitek Vanecek will see the bulk of the starts. While he’s in, Vanecek will be asked to step up and carry the workload. Vanecek hasn’t had the nicest start to the year, going 2-8-1, with a 2.81 goals-against average and a .882 save percentage. Should Vanecek rediscover his game during Vejmelka’s absence, this stretch could serve as a reset after his difficult start. He’ll get his first chance to show that on Monday versus the Predators. From there on out, it is anyone’s guess, especially if Vanecek falter. But we can expect he gets the opportunity to start, before tapping too far into the farm.