What a new contract could look like for Utah’s Karel Vejmelka
While there is a lot of attention being paid to the upcoming NHL Trade Deadline, some are looking at the future for one of the league’s “newest” franchises.
Utah Hockey Club goaltender Karel Vejmelka has been involved in trade rumors in previous years, especially when the team was known as the Arizona Coyotes. However, it’s starting to look like the team might want to keep the right-handed catching netminder around.
The Czech backstop has been one of the key reasons Utah remains in the playoff hunt with a couple of months remaining during the regular season. Over his tenure with the team, Vejmelka has found a way to overperform and give his team a chance to win, even when they seem outmatched. This year, he’s on track for a career-best save percentage (.910) and goals-against average (2.45), as well as surpassing the 18 wins he posted during the 2022-23 campaign.
However, he’s coming to the end of his current contract, a three-year deal with a cap hit of $2.725 million. Set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, some wonder what a future contract would look like for the 28-year-old.
That question came up during Tuesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, when Cole Bagley of KSL Sports joined Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk to discuss what a future could look like for Vejmelka.
Cole Bagley: I think they’re definitely progressing towards [a new contract]. They very well should be. Vejmelka has been, for the most part, a top-10, top-15 goaltender for much of the year. He’s had a couple of difficult stretches but held down the pipes when [Connor] Ingram was gone for a couple of months. He’s been a brick wall since coming back from the break…I would like to think that it might be a deal similar to what the Washington Capitals were able to do [with Charlie Lindgren]. Maybe a 3x$3 million or a 3x$5 million deal for Vejmelka.
Goaltenders are hard to come by. This is a goaltender who’s shown this year what he’s capable of this year. I think he’s the guy you should have between the pipes for the next few seasons as you build toward contending.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…