After taking center Caleb Desnoyers fourth overall in the 2025 NHL Draft on Friday night, the Utah Mammoth welcomed six new players on Saturday.
The second through seventh rounds were hosted at L.A. Live’s Peacock Theater. The Mammoth had the following picks: 46 (second round), 78 (third round), 110 (fourth round), 142 (fifth round), 174 (sixth round) and 182 (sixth round) — which they traded their 2026 sixth-round pick to the Nashville Predators to get. Utah did not have a pick in the seventh round.
Here is everything you need to know about who the Mammoth selected on the final day of the draft:
Max Pšenička — 46th overall (second round)
Max Pšenička is a 6-foot-5, 185-pound defenseman from Czechia. The 18-year-old finished last season in the Western Hockey League with the Portland Winterhawks and had seven points (one goal, six assists) in 24 games. Pšenička started the year with HC Plzeň U20 for 20 games (had three goals, eight assists) and then moved up to play with the senior HC Plzeň team (in the top league in Czechia). Pšenička also represented his home country at the U18 international tournament, logging six points (two goals, four assists) in 10 games.
“It means a lot to me. It was an amazing experience for me to get drafted — especially to Utah which I really like,” Pšenička said. “It’s been amazing and I’m so happy with Utah.”
The Mammoth traded Michael Kesselring to the Buffalo Sabres earlier this week as part of the J.J. Peterka deal and Pšenička — while he will take some time to develop — fills the profile that Utah lost. Both Kesselring and Pšenička are right-shot defensemen and 6-foot-5. Pšenička described himself as a two-way blueliner who wants to work on his offensive game, too, like Kesselring.
“For me, I think I’m a two-way D. I think I can do a lot of stuff on both sides of the ice. I’m really trying to get into the rush up the zone — offensive style. But also I think I’m a really good D in the defensive zone and trying to be really good on both sides,” Psenicka said. “Good skater, I think. Good hockey IQ.”
Utah’s director of amateur scouting Darryl Plandowski and associate director of amateur scouting Ryan Jankowski said they were excited when Pšenička was still available.
“He tickled a couple of different areas because he started the year in the Czech Republic and then came back and finished his year in Portland,” Jankowski said. “When our scout in the Czech Republic and our scouts in the West both liked him — now it actually creates a little bit more excitement around the staff when you pick that player.”
Štěpán Hoch — 78th overall (third round)
Štěpán Hoch is a 6-foot-4, 192-pound left wing from Czechia. He played for HC Motor České Budějovice U20 for 30 games last season — and had 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists) — before moving up to the senior team for 25 games (had one goal, two assists). The 18-year-old skated for Czechia at both the U19 and U20 international tournaments and posted a combined seven goals in 20 cumulative games.
“We want to have size in our lineup but we always try to take the best player available,” Plandowski said. “Always make sure he has talent, always make sure he can skate, always make sure he has the ability to get bigger and stronger.”
Yegor Borikov — 110th overall (fourth round)
Yegor Borikov is a 6-foot, 181-pound right wing from Belarus. The 19-year-old played in the Kontinental Hockey League last season with Dinamo Minsk and had 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists) in 67 games. Borikov tied Evgeny Kuznetsov for the most goals scored in a single KHL playoff run among U20 players with seven this year. He is also teammates with forward Vadim Moroz, who was a third-round pick of the Arizona Coyotes (now Utah Mammoth) in the 2023 NHL Draft.
(Utah Mammoth) Darryl Plandowski (left) and Ryan Jankowski (right) speak to media at the 2024 NHL Draft. June, 2024.
The Mammoth went heavy on international players this year (including Borikov) and their staff felt confident about the picks because of the work — and miles flown — they had put in.
“We have equal representation really everywhere around the world,” Jankowski said. “We have two scouts in Ontario, we have four scouts in Europe, three scouts in the United States, two scouts in western Canada. Our European scouts are just as critical to the process as our North American scouts.”
Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko — 142nd overall (fifth round)
Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko is a 6-foot-3, 185-pound goaltender who is from Russia. The 18-year-old was in the MHL — the junior league of the KHL — with Tolpar Ufa last season. Tkach-Tkachenko had a 2.99 goals against average and a .908 save percentage in 40 games.
“Ivan we just saw in Florida last week at a camp put on by his agency. He is very raw but he has a lot of athleticism, a lot of passion. He’s a great young man,” Jankowski said. “And it’s just going to take some time for him to develop but we feel he has the right mentality, the right mindset, the right attributes to develop into a goalie potentially down the road for us.”
Tkach-Tkachenko adds some depth to Utah’s pool of goalie prospects which Michael Hrabal (2023 second-round pick) leads.
Ludvig Johnson — 174th overall (sixth round)
Ludvig Johnson is a 6-foot, 181-pound defenseman. The 18-year-old, who has a left shot, started last season with EV Zug U20 (in his native Switzerland) and had 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in 14 games. He then moved to the senior EV Zug team where he had 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 31 games.
Reko Alanko — 182nd overall (sixth round)
Reko Alanko is a 6-foot-5, 201-pound defenseman from Finland who the Mammoth acquired via a trade. Utah dealt the Nashville Predators their sixth-round pick in 2026 to get the 182 slotting.
“There’s always players that you like,” Jankowski said. “And with [general manager] Bill Armstrong being in this chair before, he understands that there’s a player that the scouts really want as the draft is going on. Maybe they’re not slipping to you but you always have a passion for a player.”
Alanko played for Jokerit U18 at the beginning of last season and had 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 33 games before playing for Jokerit U20 where he had two assists in 13 games. The 17-year-old has a right shot.
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