Utah Mammoth prospect check-in: Could Michael Hrabal be the goalie of the future?

Trade season has arrived in the NHL, with the three-week Olympic roster freeze beginning on Wednesday and the trade deadline on March 6.

Several outlets have speculated whether the Utah Mammoth could add some depth at the goaltender position to take some of the load off workhorse starter Karel Vejmelka.

The 29-year-old Czech tender has been great, for the most part, and is tied with former Vezina Trophy-winner Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the most wins in the league.

Vejmelka has played in seven more games than Vasilevskiy, however, and is tied for the most games played among NHL goalies this season with Nashville’s Juuse Saros. Utah’s backup goalie, Vitek Vanecek, has a record of 3-9-2 in 14 starts this season.

Could the help that Utah needs between the pipes come from within the organization, though?

Enter Michael Hrabal, who just so happens to also be from Czechia, like Vejmelka and Vanecek.

The 21-year-old second-round draft pick by the Arizona Coyotes in 2023 is in his third year at UMass and is having his best year in the crease so far.

Born in Prague, the 6-foot-7 netminder set a new UMass program record of 191 minutes without a goal allowed over a span of three games, including back-to-back shutouts over Vermont on Jan. 23 and 24.

He recorded 64 saves over the two games to reach four shutouts on the season, all coming during the month of January. UMass has eight games remaining in the regular season before beginning the Hockey East Men’s Tournament in mid-March.

The average age for goalies to make their NHL debut is 24, and Hrabal will almost certainly go through at least a full season of AHL play first, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility for him to sign an entry-level contract with Utah as soon as April or May.

On the offensive side, the Utah prospect pool is led by a trio of first-rounders and one fourth-rounder, Gabe Smith, who made one of the strongest impressions during 2025 training camp, helped by his massive 6-foot-4, 225-pound frame.

Tij Iginla, the first draft pick in Utah NHL history in 2024, has been playing well since returning from the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships over the holidays, including scoring a hat trick for the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets against the Vancouver Giants to go along with three assists on Jan. 31 to reach 47 points in 27 games this season.

Iginla was joined by fellow Utah first-round picks Caleb Desnoyers and Cole Beaudoin on the bronze medal-winning Team Canada at the junior championships, leading the trio with four goals and four assists. Beaudoin had three goals and four assists, while Desnoyers had six assists.

Utah’s top draft pick in 2025, Desnoyers returned to the ice in October from a wrist injury that kept him out of his first Mammoth training camp, re-joining Smith on the Moncton Wildcats in the QMJHL. The duo has helped Moncton to a seven-game win streak and the top spot in the Quebec junior league standings.

Desnoyers has been excellent for Moncton, leading the team in points per game and ranking fourth on the team in power-play goals — a skill the Mammoth could desperately use at the moment, as they sit in last place in the NHL in power play percentage — despite appearing in only 24 of Moncton’s 43 games.

Missing his first NHL training camp sets Desnoyers back a bit, however, with the 2026 offseason now becoming a major proving ground for the highest draft pick in franchise history since Logan Cooley.

Beaudoin captains the Barrie Colts of the OHL and leads the team in points and assists, helping them to a top-four spot in the Ontario junior league.

All four offensive prospects are still under 20 years old, with Beaudoin the first to cross the threshold in April, followed by Iginla and Smith in August.