It’s been a busy day for the Utah Hockey Club, who have already re-signed forward Alex Kerfoot and defenseman Ian Cole to identical one-year, $3 million deals. But general manager Bill Armstrong still had one more move to announce before the night was over.
Goaltender Karel Vejmelka has been re-signed to a five-year contract with a cap hit of $4.75 million.
Utah Hockey Club has re-signed Karel Vejmelka to a five-year contract extension, per @PierreVLeBrun. pic.twitter.com/wS3Z6ibBTl
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) March 6, 2025
The deals for Kerfoot, Cole and Vejmelka come on the heels of the Utah Hockey Club having also recently re-signed defenseman Olli Maatta.
Vejmelka has split time in goal this season with fellow goaltender Connor Ingram and has a record of 17-15-4 with a 2.45 goals-against average, a .910 save percentage, and one shutout.
Utah Hockey Club goalie expressed interest in re-signing
Vejmelka has been embraced by the hockey fans of Salt Lake City, many of whom are experiencing professional hockey for the first time. Earlier in the week, he expressed an interest in sticking around with the Utah Hockey Club for the long term.
“I don’t have really any reasons to change anything,” Vejmelka said via KSL. “So, yeah, first thing on my mind to be part of the team, especially with these kinds of players, this kind of team — we are like a big family. So it’s fun to be part of it, and I would like to be part of it for a couple of more years.
“The fans and crowd — it’s incredible every night. So it’s fun to play in front of them. It’s a great experience for me every night, and just drives me to get better and just play the best hockey I can.
“I’m just trying to focus on my game and don’t really think about it,” he continued. “Obviously, it’s a really important thing to me but my agent is working on it, so I just try to focus on the rest of the season, and we’ll see what’s going to happen.”
He owns a career record of 61-90-15 with a 3.26 goals-against average, a .900 save percentage, and six total shutouts.
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