Mammoth Recall Cameron Hebig
Ahead of their home tilt tonight the Utah Mammoth updated that Cameron Hebig has been recalled from AHL Tucson. No corresponding transaction was made, as the club sent Kevin Rooney back down two days ago.
On his 29th birthday, no less, it’s a call up which has been years in the making for Hebig who is midway through his eighth consecutive season in the AHL, including stints in the ECHL from 2019-2021. Although he’s a depth forward for now, if Hebig is able to get into a game, it would be a great story, becoming his first NHL action after 419 games in the AHL, including six years of duty with the Roadrunners. Hebig has made his mark in Tucson, standing as the franchise’s leader for games played as well as goals.
The undrafted center has had steady production throughout the years, managing to earn a two-way deal last March, and has continued to contribute. Through 35 games this season, the 5’10” WHL alum has 33 points, his best output as a pro. Hebig ranks second in team scoring, just behind Ben McCartney, the two proving to be a formidable duo, although the Roadrunners rank 19th in the league.
Hebig is not expected to appear tonight against the Flyers, but the transaction is a well-deserved call up for a respected longtime AHLer. Signed through next season, he will hope to debut for the Mammoth at some point, enjoying a nice pay bump while at the highest level.
Afternoon Notes: Robinson, Gostisbehere, Rooney
A new injury hit the Carolina Hurricanes during Monday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres. Forward Eric Robinson left the game with roughly eight minutes left in the first period after being awkwardly knocked down by former teammate and Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin. Robinson appeared to be nursing his left shoulder as he left the ice and has been designated with an upper-body injury.
Robinson has continued to offer all-around utility in a bottom-six role this season. He has 10 goals, 15 points, and a plus-seven in 43 games this season. His performance has been a nice continuation on a strong debut with the Hurricanes last season. Robinson recorded 14 goals, 32 points, and a plus-14 while playing in all 82 games last season – all career-highs. He missed his first games as a Hurricane in late October, when an upper-body injury forced him out of six games.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Hurricanes were again without defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere on Monday per NHL.com’s Walt Ruff. It was Gostisbehere’s fourth straight absence due to a lower-body injury and illness. The 32-year-old defenseman has now missed 14 games on the season. Despite that, he still leads the Hurricanes blue-line in scoring with six goals and 32 points in 35 games. He has 10 more points than K’Andre Miller, who ranks second. Gostisbehere will have a clear path into an important role when he returns from another absence.
- The Utah Mammoth have assigned center Kevin Rooney to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. He has served as an extra forward all year long and played his only NHL game in late November. Rooney has built a more prominent role in Tucson, where he has seven goals and 10 points in 20 games. He will slot back into a familiar role with the Roadrunners and could be a top call-up option when Utah needs another hand.
Utah Mammoth Recall Kevin Rooney, Place Alexander Kerfoot On IR
The Utah Mammoth announced today that they have placed forward Alexander Kerfoot on injured reserve. He’s out with an upper-body injury on a week-to-week basis.
In a corresponding move, the club recalled forward Kevin Rooney from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners.
Kerfoot left Utah’s Friday game against the St. Louis Blues after suffering the injury. This isn’t Kerfoot’s first week-to-week absence of the season. He underwent core muscle surgery in October and it cost him the start of the season. He made his 2025-26 debut on Dec. 19.
Things weren’t quite right for Kerfoot even after his original activation off of IR. He only managed one goal for one point in nine games, and he only played 10:20 time on ice per game. Kerfoot averaged 15:15 time on ice per game in 2024-25.
A key penalty killer for the Mammoth, Kerfoot has typically been good for steady middle-six production over the course of his NHL career.
He scored 45 points in the final season of the Arizona Coyotes in 2023-24, but that production didn’t carry over to Utah as he took on a more defensive role.
Now slated to miss at least a few weeks, the Mammoth will turn to Rooney to fill Kerfoot’s vacated fourth-line spot in head coach Andre Tourigny’s lineup.
The 32-year-old is a veteran of over 300 NHL games and skated in 70 games for the Calgary Flames last season. He’s scored 10 points in 20 games at the AHL level this season and has a goal in his lone NHL contest of 2025-26.
Rooney is playing out a one-year, league-minimum two-way contract, one that carries a $325K AHL salary. If Rooney gets an extended look on the NHL roster as a result of Kerfoot’s absence, that run of NHL games would hold significant financial benefits for the veteran forward.
For Kerfoot, while these injuries are undoubtedly frustrating from an on-ice perspective, the financial implications of the injury are also unfortunate. Kerfoot is a pending UFA, and this injury will now set back his efforts to put together the kind of production fans grew accustomed to seeing from him in Arizona and Toronto.
Now 31 years old, Kerfoot has a chance to be one of the better center-capable players on this summer’s open market. This injury is certainly a setback, but he should still have a chance to return to the ice and string together some quality games to end his platform season on as high a note as possible.
Photos courtesy of Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Mammoth To Host Winter Classic In 2027
5:00 p.m.: According to Brogan Houston of Deseret News Sports, the Mammoth will host the Colorado Avalanche in the 2027 Winter Classic, as predicted. As previously noted, it will be the Mammoth’s first outdoor game, whereas it’ll be Colorado’s fourth. Still, it’ll be the Avalanche’s first time playing in the Winter Classic, and their first as an ‘away’ team for an outdoor matchup.
10:05 a.m.: The NHL and Mammoth ownership are expected to announce an outdoor game awarded to the Utah franchise for next season, Frank Seravalli of Victory+ reports. With the Stars already announced as the host of a Stadium Series game in February 2027, it will likely be a Winter Classic game being hosted by the NHL’s newest franchise, although the league has opted for two Stadium Series events per year in the past.
Utah is one of five teams to never host an outdoor game, but they’re the only franchise to never have appeared in one, even if you opt to include the legally distinct Coyotes franchise in that definition. The Panthers were the last team with that designation, but can no longer lay claim to it after hosting the Winter Classic in Miami last week.
The league has historically shown a propensity to award special events to new franchises as soon as logistically possible. The Kraken hosted their closest expansion brethren, the Golden Knights, in the Winter Classic in just their third year of existence in 2023-24.
Just like Seattle, year three in Utah will mark the first time the Mammoth head outdoors. After next season, only the Canadiens, Ducks, and Golden Knights will be left without a hometown appearance – unless you prefer to count the 2021 Lake Tahoe games as a host contest for Vegas (they were technically the visiting team against the Avalanche). The Lightning haven’t hosted one yet either but have the Stadium Series on their home turf next month.
Hurricanes Acquire Juuso Valimaki From Mammoth
Late tonight a small trade occurred as Juuso Välimäki has been traded from Utah to Carolina in exchange for future considerations, as was first shared by Utah. According to Stephen Whyno of Associated Press Hockey, Välimäki will report to AHL Chicago.
The former first round pick cleared waivers just prior to New Years, and was assigned to AHL Tucson, but now will receive a fresh start with the Hurricanes organization.
Selected 16th overall by Calgary in 2017, Välimäki figured to be a future top-four two-way defender with high end skating and IQ, along with size at 6’2″. Unfortunately, like so many other defenders in the 2017 class, the Finn has not panned out. An off-season torn ACL prior to his age 21 season in 2019-20 seriously stunted Välimäki’s growth, and after 82 total games as a Flame, he was placed on waivers before 2022-23, catching on with the Arizona Coyotes.
Showing resilience, Välimäki had a career year at age 23, putting up 34 points in 78 games, and earning an extension. It appeared that Calgary had relinquished their former top prospect too soon. The defenseman continued to contribute in the Coyotes final season, moving along to Utah in their inaugural campaign. After 43 games with underwhelming play, Välimäki was waived and found himself back in the AHL with the Roadrunners. There, he tore his ACL again, immediately ending his 2024-25 season.
Finally healthy again now, Välimäki hasn’t been able to return to form with Utah. In three AHL games this season, he has recorded three points, but the 27-year-old has simply been passed up on the Mammoth depth chart, and due for a change of scenery. Even if he does not crack the Hurricanes lineup at any point, Välimäki joins a considerably better AHL team in Chicago and will give them a big boost on the back end with his 271 games of NHL experience.
An unrestricted free agent at season’s end, Välimäki brings a cap hit of $2MM at the NHL level, but now in Chicago, it will drop to just $850k. The former first rounder may bring intrigue as a depth option for the Canes, with his past legit NHL production, but his inflated contract may make it more difficult to work himself into the big club. After much adversity to this point, hopefully the lefty will stay injury-free and make his mark with his third franchise in a bid to extend his North American career.
Mammoth Activate Karel Vejmelka From Injured Reserve
The Mammoth announced that goaltender Karel Vejmelka has been activated off injured reserve. Per Stefen Rosner of NHL.com, he’ll be starting this afternoon’s game against the Islanders. Utah assigned Matt Villalta to AHL Tucson in the corresponding move.
Vejmelka only missed the Mammoth’s last two games with an upper-body injury, but given Utah’s light schedule over the holidays, it’s been a week and a half since he’s played. His absence against the Avalanche on Dec. 23 was so last-minute that Utah couldn’t get a goalie call-up to Denver in time, forcing 21-year-old Tier II junior goalie Colten McIntyre onto the bench on an amateur tryout as Vítek Vaněček‘s backup. Vejmelka was retroactively moved to injured reserve prior to Utah’s last game against the Predators on Monday, allowing Villalta to back up Vaněček instead.
After playing well enough to keep Utah in the playoff race through much of last season, Vejmelka has continued to provide stable enough services as a No. 1 behind a stingy Mammoth defense that allows just 25.1 shots per game, second-best in the league. His .894 SV% and 2.70 GAA in 29 starts have been good for a 16-10-2 record and 6.2 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck.
The Mammoth had won four out of Vejmelka’s last five starts, so they’ll be anxious to get him back in between the pipes today after dropping their last two decisions with Vaněček in net. It’s been a struggle for the veteran backup since signing with Utah in free agency, logging a .870 SV%, 2.92 GAA and a 2-9-1 record in 11 starts and one relief appearance.
Villalta, 26, is in his third season as the third-string option for Utah/Arizona. The former OHL standout has made three appearances during that time, but none this year. In 15 games for Tucson, he’s got a 9-5-1 record with a .903 SV%, 2.94 GAA, and one shutout.
Mammoth’s Juuso Valimaki Clears Waivers, Assigned To AHL
Dec. 29th: According to a team announcement, Välimäki has successfully cleared waivers and has been reassigned to AHL Tucson.
Dec. 28th: The Mammoth announced Sunday they’ve placed defenseman Juuso Välimäki on waivers for the purposes of assignment to AHL Tucson.
Välimäki, 27, has been IR-bound for the entire season and then some. The former Flames first-rounder played 43 games for Utah last year before being waived and reassigned to Tucson in January. Weeks later, he sustained a season-ending ACL tear and was given an eight-to-nine-month recovery timeline. Given the surgery was in early March, he ended up missing that target by a couple of weeks.
As expected, he won’t stick around with the Mammoth after being medically cleared. He struggled to hold onto a bottom-pairing job in Salt Lake last year, averaging 16:33 per contest while being limited to a 2-3–5 scoring line and a -5 rating.
The 6’2″, 201-lb lefty will be an unrestricted free agent next summer after inking a two-year, $4.4MM extension with Utah in 2024. That deal came after Välimäki had put up back-to-back solid bodies of work in top-four minutes for the Coyotes, notching 51 points and a +2 rating in 146 appearances from 2022-24 while averaging 18:36 per game.
When Välimäki got pushed down the depth chart thanks to the additions of Mikhail Sergachev, John Marino, and Ian Cole before Utah’s inaugural season, his performance no longer justified his cap hit. While he’s been costing $2MM against the Mammoth’s picture while on IR, his cap impact will drop to $850K if he clears waivers and is reassigned to Tucson.
Mammoth Recall Matt Villalta, Place Karel Vejmelka On IR
The Utah Mammoth announced that they’ve placed netminder Karel Vejmelka on the injured reserve with an upper-body injury, retroactive to December 23. In a corresponding roster move, the Mammoth have recalled Matt Villalta from the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners.
Due to the holiday break last week, Vejmelka, 29, will only miss two games at a minimum. There’s no indication that the injury is severe, meaning he could be activated from the IR as early as tomorrow, and could return to the starting role as early as New Year’s Day against the New York Islanders.
The Mammoth have expectedly relied on Vejmelka for much of the regular season as the five-year netminder has started in approximately 75% of the team’s games up to this point. Still, Vejmelka has fallen short of the performance he achieved last season.
During the 2024-25 campaign, Vejmelka managed a 26-22-8 record in 58 games with a .904 SV% and 2.58 GAA. According to Moneypuck, at even strength, Vejmelka finished ninth among qualified goaltenders in Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx) with a 16.8 mark, earning a five-year, $23.75MM extension with Utah toward the end of the year.
Unfortunately, he has reverted to his previous form for the first half of the 2025-26 season. Vejmelka has earned a 16-10-2 record through 29 games this year with a .894 SV% and 2.70. Of netminders that have appeared in 10 or more games, Vejmelka is 48th in the league for GSAx, two spots behind backup netminder Vítek Vaněček. Hopefully, with the holiday break and the light schedule through the end of the week, Vejmelka can use this time to rest and recover in an effort to find last season’s form.
Meanwhile, Villalta joins the Mammoth for the first time this year. The 26-year-old netminder is in his third year with the organization, spending the majority of his time with AHL Tucson. In 15 games this season, Villalta owns a 9-5-1 record with a .903 SV% and 2.94 GAA. His most recent NHL appearance came on April 14th of last season, securing a win against the Nashville Predators after stopping 28 of 31 shots.
Latest On Karel Vejmelka
Shortly before tonight’s game in Colorado, the Utah Mammoth shared that starting goaltender Karel Vejmelka is unable to play, due to an upper-body injury. Vítek Vaněček has gotten the start, looking to improve upon his 2-7-1 record this season.
Minor Transactions: 12/20/2025
The midpoint of the season has sparked a flurry of action across the hockey world. Some players are finally being moved from a slow start to the season, while others are finding their first contracts of the year. The notable moves have been rounded up and captured below:
- Former New York Islanders center Leo Komarov has signed a one-year contract with HC Davos of Switzerland’s National League. The 38-year-old Estonian spent the last two seasons with HIFK of Finland’s Liiga. He scored 23 points in 55 games with the club, but wasn’t able to secure a contract for this season. That will change with a move to Switzerland, marking the eighth professional hockey league that Komarov has played in – on top of tenures in Finland’s Mestis and Liiga, Russia’s KHL, the AHL and NHL, and Sweden’s SHL. He will offer Davos veteran depth.
- Also signing an overseas contract is former Buffalo Sabres goaltender Dustin Tokarski, who has left his professional try-out contract with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins to sign a deal with Lowen Frankfurt of Germany’s DEL. Tokarski made two appearances with Grand Rapids on his try-out, posting one win and a .929 save percentage. He posted a .897 Sv% in 21 AHL games, and a .902 Sv% in six NHL games, in the Carolina Hurricanes’ organization last season. He’ll join Frankfurt for the second-half of the year and could have an open path to the starting role, with all three of Frankfurt’s goaltenders posting sub-.900 Sv% through the first half of the season.
- Hard-hitting Utah Mammoth prospect Tomas Lavoie has been traded in the QMJHL. He will head to the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in exchange for five draft picks, including a first-rounder, headed back to the Cape Breton Eagles. Lavoie was a core piece of the Eagles this season, offering stalwart defense and reliable puck-moving. The former third-round pick has 21 points in 24 games this season and could bring a reliable, shutdown role to a Saguenéens lineup currently leaning on high-octane defenders like Alex Huang.
- Seattle Kraken prospect Alexis Bernier will also head to the Saguenéens in exchange for Leo-Gabriel Gosselin and five draft picks. Bernier is a volume shooter who racked up 14 goals and 46 points in 59 games with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar last season, but hasn’t yet played this year. He could be due for a major breakout after rivaling point-per-game scoring last season, which should only bolster a Saguenéens lineup that has already propped up shoot-first wingers Maxim Massé and Émile Guité. The Saguenéens will go all-in on this season before likely losing Masse, Guite, and many others to pro deals.