The Utah Hockey Club was lucky to play on back-to-back nights for the second time this preseason. The fatigue showed as the training camp roster was cut way down from the initial 64 players invited to camp, and many of these guys were playing back-to-back for the first time this year.
Utah suited up against the Ducks in Anaheim and going into this game; all my focus was going to be on Josh Doan and Kailer Yamamoto's battle for the last roster spot. However, something else caught my eye, and it is pretty concerning.
After Connor Ingram made 19 saves on 20 shots on Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks, he would get the night off against the Ducks, and coach Andre Tourigny gave the crease to Karel Vejmelka, who struggled last night.
Karel Vejmelka struggles in Utah Hockey Club's loss to the Ducks
Before anyone gives me the "it's only one game in preseason" excuse, Karel Vejmelka has been bad for quite some time now, and he has undoubtedly contributed to this team's struggles over the last three years.
In his three years in the NHL, he has a .898 save percentage, -30.8 goals saved above expected, and 31 of his 107 career starts have been graded as 'really bad starts' (via Hockey Reference). He has had a severe issue with consistency, which needs to improve this season. Andre Tourigny needs a reliable backup to turn to, which would be a tremendous asset to a team that will likely be in the playoff bubble. Still, Vejmelka hasn't shown any improvement through his first couple of preseason games.
Last night against the Ducks, Vejmelka gave up five goals on 32 shots. He finished the game with a .844 save percentage, allowing 2.64 more goals than expected. He could only save 50% of the high-danger chances he faced and did not help give his team a chance to win in a game where they were still controlling the play.
While I am new to covering the Utah Hockey Club, one of the first articles I wrote was about my most significant concern for this team: the goaltender's consistency. General Manager Bill Armstrong did a great job over the offseason retooling and bolstering the blueline with reliable shutdown defenders. These additions should help take a lot of pressure off the goalies and allow them to be more consistent, but the saves still have to be made.
This performance gave me even more reason to be concerned. Although it felt like Utah needed to be playing up to the standards they had in other preseason games, they only allowed eight high-danger chances throughout this game and somehow managed to give up five goals. The only reason I am not in full panic mode about the backup goalie position is that Utah has a ton of cap space to play with; if needed, they could afford any goalie on the market if they decide they need to upgrade.
But Utah will need all the points they can get; they need more time to let Vejmelka find consistency if he struggles through the beginning of the regular season. If I were General Manager Bill Armstrong, I would pick up the phone and call the Boston Bruins about Jeremy Swayman.