The Utah Mammoth have locked up defenseman Artem Duda on a two-year contract extension that will start in the 2027-28 season. The agreement is a two-way deal in its first year before shifting to a one-way contract in the second.
Duda, 22, just earned his first NHL call-up on Tuesday after opening the 2026-27 season with a strong stretch for Tucson. In six AHL games, he put up three points with one goal and two assists, added a plus-six rating and logged two penalty minutes. That plus-six mark leads the Roadrunners and is tied for third in the AHL, while his three points are tied for the team lead among defensemen.
At 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, Duda has built up a solid body of work across three seasons with Tucson. He has 45 points - nine goals and 36 assists - in 103 career AHL games, along with a plus-28 rating and 38 penalty minutes. In the Calder Cup Playoffs, he has two points, one goal and one assist, in three games.
His 2024-25 season stood out as well. Duda paced Roadrunners rookies with 29 points in 70 games, including six goals and 23 assists.
That total ranked 10th among rookies in franchise history and third among rookie defensemen. His plus-15 rating was fourth among rookie defensemen in the AHL and set a franchise record for the best single-season plus-minus by a rookie defenseman.
Before turning pro with the Roadrunners, the Moscow native spent 2023-24 at Toronto Metropolitan University, where he posted seven points and 10 penalty minutes in 12 U Sports games. He also had three assists in 14 KHL games with CSKA Moscow in 2022-23.
Duda was originally drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the second round, 36th overall, in the 2022 NHL Draft.
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Karel Vejmelka and Sebastian Cossa have both struggled to provide the kind of stability a division leader usually leans on, and that has already pushed Utah into the kind of speculation that can reshape a race before Thanksgiving. Around the league, one possible fix is starting to surface in trade chatter, and if the Mammoth decide they need a real answer in net, the conversation could move quickly from problem to priority. [Read more 🡒]
Utahs Strong Start Comes With A Problem Fans Cant Ignore
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The problem is the details underneath the fightback, because the penalty kill again left too much room for damage and the goaltending was not sharp enough to cover it. A pair of Seattle power-play goals proved costly, and Karel Vejmelkas night ended with an .818 save percentage, the kind of performance that will keep the discussion going even after the standings still say Utah is in a strong spot. [Read more 🡒]
Coyotes Let Another Winnable Game Slip Away Against Seattle
Utah had enough chances to make a night of it before Seattles depth and special teams took over. The game featured goals from Jordan Eberle, Vincent Trocheck and Brandon Montour, along with a steady stream of penalties that kept both benches busy and gave the matchup a stop-start feel. Even with the stat sheet showing plenty of back-and-forth across shots, hits, blocked shots and faceoffs, the Coyotes were left chasing a result that felt within reach for long stretches.
The frustration is that this one sat there for Arizona to grab if it could have found one more push at the right time. Instead, Seattle kept answering, and a game that had been level at 3-3 eventually tilted away late, turning what looked like a winnable night into another missed opportunity. For a team trying to bank points in a tight race, those are the losses that linger. [Read more 🡒]