Artem Duda’s path finally reached the NHL on Thursday night, when he made his debut for the Utah Mammoth against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The 2022 second-round pick came into the league as the 36th overall selection by the Arizona Coyotes and spent the next stretch navigating a winding route to get here. After the draft, Duda split time between the KHL and the VHL before deciding to move to North America the following season.
That move didn’t play out the way he expected. Because of the 14 games he had already logged in the KHL, his attempt to play NCAA hockey at the University of Maine was denied three times.
Even so, he was taking classes there and practicing with the team. A few seasons later, the NCAA began allowing players with pro experience, including Jack Beck, Connor McClennon, and Hudson Thornton.
Once the U.S. path was off the table, Duda finished the 2023-24 season at Toronto Metropolitan University. From there, he turned pro and played his first full year in the American Hockey League with the Tucson Roadrunners in 2024-25, putting up 29 points in 70 games.
His second season in Tucson was interrupted by injury. Duda hurt his knee in the middle of the year, had surgery, and his season ended early. Before that happened, he had 13 points in 27 games.
This season, he’s looked sharp from the start after getting his full strength back in that leg. A strong preseason kept him in Utah right to the end of camp, and he opened the year back with Tucson, where he had three points in six games while playing on the top pairing with Robbie Russo.
The Mammoth called him up on Oct. 20, and a couple of days later he signed a two-year extension with the club.
Duda is now the fourth player to make his NHL debut with the Mammoth, joining Maveric Lamoureux, Daniil But, and Dmitri Simashev. He’ll be paired with Simashev against the Penguins. He is also the 82nd overall player, the ninth Russian, and the fourth player drafted by general manager Bill Armstrong in 2022 to appear in an NHL game.
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The late drama only added to the sting of watching a former cornerstone keep delivering in big moments. Sebastian Cossa made the saves that kept Utah afloat, and Sergachev finished it off in overtime, but Cooleys night was the story, with Sergachev praising his performance afterward and leaving plenty of reason for Arizona fans to keep paying attention. [Read more 🡒]