Sebastian Cossa has arrived in Salt Lake City with a clear message and a real chance to matter right away for the Utah Mammoth.
Days after being traded to the team, the goaltender flew in before heading out on vacation so he could see the facilities and meet the media for the first time. He did not overcomplicate what he wants out of the season.
“My goal is to come in and play well enough to win a lot of hockey games,” Cossa said.
That may sound ambitious for a goalie who has played just one NHL game, but the Mammoth are betting on him anyway. So is Cossa.
Five years after Detroit took him 15th overall, Cossa has spent nearly all of his pro career in the American Hockey League with the Grand Rapids Griffins. The only exceptions were his rookie season, when he played mostly in the ECHL, and 2024, when he made that lone NHL appearance.
In each of his three full AHL seasons, he finished with a save percentage above .910. He also won 69 games with Grand Rapids, made the AHL All-Star team twice, and picked up the Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award this past season for the league’s lowest goals-against average.
Even if the Griffins never made much noise in the playoffs during that stretch, Cossa showed he could handle a heavy workload and win at the level just below the NHL.
“Just getting those (AHL) games played, played a year in the ECHL as well, those years pro, I think you just continue to accumulate experience through it, and you’re trying to get the best out of that,” Cossa said.
Detroit never really gave him a runway at the NHL level. His only game came on an emergency recall when Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon were hurt, and after that the Red Wings kept adding veterans in net - Ville Husso, James Reimer, Petr Mrazek, Jack Campbell, Lyon, Talbot, and most recently John Gibson. With Trey Augustine and Michal Postava also moving up, Cossa’s path there was getting crowded fast.
The Mammoth saw a different fit. Backup goaltending was a clear need after the uncertainty around Connor Ingram, and last season’s answers never fully settled things.
Vítek Vaněček struggled after arriving. Matt Villalta and Jaxson Stauber were never really trusted as NHL options.
Even with less NHL experience than those names, Bill Armstrong believes Cossa is ready for a bigger stage.
“If you look at his work in the AHL over the last few years, he’s at the point where he’s accumulated enough games in the AHL, yet his age is absolutely perfect,” Armstrong said. “Now he’s going to have that opportunity to take that next step…I feel like he was a goaltender that we moved towards, and he has a chance to really step in here and be a huge piece of our club next year.”
The trade itself backed up that belief. A first-round pick is not something teams hand over lightly, and the Mammoth also signed Cossa to a two-year deal right away. For a goalie still trying to establish himself, that kind of vote of confidence matters.
“The way I was brought in, and they’ve shown full confidence in me, is awesome,” Cossa said. “I still have a lot of work to do, and I’m looking forward to that, but I’m definitely going to feel confident.”
There’s also familiarity waiting for him in Utah. Cossa and Dylan Guenther were teammates with the Edmonton Oil Kings and won the WHL championship in 2022.
André Tourigny coached Cossa at the World Juniors. And the Mammoth’s roster fits his age group, which Cossa said makes the transition feel natural.
“It’s a very skilled team, obviously a younger group as well, which is cool, and it’s my age group,” Cossa said. “It’s a cool thing to grow into. They had a really good year last year, and hopefully we continue to build on that this year.”
Off the ice, he should blend in just fine too. Fishing, hiking, and golfing are among his favorite things to do away from the rink, all of them popular in the Mammoth locker room. He and his wife also share a dog, and he’s looking forward to bringing the pet to Salt Lake City.
At 23, Cossa could end up as Karel Vejmelka’s backup now and maybe much more later. Armstrong even pointed to the possibility that he could be part of the club’s future in net alongside Michael Hrabal.
“This gives us an opportunity to put a young kid in that we feel has got a chance to really take a step and maybe be a goaltender of the future for us,” Armstrong said. “You never know.”
For Cossa, the assignment is simple even if the opportunity is big. He knows the faith is there, but he also knows he still has to earn everything that comes next.
“I’m going to come to the rink every day and work my hardest and give the organization and city everything I have,” Cossa said. “Be a good teammate, day in, day out; be supportive of my teammates there. I just want to win a lot of hockey games.”
That’s the job now. And for the Mammoth, the hope is that Cossa can do exactly that.
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