Connor Ingram last played for the Utah Hockey Club on Nov. 18. He played just 25 minutes in Utah’s 6-2 loss to the Washington Capitals before leaving the game with an injury. Following the injury, Ingram was placed on Utah’s injured reserve and given a day-to-day label. However, when asked Tuesday morning, head coach Andre Tourigny said that Ingram will start skating this week but is still “not close to come back to play.”
Per Coach Tourigny,
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) December 10, 2024
Ingram will begin skating this week but it is TBD if he’ll travel to skate for the upcoming road trip.
Tourigny also said he is, “not close to come back to play.”
They’ll talk to him and the doctor today.#UtahHC
Before the NHL season kicked off, one of Utah’s most prominent concerns on paper was their goaltending tandem of Ingram and Karel Vejmelka. Both had been wildly inconsistent, but there was optimism that Ingram could thrive in a starter role after finishing tied for the league lead in shutouts last season. If I told you that Ingram would miss significant time before the season started, there would be real cause for concern for this team, but that is not the case with how Vejmelka and Jaxson Stauber have carried the load.
With how well these two goalies have played for Utah, Ingram may become expendable before he returns from injury.
Ingram’s Early Season Struggles Hidden by Utah’s Success
Throughout the season’s first month, Ingram was among the worst goalies in the NHL. He currently ranks 63rd of 66 goalies who have played five games with minus-9.70 goals saved above expected, 60th with a .872 save percentage (SV%) and 58th in goals-against average (GAA) with a 3.61.
During this less-than-ideal period, Ingram avoided criticism because he posted a 6-4-3 record, unlike Vejmelka, who started the season 1-5-0 despite having much better stats. But until Ingram was injured, he was getting 3.23 goals per game of support from Utah’s offense, whereas Utah got shut out three times in Vejmelka’s first three starts and only gave him seven goals of support in those six games.
Related: Utah HC Being in the Bottom 3rd of NHL Power Rankings Is Fair
While Ingram finished tied for the league lead in shutouts last season, his consistency was still an issue, as 22% of his 50 starts for the Arizona Coyotes were graded as ‘really bad starts’ (via HockeyReference). These inconsistencies are why I think Ingram could be expendable in the trade market once he returns now that Vejmelka is playing like one of the best goalies in the NHL and having Stauber, who appears to be a more than capable backup goalie.
Vejmelka Playing Like a Vezina Trophy Candidate
I don’t want to get too excited too early because Vejmelka has had consistency issues of his own in past seasons, and that is putting it lightly. However, he has turned a corner since putting on a Utah uniform. Among goalies who have made five starts this season, he ranks seventh with 6.09 goals saved above expected, seventh in SV% with .917 and fifth in GAA at 2.35. He also ranks fifth in high-danger shot save percentage and seventh with 4.87 goals saved above expected on high-danger shots.
Given Vejmelka’s performance, you would expect him to have a much better record than 4-7-1. However, in those 12 starts, he received the fourth-lowest goal support per 60 minutes among goalies who have had at least four starts in the NHL this season (via PlusMinusLine.com). The lack of offensive support Vejmelka has received has taken away from his excellence this season. While he has been spectacular, when discussing his play and whether it makes Ingram expendable, we must consider his subpar history with the Coyotes.
Vejmelka is in his fourth season in the NHL. In his first three seasons with the Coyotes, he had a 3.50 GAA, a .898 SV% and allowed 30.8 goals to be scored against him above expected. In these three seasons, he played 140 games, so it might be too early to say he has turned a corner after 15 good starts in his first season in a Utah uniform. But, at the same time, I don’t think it is fair to judge his ability off these three seasons with the Coyotes.
In the three seasons before moving to Utah, the Coyotes allowed the fourth-most expected goals, fourth-most high-danger chances, and fifth-most scoring chances. Vejmelka made the ninth-most saves, faced the 10th-most expected goals, and faced the seventh-most high-danger shots (via Natural Stat Trick). With this type of defense in front of him, it would have been unreasonable to expect much more from Vejmelka.
But now, with Utah being much improved defensively in 2024-25, Vejmelka has settled in and has gained the complete trust of the Utah locker room, which was demonstrated when Tourigny said, “I think when Veggie started playing…he built up a certain level of confidence on our team. When your goaltending plays at that level…you don’t pay the same price for your mistakes” (via Cole Bagley, KSL Sports). While his poor history is a concern, the 15 games he has played this season may be a small sample size. He has shown he has the potential to be an elite goalie in this league when he has a solid blue line in front of him. If he can keep this up, Utah may be able to shop Ingram at the deadline if he continues to struggle when he returns.
Stauber Joins Elite List of Goalies After First 8 NHL Starts
Stauber is an undrafted 25-year-old who played his first NHL season with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2022-23. He would only make six starts for the Blackhawks before being sent back down to the American Hockey League (AHL), but in those six games, he posted a 5-1-0 record with a 2.81 GAA and .911 SV%. Remember that this was with a Blackhawks team that finished the season 26-49-7, which was tied for the second-worst record in the NHL.
After this stint with the Blackhawks, Stauber would not get another chance at the NHL level until this season with Utah. However, he spent last season with the Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, where he went 18-8-3 with a 2.85 GAA and a .902 SV%.
This led Utah to sign Stauber to a one-year deal, ultimately knowing he would start the season in the AHL and would act as Utah’s third goalie. The injury to Ingram forced the call-up earlier than expected, but it was well deserved. Stauber continued his success in the AHL to start the season with the Tucson Roadrunners, going 5-2-0 with a 2.29 GAA and a .930 SV% in his first seven starts with his new team.
Since being called up to Utah, Stauber has made two starts. In his first, he made 29 saves to shut out the Vegas Golden Knights, and in his most recent start, he only allowed two goals on 24 shots to the Philadelphia Flyers, a game Utah went on to win 4-2. These two wins put Stauber in elite company, putting him tied for second on the list of most wins by a goalie in their first eight starts. Martin Jones in the 2013-14 season and Bob Froese in 1982-83 are the only two goalies to win all eight of their first eight starts. Stauber sits tied for second with Igor Shesterkin, Spencer Knight, Fredrik Andersen, and four other netminders who all played multiple seasons in the NHL and had seven wins in their first eight NHL starts.
Jaxson Stauber improved to 7-1-0 in his career and helped @utahhockeyclub earn their fourth straight road victory – the League's second-longest active run behind only the Capitals (9 GP).#NHLStats: https://t.co/8L5ogRZ9nG pic.twitter.com/XEmvVUJuti
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 9, 2024
Eight games is way too small to assess Stauber’s game fully and whether he can succeed at the NHL level long-term. But many of the goalies on this list who win at least seven of their first eight games in an NHL crease have been highly successful in the NHL, and while the sample size is small, the quality of this list tells that Stauber is more likely to succeed than not.
Does Vejmelka & Stauber’s Success Make Ingram Expendable?
The reality is that no matter how well these guys play until Ingram returns, it won’t stop Ingram from getting another shot in Utah’s net. You don’t want a guy to feel like he lost his job because he went out with an injury. However, if Vejmelka continues to play like a top-10 goalie in the NHL, Stauber continues to look like a serviceable backup, and Ingram struggles when he returns, Utah could start to view him as expendable in the trade market, as this team has numerous holes that still need to be filled.
Utah desperately needs depth scoring. They are also dealing with multiple long-term injuries to their blue line and having to rely on guys not used to a heavy workload in the NHL, and proven NHL goaltenders come with a premium price tag. With Ingram only being 27 years old and having a low cap hit of $1.95 million, Utah could include him in a package of picks and prospects to attack just about any available player, barring players from the few teams with a solidified goaltending tandem.
I don’t think Utah’s management is ready to commit to any of Vejmelka, Ingram, or Stauber as Utah’s goalie for the future. That means they could capitalize by moving any of these three goalies. But I see Ingram as the most likely option to go if Utah decides to move a goalie, as Ingram has back-to-back seasons with positive goals saved above expected and a SV% over .900. These types of goalies have a lot of value on the trade market at the deadline. Utah would be wise to move one of their three to fill other holes in their lineup.
