The 2025-26 season has been rough on the New Jersey Devils, and that doesn't just include those coaching and playing at the NHL level. The prospects, especially the few playing in the AHL with the Utica Comets, haven't found things any better.
In the NCAA, top goalie prospect Mikhail Yegorov only recently started rebounding from a poor start to the season, while 2025 draft picks Ben Kevan and Conrad Fondrk have made negligible impacts playing for their respective schools.
On the bright side, though, one more goalie will be joining Yegorov in the rebound department - no goalie pun intended - after a brutal start of his own.
Devils goalie prospect Jakub Malek, who started his first pro season in North America in the AHL with the Comets, had been demoted to the ECHL Adirondack Thunder after starting the season 0-4-1 and having just one game with a save percentage above .885.
However, after two solid starts in the ECHL in late November, Malek returned to the AHL by December and hasn't looked back.
The 23-year-old has allowed just seven goals on 106 shots in his last 5 games, putting together a .934 save percentage. Malek posted 15- and 20-save shutouts against the Syracuse Crunch and Rochester Americans, respectively, and he's now surged his way to a much more respectable 6-7-1 record and .897 save percentage on the year.
For the sake of comparison, and to illustrate how bad Utica is as a team, Nico Daws is just 6-12-9 in his 25 AHL games this season and owns a .884 save percentage.
With a run of good performances, Malek has now comfortably leapt over his more experienced teammate statistically.
How long that remains will be unclear, as Utica's leading scorer, 21-year-old winger Lenni Hameenaho, is staking claim to a permanent NHL roster spot in New Jersey with the Devils, and his case is aided by the recent departure of Ondrej Palat.
But, the Devils will take wins where they can get them, and Malek's drastic turnaround on what was a bad season is certainly noteworthy.