Mixing It Up with Malek: Meet Comets’ Goaltender, Jakub Malek
Feb 10, 2026Utica, NY – Last week, we grabbed some time with Comets’ rookie netminder Jakub Malek, who gave us a glimpse into his background and journey to the US.
Malek is from Kromeriz, a small city in the southeast region of Czechia with a population of about 28,000. Despite being a smaller city, Malek says it is one of the country’s prettiest.
Hockey isn’t exactly a rich pastime in the Malek family. His uncle and grandfather dabbled, and his younger sister played for a brief time when she was younger, but no one had ever played at length like Jakub has.
When he was four years old, he ventured onto the ice for the first time, starting as a forward. He said his primary interest was skating out, not giving much thought of being a goalie. When he was six, his team needed a goaltender, and it was his father who put him in net. Jakub recalls not having much of a choice and being strongly influenced by his dad who had been a goalie in floor hockey. He still had aspirations of being a forward once taking the crease, but he adjusted and would soon learn that he had a knack for goaltending.
Despite living in Europe, Malek followed the NHL as a young kid and often played the NHL video games on his computer. Among his idols were Czech natives Jaromir Jagr and Dominic Hasek, and he also took a liking to Penguins’ superstar Sidney Crosby.
Malek mentioned that hockey was quite popular in Czechia when he was growing up and that with several teams in the area, the furthest he had to travel for games was an hour. As a teenager, he played for an elite team known as Hockey Club Vsetin. He was a part of the U18, U19 and U20 teams, and eventually made his way to the professional team in Czechia’s second-level league, opting to focus on hockey after finishing high school.
In 2021, Malek made his first trip to the US when he was drafted by the Devils in the fourth round of that year’s NHL Draft. Reflecting on the experience, he commented, “It was great. I don’t think anyone from my family expected something like that to ever happen, so it was a special moment for me and my family.”
He returned to Europe after the draft to play for Ilves in Finland’s top professional league, Liiga. He said that he had received an offer from the team while he was still playing in Czechia and that it was a superior opportunity that he couldn’t pass up on. Malek would spend the next three seasons with Ilves and last season, he boasted the league’s top goals-against average of a 2.09.
Looking back over the first half of his first season of professional hockey in North America, Malek said, “The start was a little more of a struggle than I expected, but now I think I’m getting to where I want to be. Brian (Eklund) has helped me find a way to be myself on the ice which is important and something I try to do every game.”
Adjusting to the style of pro hockey in North America is one thing, but adapting to daily life in a new country has been an even bigger challenge. Everything from the options for food to the way people interact, he said, is starkly different from life back home, but that learning to adjust is part of the journey. While he misses his family dearly, Jakub has been fortunate to have fellow Czechia native, Matyas Melovsky, alongside him during his rookie season. “It’s good to have someone here from the same country who I can speak the same language with. We met for the first time at development camp. We get along very well and have become good friends.”
On January 9th, Malek recorded his first professional shutout in North America in a 3-0 win against the Syracuse Crunch, perhaps the biggest highlight of his time here so far. “It was perfect. My goal for every season is to have at least one shutout, so I’m happy it came along and especially that it was against our rival, Syracuse.” At the sound of the final horn, Malek proceeded to tip his net down onto the ice as a form of celebration. When asked about the maneuver, he said, “When I was 16 back in Czechia, one of my friends who was a goalie came to my team, and he did it for the first time when he got a shutout. From that point, we said we would do it whenever we got our first shutout of the season.”
While he has come to show his personality on the ice, Malek also has a variety of interests away from the rink, with playing guitar among his favorites. He started playing the ukulele which spanned about six months, but then swiftly transitioned to the guitar which he’s been playing for two years now. He stated that he does not have any aspirations of starting a band and that playing instruments is more of a leisurely activity.
It turns out that Jakub is also an avid dart player which he has turned Matyas Melovsky onto. He’s heard rumors of fellow teammate Nathan Legare also being a good dart player but feels confident in his abilities if he ever found himself in a situation of friendly competition.
Malek looks forward to spending some time back in Czechia in the offseason and partaking in some of his other favorite hobbies such as ball hockey, soccer, and tennis. Malek and the Comets return from the All Star break this Saturday when they host the Rochester Americans at 6 pm. For tickets, please visit uticacomets.com/tickets or call 315-790-9070.