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After taking center Caleb Desnoyers fourth overall in the 2025 NHL Draft on Friday night, the Utah Mammoth welcomed six new players on Saturday.

The second through seventh rounds were hosted at L.A. Live’s Peacock Theater. The Mammoth had the following picks: 46 (second round), 78 (third round), 110 (fourth round), 142 (fifth round), 174 (sixth round) and 182 (sixth round) — which they traded their 2026 sixth-round pick to the Nashville Predators to get. Utah did not have a pick in the seventh round.

Here is everything you need to know about who the Mammoth selected on the final day of the draft:

Max Pšenička — 46th overall (second round)

Max Pšenička is a 6-foot-5, 185-pound defenseman from Czechia. The 18-year-old finished last season in the Western Hockey League with the Portland Winterhawks and had seven points (one goal, six assists) in 24 games. Pšenička started the year with HC Plzeň U20 for 20 games (had three goals, eight assists) and then moved up to play with the senior HC Plzeň team (in the top league in Czechia). Pšenička also represented his home country at the U18 international tournament, logging six points (two goals, four assists) in 10 games.

“It means a lot to me. It was an amazing experience for me to get drafted — especially to Utah which I really like,” Pšenička said. “It’s been amazing and I’m so happy with Utah.”

The Mammoth traded Michael Kesselring to the Buffalo Sabres earlier this week as part of the J.J. Peterka deal and Pšenička — while he will take some time to develop — fills the profile that Utah lost. Both Kesselring and Pšenička are right-shot defensemen and 6-foot-5. Pšenička described himself as a two-way blueliner who wants to work on his offensive game, too, like Kesselring.

“For me, I think I’m a two-way D. I think I can do a lot of stuff on both sides of the ice. I’m really trying to get into the rush up the zone — offensive style. But also I think I’m a really good D in the defensive zone and trying to be really good on both sides,” Psenicka said. “Good skater, I think. Good hockey IQ.”

Utah’s director of amateur scouting Darryl Plandowski and associate director of amateur scouting Ryan Jankowski said they were excited when Pšenička was still available.

“He tickled a couple of different areas because he started the year in the Czech Republic and then came back and finished his year in Portland,” Jankowski said. “When our scout in the Czech Republic and our scouts in the West both liked him — now it actually creates a little bit more excitement around the staff when you pick that player.”

Štěpán Hoch — 78th overall (third round)

Štěpán Hoch is a 6-foot-4, 192-pound left wing from Czechia. He played for HC Motor České Budějovice U20 for 30 games last season — and had 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists) — before moving up to the senior team for 25 games (had one goal, two assists). The 18-year-old skated for Czechia at both the U19 and U20 international tournaments and posted a combined seven goals in 20 cumulative games.

“We want to have size in our lineup but we always try to take the best player available,” Plandowski said. “Always make sure he has talent, always make sure he can skate, always make sure he has the ability to get bigger and stronger.”

Yegor Borikov — 110th overall (fourth round)

Yegor Borikov is a 6-foot, 181-pound right wing from Belarus. The 19-year-old played in the Kontinental Hockey League last season with Dinamo Minsk and had 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists) in 67 games. Borikov tied Evgeny Kuznetsov for the most goals scored in a single KHL playoff run among U20 players with seven this year. He is also teammates with forward Vadim Moroz, who was a third-round pick of the Arizona Coyotes (now Utah Mammoth) in the 2023 NHL Draft.

The Mammoth went heavy on international players this year (including Borikov) and their staff felt confident about the picks because of the work — and miles flown — they had put in.

“We have equal representation really everywhere around the world,” Jankowski said. “We have two scouts in Ontario, we have four scouts in Europe, three scouts in the United States, two scouts in western Canada. Our European scouts are just as critical to the process as our North American scouts.”

Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko — 142nd overall (fifth round)

Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko is a 6-foot-3, 185-pound goaltender who is from Russia. The 18-year-old was in the MHL — the junior league of the KHL — with Tolpar Ufa last season. Tkach-Tkachenko had a 2.99 goals against average and a .908 save percentage in 40 games.

“Ivan we just saw in Florida last week at a camp put on by his agency. He is very raw but he has a lot of athleticism, a lot of passion. He’s a great young man,” Jankowski said. “And it’s just going to take some time for him to develop but we feel he has the right mentality, the right mindset, the right attributes to develop into a goalie potentially down the road for us.”

Tkach-Tkachenko adds some depth to Utah’s pool of goalie prospects which Michael Hrabal (2023 second-round pick) leads.

Ludvig Johnson — 174th overall (sixth round)

Ludvig Johnson is a 6-foot, 181-pound defenseman. The 18-year-old, who has a left shot, started last season with EV Zug U20 (in his native Switzerland) and had 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in 14 games. He then moved to the senior EV Zug team where he had 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 31 games.

Reko Alanko — 182nd overall (sixth round)

Reko Alanko is a 6-foot-5, 201-pound defenseman from Finland who the Mammoth acquired via a trade. Utah dealt the Nashville Predators their sixth-round pick in 2026 to get the 182 slotting.

“There’s always players that you like,” Jankowski said. “And with [general manager] Bill Armstrong being in this chair before, he understands that there’s a player that the scouts really want as the draft is going on. Maybe they’re not slipping to you but you always have a passion for a player.”

Alanko played for Jokerit U18 at the beginning of last season and had 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 33 games before playing for Jokerit U20 where he had two assists in 13 games. The 17-year-old has a right shot.

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A Connecticut man faces federal charges after authorities said they were allegedly able to tie him to videos discovered during an investigation in Utah that showed a man sexually abusing a child.

Carlos Inesti, 29, of West Haven was arrested Thursday on a federal criminal complaint charging him with sexual exploitation of children and distribution of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.

According to authorities, FBI agents arrested a charter school director in Utah in April after allegedly finding him with child sexual abuse materials. An analysis of a cell phone that was seized allegedly revealed videos of a man who was engaged in sexual contact with a toddler-aged girl, officials said.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the man in the videos was identified as Inesti. Authorities further allege that Inesti had recorded the videos and shared them through the Telegram application.

Inesti appeared Thursday in federal court in New Haven where he was released on a $100,000 bond into home detention with location monitoring, officials said. He is prohibited from accessing the Internet and having any contact with minors while the charges are pending.

The charges Inesti faces carry a combined maximum of 50 years in prison. One offense also includes a minimum of 15 years behind bars, and the other carries a five-year minimum mandatory sentence.

Nearly two dozen NFL players with Utah ties are currently looking for a team in the league.

While there are 82 players with Utah ties on NFL rosters right now with training camp a few weeks away, another 22 players with local ties are currently free agents — players who spent at least part of the 2024 regular season or the 2025 offseason on an NFL roster.

That included 10 who previously suited up for the University of Utah, eight for BYU, three for Utah State and another who prepped at a Utah high school but played collegiately out of state.

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This group of free agents includes:

• Four former Utah safeties who entered the league as draft picks, including Julian Blackmon, Marquise Blair, Eric Rowe and Marcus Williams. Blackmon has 62 career starts to his name, Blair has played for four teams in his career, and Rowe is a two-time Super Bowl champion, while Williams made the Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie team in 2017.
• Two quarterbacks who’ve started at least two games over the past two seasons in Utah’s Tyler Huntley and BYU’s Jaren Hall. Huntley most recently backup to Tua Tagovailoa for Miami in 2024 and even started five games for the Dolphins when Tagovailoa was hurt, while Hall was a third-stringer in Seattle.
• Two undrafted rookies — Utah’s Micah Bernard and BYU’s Blake Mangelson — who didn’t make it to training camp with their respective teams.
• The NFL’s rushing touchdowns leader in 2022, Jamaal Williams, who played the past two seasons for New Orleans.
• Two players who briefly spent time on NFL practice squads in 2024, then the spring 2025 season on a United Football League roster. One was former Utah defensive end Bradlee Anae, who played for the Birmingham Stallions in the UFL, and BYU running back Aidan Robbins, who spent the spring with the San Antonio Brahmas.

Here’s a look at all 22 players with Utah ties who are currently free agents and spent all or part of the 2024 season, or this offseason, on an NFL roster.

Note: Players can count toward more than one school, whether college or high school, as long as they played one season at a given school. Players with multiple Utah ties are categorized by the in-state team they most recently played for.

BYU Cougars

Name | Position | Previous NFL team | Utah tie(s)

• Michael Davis | CB | Washington Commanders | BYU
• Jaren Hall | QB | Seattle Seahawks | BYU and Maple Mountain High
• Kaleb Hayes | CB | Green Bay Packers | BYU
• Blake Mangelson | DT | Pittsburgh Steelers | BYU and Juab High
• Dax Milne | WR | Carolina Panthers | BYU and Bingham High
• Aidan Robbins | RB | Cleveland Browns | BYU
• Sione Takitaki | LB | New England Patriots | BYU
• Jamaal Williams | RB | New Orleans Saints | BYU

Utah Utes

Name | Position | Previous NFL team | Utah tie(s)

• Bradlee Anae | DE | New York Jets | Utah
• Micah Bernard | RB | Tennessee Titans | Utah
• Julian Blackmon | FS | Indianapolis Colts | Utah and Layton High
• Marquise Blair | S | New York Jets | Utah
• Cole Fotheringham | TE | Denver Broncos | Utah
• Tyler Huntley | QB | Miami Dolphins | Utah
• Eric Rowe | S | Pittsburgh Steelers | Utah
• Marcus Williams | FS | Baltimore Ravens | Utah
• Mitch Wishnowsky | P | San Francisco 49ers | Utah
• Thomas Yassmin | TE | Denver Broncos | Utah

Utah State Aggies

Name | Position | Previous NFL team | Utah tie(s)

• Patrick Scales | LS | Chicago Bears | Utah State and Weber High
• Deven Thompkins | WR | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Utah State
• Nick Vigil | LB | Dallas Cowboys | Utah State and Fremont High

Other Utah ties

Name | Position | Previous NFL team | Utah tie(s)

• Siaki Ika | DT | Kansas City Chiefs | East High

How did the Utah Jazz do?

The first round of the 2025 NBA draft was Wednesday night and the Jazz made two selections:

• Ace Bailey with the No. 5 pick.

• Walker Clayton with the No. 18 pick.

The Jazz are three years (going on four) into a teardown-turned-rebuild and in desperate need of young players with star potential.

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Did they find them in Bailey and/or Clayton?

Here are what national pundits thoughts about the Jazz’s first round picks.

ESPN

Jonathan Givony might be the preeminent name in NBA draft coverage right now and Givony had nothing but good things to say about the Jazz’s selection of Bailey at No. 5.

That pick — listed as one of the biggest surprises of the first round by Givony — caught many off guard after Bailey’s representation had prevented him from working out for teams in an attempt to get Bailey to a specific destination, reported to be either Washington or Brooklyn.

The Jazz nonetheless selected Bailey, who was considered a top 3 overall prospect in the draft.

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“Bailey declined multiple invite requests to visit and workout privately with Utah throughout the predraft process, as well as the Philadelphia 76ers at No. 3 and the Charlotte Hornets at No. 4, but the Jazz felt they knew enough about his game and profile to feel comfortable drafting him regardless,” Givony wrote. “New president of basketball operations Austin Ainge interviewed Bailey at the NBA draft combine as a member of the Boston Celtics’ front office, and the rest of the Jazz brass also interviewed him separately. Ainge scouted him multiple times throughout the season at Rutgers.”

When it comes to Bailey as a prospect, Givony noted that he has “All-Star potential,” something the Jazz seriously needed on their roster.

“The Jazz get an explosive wing with All-Star potential with exceptional shot-making prowess and scoring instincts who brings insatiable aggressiveness and a strong defensive motor,” Givony wrote.

The Ringer

Bailey was the primary focus when people reviewed the Jazz’s first round and for good reason. The former Rutgers star is viewed as having legitimate star potential on the wing and many believed Utah was the perfect landing spot.

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That includes Dann Chau, who wrote: “Honestly, as far as teams with infrastructure, commitment, and wide-open spaces go, Utah’s probably an ideal landing spot, whether Bailey realizes it or not. A win for both parties. (I love a red herring.)”

Chau, like Givony, believes Bailey has the potential to the be star Utah has been looking for for awhile now, citing Utah’s lack of excellence on the wing since Gordon Hayward left for Boston.

“The Jazz have been searching for a true star wing since Gordon Hayward’s departure damn near a decade ago,” Chau wrote. “Bailey might be the most talented player they’ve drafted in more than a decade, a long-levered contested-shot magician who has the frame and the requisite athleticism to become the kind of modern two-way star the team has hoped for years to find.”

The Athletic

John Hollinger and Sam Vecenie looked into both of Utah’s draft picks and on the whole both picks were praised, although Bailey’s boom or bust potential was a concern.

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Of Bailey, Vecenie noted: “The ceiling for Bailey is the second-best player in this class if he improves his areas of need. Particularly, he needs to improve his flexibility and ability to play with bend while also getting stronger. That would allow him to access more power and use his gifts across the court in a more functional manner. Once he does that, Bailey would be able to start working on improving his gathers and ball pickups around the rim on his drives to improve his finishing, which would also hopefully get defenders more off-balance and give him more options.

“That would improve his shooting percentages, which again, even on pull-ups this year, were markedly low. Then, on defense, it would allow him to play the leverage game better. Hopefully, better engagement on that end would follow, too, but he showed enough upside on that end to become a player. If all of this happens, there’s serious All-Star upside. Anyone who says that doesn’t exist is flat-out wrong. There is a chance Bailey could morph into a playmaker and star-level difference-maker on the wing.”

Hollinger was noticeably less excited about the pick though.

“I wasn’t that excited about Bailey, but I’m more pessimistic than most,” he wrote. “The other interesting part will be how he fits in a Jazz frontcourt that already has Lauri Markkanen, John Collins and Walker Kessler.”

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As for Clayton, Vecenie praised the Florida guard as a player he’s “long-loved,” with the potential to be a “high-end scorer off the bench in the NBA.”

“He’s an underrated athlete in terms of explosiveness and balance. He competes on defense and is strong, even if his size will create limitations. … There is upside beyond that if he proves capable of improving his ball-screen reads and becoming an even better passer. It’s hard to find scoring guards with this kind of pull-up gravity.”

Hollinger believes that Clayton will work best in the NBA as a secondary ball handler, seeing him as more of a combo guard than a true point guard.

“Utah has a couple of other young guards on the roster, but they’ve already been given chances and haven’t shown much,” he worte. “Clayton profiles as a combo guard whose long-distance game works best with other ballhandlers around him, so we’ll see what else the Jazz can add to the backcourt.”

NBC Sports

Kurt Helin handed out an actual grade for the Jazz’s first round — a B.

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He was high on Bailey because of his star potential.

“The Jazz need talent,“ Helin wrote. ”Bailey has the second-highest ceiling of any player in this draft, but this feels like a boom or bust pick — and good on the Jazz for taking that swing. At this point in their team building, the Jazz should take big swings. Bailey is a prototypical modern NBA wing: he has great size, is a freak athlete, has a high motor, can create his own shot, can shoot the 3 (36.7% last season), and is a tough shot-maker. The problem is that he made tough shots because of his questionable shot selection, something Utah needs to work on. The Jazz have a very good player development staff, if they can mold Bailey, this swing could be a home run.”

Clayton was less of a win for the Jazz, in Helin estimation.

“Clayton was a clutch player for the national champion Florida. He is an impressive catch-and-shoot guy, there’s a lot to like (but enough to trade up a few spots for him?). He’s also got serious defensive questions. But he should move into the Jazz’s guard rotation and could be a quality backup for them (and maybe more eventually).”

CBS Sports

Arguably no draft expert was higher on the Jazz’s first round selection than Adam Finkelstein, who gave the Jazz an A grade for Bailey and an A- grade for Clayton.

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Bailey, he wrote, may have the highest upside of any player in the draft.

“His upside is significant,“ Finkelstein wrote. ”He didn’t work out for them but Utah was not going to get bullied by Bailey’s representation. They took the best prospect on the board. I believe he’s a top three prospect in the draft. He’s a jumbo wing, high-level athlete and tough shot-maker. If everything clicks, he could have the highest upside in the draft. Ace Bailey is going to have an opportunity to have an immediate impact. I think in the long run this can work out very, very well for the Jazz.”

As for Clayton, Finkelstein was almost as high on high as he was on Bailey, praising Clayton’s shooting ability above all else.

“He is an elite shooter. When you’re talking about perimeter role players in the NBA, that’s the most important criteria. He is one of the very best shooters in this draft and has the versatility to play both on and off the ball. He has the body type to defend and the physical strength to be a more competitive defender in the NBA than what we saw for most of his college career.”

Yahoo Sports

Kevin O’Connor may have been the harshest analyst out there when it came to the draft and he didn’t take it easy on the Jazz, handing out a B grade for the team’s selection of Bailey.

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His biggest concerns? That Bailey is still very raw and inconsistent. But if the Jazz are able to figure that out, the pick could be a good one.

“There’s a reason why he fell to No. 5, but this is a huge upside swing for the Jazz,” O’Connor wrote. “Bailey is a ridiculous shot-making machine, capable of splashing contested jumpers from every spot on the floor and with the swagger of a throwback bucket-getter. He had 39 points against Indiana, 37 against Northwestern, and 30 against Penn State, showing an ability to have masterful performances in which he can’t be stopped. But his raw edges as a shot creator and defender need sanding down to turn him into a full-on star.”

O’Connor loved the Jazz’s selection of Clayton, though, giving the pick an A+ grade. He even went so far as to compare Clayton to Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry.

“Along with Ace Bailey, the addition of Clayton makes the Jazz look like the funnest League Pass team next season,” O’Connor wrote. “Clayton is clutch and looked like Steph Curry at times. He’s also a culture creator. I’m very intrigued with what the Ainges are doing in Utah’s front office. Clayton is a fearless shooter with the versatility to take any shot at any moment, as we saw with him fueling the Gators to a national championship.”

Bleacher Report

Like many others, Zach Buckley had high praise for the Jazz’s pick of Bailey. He gave the selection a grade of A-, noted Bailey’s high ceiling as a prospect.

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“Utah bet big on his talent and sky-high upside anyway,” he wrote. “… It’s a smart move for a team that has made plenty of picks in recent drafts and still hasn’t found an obvious building block. Bailey isn’t guaranteed to get there, but his potential is far more obvious than you’d see with, say, Keyonte George, Isaiah Collier or Taylor Hendricks.

“… Bailey’s ceiling is arguably as high as that of any prospect in this class not named Cooper Flagg. For the Bailey believers, he’s a star-big-wing-in-the-making. He’ll drop some wow dribble moves (particularly for a 6′8″, 18-year-old) and finish with some head-shaking tough-shot makes. If you’re in the glass-overflowing camp of optimists, you might even envision a scoring title in his future.”

Buckley did note that Bailey isn’t a sure thing and that he may never actually reach his full potential, but the Jazz took a swing that they needed to.

Buckley was not a fan of the selection of Clayton, however, giving it a C+ grade.

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His biggest issues with Clayton were:

• Other players available at the time he was selected.

• The type of player Clayton profiles to be.

“I’m not sure I would have taken him with Kasparas Jakucionis and Jase Richardson both still on the board, but this isn’t some massive reach,” Buckley wrote.

He later added: “Clayton was the biggest catalyst behind Florida’s national championship run, which highlighted his shot-making and unwavering self-belief. He has one of the richest shooting menus in this class. He’s almost equally adept shooting off the catch or on the move, and he’s a skilled finisher despite not having great size or explosion.

“With all of that said, he’s still essentially a 6′3″ scoring guard, and NBA seemingly keeps moving away from that archetype. Maybe his moxie will allow him to be an exception, but with serious deficiencies as both a defender and a distributor, all of the pressure is on his shot-making to translate.”