Utica Comets' goaltending coach Brian Eklund was running through a video session with his two netminders: 25-year-old Nico Daws and 24-year-old Jakub Málek.

On the screen before them, Málek made an impressive save that prompted Daws to say, “I can't make that save.”

At hearing those words from his goaltending partner, Málek beamed.

“He lit up,” Eklund said. “You should have seen the smile on his face.

“He looks at (Daws) like he is an NHL goalie, a guy that he can't beat out right now to play, and he was beaming when (Daws) said that.”

For Eklund, that moment was one of the more memorable moments of Málek's season. 

The youngster's first professional season in North America was one that was filled with lessons on and off the ice. 

Over the course of the season, he played 31 games and earned 13 wins. In November, he was sent to the Adirondack Thunder of the ECHL for a brief two-game stint. In January, he celebrated his first AHL shutout, and in April, he rediscovered the confidence he lost after a challenging start to his North American career.

To truly understand how difficult the transition is for European goalies, Eklund provides a detailed on-ice breakdown.

Due to the different rink sizes, European goalies have to first learn to adjust to the pace at which pucks can get back to the middle of the rink when they come to North America.

“It takes time, and that is the thing that Málek got hit with hard at the beginning of the season,” he continued. “It was stuff that we knew was going to happen."

“When a puck is on the wall in Europe, it is seven and a half feet further away from you as a goaltender,” Eklund explained. “Because of that, it takes longer, and you have more time to be able to rest and relax and do things like that. Or if a puck goes wide at the net, you have more time to recover and get to your next position, because it is so much further away from you.

“When you get to North America, the pace at which you need to play is a lot faster,” Eklund continued. “It is the adjustment of understanding how quickly things happen. Unfortunately, for a lot of young players, it is understanding that they are going to have to get burned by it before they really, truly start to value it.”

Many NHL coaches and players will say that 80 percent of the time, the puck is within three feet of the wall during a game. As the rink shrinks, everything happens at a quicker pace.

“You also add in the fact that in a wider rink, there is more room inside the zone for players to be,” Eklund explained. “It takes longer for players to get into shooting lanes, so there is less traffic that goalies have to deal with. A lot of young European goalies don't value pucks nearly as much when they are on the extremity of the rink or in the extremity of the zone, and they also never really have to deal with traffic. When you bring a kid over from Europe, there is an adjustment phase,” he continued. “They have to learn how to fight through traffic. How to find pucks. How to battle in those situations."

Málek will be the first to say that the start of the season was not what he expected. Daws was recalled to the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 15 and remained there until Oct. 26. In that span, Málek played three games, all resulting in a loss.

“He was being put into that position where he hadn't been burned by things yet,” Eklund said. “Even though we had talked about it, and we had gone over it on video, he didn't quite get the concept of what was dangerous and what wasn't here.

“He was thrust into having to play it, and that was difficult,” he continued. “In his second or third start, he gave up a bunch of goals at the beginning of a game, and he had to learn on the fly. That is tough for a player. He got his confidence rocked a little bit, and it took some time for it to build back up.”

Seeing the young goaltender’s confidence begin to falter, a collaborative decision was needed.

A discussion began as memebers of the Comets’ coaching staff and the organization’s goaltending department weighed the pros and cons of sending Málek to play for the Adirondack Thunder of the ECHL.

“Ryan Parent is a huge part of it,” Eklund said of the Comets head coach. “I mean, he has the ultimate say in what the lineup is on a nightly basis, so he has to really believe what we are trying to teach and what we are working on. There were people who thought, ‘Are we going too far? Is this too much? Does he just need to play hockey?’ There are a lot of different opinions, and that is perfect. That's what you want. You want people to push you, to challenge you, to try different things.

“Marty Brodeur was the first one who said we should send him down to Adirondack for that weekend, and get him two games,” he continued. “At the same time, let Tyler Brennan come up and be around the team.”

Ultimately, the rookie was sent two hours east to Adirondack.

In February, Málek told The Hockey News that he was angry when he learned he was being sent to the ECHL.

“Overall, I really didn't want to go because I heard that it wasn't a good experience from some guys,” he said. “I didn't want to go there and when the time came of course I was angry because you don't want to go down.”

Málek earned a 1-0-1 record with the Thunder, and while reflecting on his stint, says his experience was a positive one.

“I think it helped me a lot,” the goaltender said. “Of course, I was angry, but I was angry in the right way. To show myself that I really can play hockey, that I didn't lose it. The city there is nice, teammates were perfect, and the fans were excellent.”

“He went down and was a rock star for those two games that he got,” Eklund added. “Then we brought him right back to Utica, knowing that he just needed to feel that success. That was the whole point of the video that I had for him when he got back. To show him these are the things we sent you down there to work on, this is how you look, these are the areas where you did a fantastic job, and now let's start building.

“He got back, and he took off from that point.”

Málek celebrated his first AHL victory in his very next start for the Comets against the Bridgeport Islanders on Dec. 5. It was a a 5-1 win where he made 30 saves. By early January, he won three consecutive starts and picked up back-to-back shutouts on Jan. 9 and 17th.

“He is a sponge,” Eklund said. “He is a kid who is going to learn, and he is going to get better. Statistically, he might not look like he had a great year, but man, did he make huge strides and huge improvement in a lot of different areas over the course of this year.”

Málek’s stint with Adirondack coupled with his work with Eklund reiginited his confidence, which was sky high by the conclusion of the 2025-26 season.

“I am really happy that together we found a way (to correct things) that I was missing at points this year and also past years,” Málek said.

Lessons were learned. Adjustments were made. Talent was exposed. There should be a lot of excitement when Malek returns to Newark in September, another year older with another season of experience under his belt. 

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