The winger has scored four goals in his last two games.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Kailer Yamamoto as the Utah Mammoth host the Calgary Flames, NHL hockey in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025.
After seven seasons and over 250 games in the NHL, former first-round draft pick Kailer Yamamoto found himself without a team in the summer of 2024.
That same summer, the NHL made its move to Utah, and the would-be Mammoth had a team to build in Salt Lake City.
Yamamoto accepted an invitation to attend Utah’s training camp as a professional tryout and earned a one-year contract at the start of the club’s inaugural season.
The 5-foot-8 right winger ended up spending the majority of that season in Tucson with the AHL affiliate Roadrunners, but made just enough of an impression to earn another one-year deal as a two-way player.
That contract has only gone one way, so far, though, with Yamamoto remaining in Utah and becoming one of the Mammoth’s most reliable depth players when the stars are struggling.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Mammoth celebrate a goal during the game between the Utah Mammoth and the Dallas Stars at the Delta Center on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026.
The 27-year-old Spokane, Washington, native nearly doubled his goal total on the season in the span of two games, going from five goals to nine across a pair of losses against Carolina and Dallas to close out the month of January.
“Not too sure,” Yamamoto said when asked about what’s changed for him. “Pucks are going in the net, I think.”
Yamamoto’s pucks were the only ones going in the net for Utah against the Central Division rival Dallas Stars in the Mammoth’s return to the Delta Center on Saturday, scoring both goals in a 3-2 loss.
From an undersized prospect to a free agent tryout, Yamamoto is no stranger to having to prove himself, but he believes he’s put in the work here in Utah.
“I’m proving that I belong here and that I can play with these guys,” Yamamoto said after the Dallas game. “I’m taking it day by day, just trying to play the best hockey I can.”
Yamamoto has had to be something of a wild card for the Mammoth — not in the sense of being unpredictable, but being able to fit in with a variety of groups and situations.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Mammoth right wing Kailer Yamamoto (56) as the Utah Mammoth host the New York Rangers in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025.
He has played on all four attacking lines over the last five games, having to find chemistry on the fly with every player on the team. Head coach Andre Tourigny and teammate JJ Peterka say Yamamoto’s high IQ and smart play on the ice allow him to find success across lines.
“When he keeps his game simple and he keeps his game forward, he’s able to play at a pace not everybody can,” Tourigny said. “He can generate play at speed and some people cannot think fast enough for that. So that’s where he separates himself.”
Peterka got the assist on both goals against Dallas, saying his new linemate is able to move in the “free ice areas” and gets loose with “perfect timing.”
“When he’s open, he can get the puck there,” Peterka said of the goalscoring run.
Yamamoto’s heater has come during a cold stretch for fellow right winger and Utah’s leading goalscorer Dylan Guenther, who has just one goal in his last six appearances, interrupted by a two-game injury absence.
Hopes for some stabilization of the line reshuffling could be on the horizon with Guenther making his return against Dallas and fellow rising star Logan Cooley shedding the non-contact jersey at practice on Saturday, despite still not participating in team drills.
Utah closes out the pre-Olympics slate with home games against Vancouver and Detroit before a three-week break in NHL play.