The Mammoth announced that they’ve signed forward Nick Schmaltz to an eight-year extension worth $8MM per season, a total value of $64MM. Set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer, he’s now staying in Utah through the 2033-34 campaign. There are no signing bonuses in the deal, per PuckPedia. He’ll be paid entirely in base salary, earning $10MM from 2026-27 through 2028-29, $8MM from 2029-30 through 2030-31, and $6MM from 2031-32 through 2033-34. The deal also comes with a no-movement clause for the first two years. Starting in 2028-29, it downgrades to a full no-trade clause, then again to a 16-team no-trade list in 2030-31 and an eight-team no-trade list in 2032-33.
Amid what could now be a historically thin UFA class this summer, Schmaltz was going to be the leading target if he made it there. One could make the argument that he was just one of two forwards, along with Alex Tuch, available who could comfortably slot into a first-line role, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin notwithstanding.
Still, it’s no surprise to see Schmaltz commit for what could be the rest of his career to the team he’s been with for nearly seven seasons and 500 games, dating back to when the Mammoth’s predecessor, the Coyotes, acquired him from the Blackhawks for Dylan Strome in 2019. He already committed long-term to the organization once, quickly moving to sign a seven-year deal after his acquisition that saw him get paid $5.85MM per season. He now re-ups on a contract that only carries an extremely modest increase in cap hit percentage at the start of the deal from 7.2% to 7.7%. While it’s a significant raise in actual cash, it’s not a huge bump in market value.
Schmaltz has never hit 70 points in a single season, but he’ll lock in his third consecutive 60-point campaign with his next point and will end up at 75 points by the end of the regular season if he keeps up his current pace. He’d previously topped the 0.90 points per game mark twice in back-to-back years with Arizona in 2021-22 and 2022-23, although injuries limited him to about 75% of the schedule each time.
The 30-year-old’s resurgence comes after a couple of relatively down seasons. He’s had no trouble staying healthy now, but did see his points per game average drop to 0.77 across Arizona’s last season in 2023-24 and Utah’s first in 2024-25. That also came with -16 and -15 ratings, the worst two figures of his career.
The under-the-hood numbers never dipped too much, though. Quietly, Schmaltz has been one of the better play-driving forwards in the league over the past several seasons. He hasn’t had a net negative Corsi impact at 5-on-5 in a full season as a Coyote/Clubber/Mammoth and has taken things to new heights this season, controlling 55.0% of shot attempts, 55.2% of expected goals, and 55.2% of scoring chances at 5-on-5 this year. A natural center, he’s spent most of his career on the wing but has shifted back to the pivot position this year amid Barrett Hayton‘s struggles and subsequent demotion down the depth chart. He’s now Utah’s top-line pivot between lefty Clayton Keller and a rotation of Lawson Crouse, Dylan Guenther, and JJ Peterka on his right flank.
Schmaltz’s value comes from his reliable output and playmaking skills. He’s not particularly flashy, doesn’t have a “star-level” gear to unlock at this stage, and only lays a hit about once every five games. But he’s been a consistent top-six producer ever since first stepping into Arizona’s lineup seven years ago, and his versatility down the middle and on the wing is attractive to a Utah club that has a bevy of forward prospects still coming up the ranks.
After registering his extension, Utah still has $17.9MM in projected cap space available for next season, but that’s with eight open roster spots (an average of $2.24MM per player). Luckily, they don’t have anyone to sign who will cost significantly more than that.
Image courtesy of Brad Penner-Imagn Images.
This is gonna be one of those summers where a player like Klingberg gets $8M for no reason isn’t it?
Nick Schmaltz has been a fantastic NHLer, And, Consistent, But, He is 30 years old, And , Not a true number one center, Three years at 8 annually Is solid business sense.
Especially considering that their top 3 prospects are all centers. Schmaltz can play wing too I suppose, but 8 years is really too long.
Not good for the Buffalo Sabres. Watch Tuch’s agent ask for 8 years at $10 M per now. Why are 30 year old’s getting clubs to agree to 8 year contracts that could age like milk?
30 is new 20 now
Feels like a “if he hits free agency then some other team will overpay him, so we will get out in front & overpay him first since he’s ours” kinda deals. The back half of the contract will look bad, but that’s kinda the cost of doing business in the NHL right now.
I loved Nick when he was a Blackhawk and always thought he deserved more Playing Time. He’s become a quality performer over the years but 8 years? Might be a little long for my taste but hey best of luck. Hope it works out.
Capable of playing on the first line (at least for now, but not paid as one), probably at least top six for the next 4-5 years. Creative playmaker – and creativity has no age.
With the cap rising this might actually not look too bad until maybe the last one or two years of the contract.
But then a number of very good 36+ players are still doing a great job right now.
So yes, it’s not the perfect contract, but it’s not really that bad I guess
If he waited to be a FA, he would get less term and likely about the same AAV. He wanted to stay there and a few $ apparently didn’t matter.
Meanwhile, Chicago let Strome walk as a RFA and he has had a nice run with the Caps with Chicago ending up with nothing.
As a Blues fan, this kind of contract is exactly why I’m glad we didn’t trade Robert Thomas at the deadline and hope we don’t look to trade him this offseason. Schmaltz is a good player but Thomas, at $8.125 AAV, is 3 years younger, stronger on the dot, and already has two 80 point seasons under his belt.