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Mammoth Explored Trading Nick Schmaltz Over The Offseason

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Nick Schmaltz’s monstrous start to the 2025-26 season almost didn’t happen. The Mammoth explored trading the pending unrestricted free agent over the offseason after their initial round of extension negotiations were unproductive, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.

The most complete trade that was discussed was with the Hurricanes around the draft and the beginning of free agency, Pagnotta writes, but those talks broke off once Carolina landed Nikolaj Ehlers in free agency. Schmaltz was involved enough in the process that the Mammoth asked him for a list of teams he’d be willing to sign an extension with if a trade went through, per Pagnotta.

Evidently, the 29-year-old didn’t let that uncertainty about his future affect his game. With an increasingly slim free agent class, he’s putting himself in position to be a top-five name on the market when it opens in July. He’s currently on an eight-game point streak and has rattled off seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 11 games to start the year. That’s tops on the Mammoth and tied for third in the NHL overall in both raw points and points per game. He’s done so while posting the best possession numbers and highest time on ice of any Utah forward at 19:39 per game.

Even keeping a fraction of this play up makes his current $5.85MM cap hit one of the best bargains in the league. Of course, he’s in the final year of his current contract: a seven-year, $40.95MM extension signed with Arizona in 2019. His hot start, plus the Mammoth’s early position tied atop the Western Conference, makes the thought of exploring a trade now inconceivable. The effect it has on any future extension negotiations remains to be seen, though.

Utah’s hot start, combined with a premier prospect pool still waiting to churn out multiple high-end names, may convince Schmaltz that sticking around is one of his best bets to play a key role on a championship-contending club, and he could be coerced into taking something of a discount to stay. Conversely, his playing such a large part in it drives up his market value dramatically as part of an ever-thinning UFA class.

From the Mammoth’s perspective, it might make the most sense to keep him as an in-house rental for the playoffs and not budge too much in contract talks. He’s been a key part of their top-six forward group for the life of his deal, dating back to his Arizona days, but he’s in the latter half of his prime, and the value proposition isn’t ideal by matching what he’ll now likely receive on the open market. With a trio of anticipated top-nine forwards in Daniil But, Caleb Desnoyers, and Tij Iginla still yet to graduate from their prospect pool and multiple core pieces signed longer-term, their long-term contention outlook isn’t affected much by his potential departure, either.

Logan Cooley Extension Setting RFA Market

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The Utah Mammoth became the first to cave when they signed pending-restricted free agent and star center Logan Cooley to an eight-year, $80MM contract extension. Mammoth owner Ryan Smith said after that the deal gives both team and player the assurance that Cooley will be able to plant his roots. For teams across the league, the move could have a deeper impact. With fellow young stars Connor Bedard, Leo Carlsson, and Adam Fantilli all on expiring deals of their own – Cooley’s $10MM annual price tag could be the start of negotiations, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.

That’s great news for Bedard, who is the only on the list to outscore Cooley through their young careers. Cooley boasts 53 goals and 121 points in 168 career games, including this season, while Bedard has managed 51 goals and 142 points in 161 games. There’s no doubt that Bedard has facen the tougher test as well, looking to buoy a desolate Chicago Blackhawks club while Cooley’s rebranded Mammoth look to make their first playoff push.

The heavier load should earn Bedard a boost when negotiations roll around. His yearly cap hit could match Cooley’s $10MM on a shorter deal, potentially four-to-five years, or could go as high as $12MM on a max-term, eight-year deal per LeBrun, who points out that Bedard holds all of the leverage in negotiations. The 20-year-old centerman is a pillar of Chicago’s nightly lineup, and could even be a candidate for their captaincy on his next deal. With no salary cap concerns in sight, Chicago won’t be pressured to spoil Bedard’s importance by trying to save a few extra bucks.

Negotiations could be a bit tougher for Fantilli, who has elevated his play to a true top-line level but hasn’t yet taken over the top forward role for the Columbus Blue Jackets. That title has to stand with right-winger Kirill Marchenko, whose 10 points in 10 games is double what Fantilli’s five points on the year. Part of that scoring dip comes from Fantilli moved away from centering Marchenko, one season after the two played together more than any other Columbus forward pair. Fantilli scored a career-high 31 goals and 54 points, while shooting at a manageable 16.2 percent, in the elevated role last season. This year, he’s been tasked with commanding the team’s second-line, to mixed results.

Signs of continued growing pains does separate Fantilli from the dominant roles of Cooley and Bedard. With those two rivaling for eight-figure contracts, it seems Fantilli would have better luck pushing for a deal in the realm of $9MM each season. Blackhawks winger Frank Nazar recently signed a surprising seven-year, $46.2MM contract after carrying Team USA to a World Championship Gold alongside Cooley. The deal carries a team-friendly $6.6MM cap hit, but pays Nazar $9.1MM and $8.66MM in salary through the first two years respectively. Those numbers could be significant markers for Fantilli, as he looks to sign his own deal as second-fiddle. Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell shared that Columbus doesn’t plan to negotiate a new deal with Fantilli until after the Olympic break, per LeBrun.

Just like at the 2023 Draft, Carlsson’s fate lies somewhere between Bedard and Fantilli. The Swedish-native has taken on a major role for the Anaheim Ducks, offering both top-end impacts both on and off of the puck. He scored a career-high 45 points in 76 games last season. That’s the lowest personal-best on this list, though it came with a Ducks squad that scored the third-fewest goals in the 2024-25 season. Anaheim was led in scoring by Troy Terry’s 55 points last year, a mark that Carlsson could reasonably clear with some bolstered roles around him. He’s proving as much early on this season, with a team-leading 11 points in nine games while playing alongside Alex Killorn and either Cutter Gauthier or Chris Kreider.

Carlsson appears to have taken a big step forward through the early year. Anaheim won’t have to look far for a comparable deal, after signing Mason McTavish to a six-year, $42MM contract extension in the weeks before the season. The resulting $7MM cap hit is likely a bit cheaper than McTavish could’ve managed on a seven-or-eight-year deal. That should well support Carlsson’s push towards a $9MM contract next summer, especially if he can continue to outscore McTavish through the rest of the year.

The NHL salary cap is presently skyrocketting. It is up $7.5MM this season, and expected to rise another $18MM before the 2027-28 season. That growth has made projecting new contracts a much tougher task – which is where timely extensions like Cooley’s help set the market. He’s been awarded $10MM to man his team’s top-forward role for much of the next decade. That’s set a price tag for the role – one that some 2026 restricted free agents could live up to, while others need to keep trying to play their way into a bigger payday.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

Mammoth Sign Logan Cooley To Eight-Year Extension

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The Mammoth announced they’ve signed center Logan Cooley to an eight-year contract extension. The deal is worth $80MM for an average annual value and cap hit of $10MM. Cooley, who was a pending restricted free agent in the final year of his entry-level contract, will now remain in Utah through the 2033-34 campaign. The deal does not include signing bonus money, per PuckPedia, but has a 16-team no-trade list from 2030-31 onward. His salary breakdown per year is as follows:

2026-27: $13MM / 2027-28: $11MM / 2028-29: $11MM / 2029-30: $10MM / 2030-31: $7.8MM / 2031-32: $8.2MM / 2032-33: $8.5MM / 2033-34: $10.5MM

In doing so, the Mammoth make Cooley their new highest-paid player, at least beginning next season, and the latest in a string of players signing eight-year deals before the maximum extension length drops to seven next season. It’s a conclusion to the very relaxed, amicable negotiations described throughout between Cooley’s camp and Mammoth GM Bill Armstrong over the past few months, aside from Cooley’s high-profile rejection of an eight-year, $77MM offer.

It turns out Armstrong didn’t need to raise the bar much higher to keep his franchise cornerstone center locked in for the vast majority of his prime. While he’s done quite a lot of work over the past year and a half since the Utah franchise was born from the Coyotes’ hockey operations assets, Cooley is still a holdover from Arizona’s final years. He was the third overall pick of the 2022 draft straight out of the U.S. National Team Development Program and spent his post-draft season at the University of Minnesota, exploding for 22 goals and 60 points in 39 games with a +38 rating. He was the top playmaker in college hockey as a freshman, which, understandably, led him to be one-and-done at school and to sign his entry-level deal with the Coyotes the following offseason.

Since debuting for Arizona in 2023-24, Cooley has been consistently on the rise. He didn’t look out of place at all from the jump, checking in with a 20-goal, 44-point effort in his rookie year while serving as a middle-six center. His defensive game needed some expected cleanup, but he finished fifth in Calder Trophy voting and earned the center spot on the league’s All-Rookie Team.

Still just 21 years old, Cooley is now fully coming into his own. He demonstrated massive improvement in Utah’s first go-around in Salt Lake City last year, upping his production to 25 goals, 40 assists, and 65 points in 75 games. That came with increased success in the faceoff dot, winning 44.7% of his draws compared to just 38% in his rookie season, a workload of nearly 18 minutes per game, and improved possession metrics that saw him control 51.2% of shot attempts and 52.2% of expected goals at even strength.

Getting Cooley’s extension done now, compared to later in the season, likely saved the Mammoth millions of dollars in the long run. Cooley’s off to a torrid start in 2025-26, tied for fifth in the league with eight goals through 11 games while adding four assists for 12 points. He’s now averaging closer to 19 minutes per game, boasts a plus-five rating, and ranks second on the Mammoth in scoring behind veteran Nick Schmaltz. His continued breakout is one of the most significant factors in a Utah offense that ranks eighth in the league at 3.64 goals per game and has the team first in the Central Division.

That production comes despite Cooley not receiving “true” first-line center deployment. He’s rarely been used as the top pivot on Utah’s depth chart between Schmaltz and Clayton Keller – that honor has been bestowed upon the more defense-oriented Barrett Hayton. Cooley has instead become the centerpiece of one of the league’s most potent second lines between Dylan Guenther and JJ Peterka, but his position on the line chart does very little to alter his market value with the minutes and production he still manages.

A $10MM cap figure also checks in as a relative bargain for a player expected to consistently hover around a point per game for the life of the deal, particularly as the salary cap continues its aggressive rise. Armstrong has been quick to take advantage of increased funding from Utah ownership compared to his previous bosses in Arizona and now has the vast majority of the team’s core signed for the rest of the decade. Cooley joins Peterka ($7.7MM cap hit), Guenther ($7.14MM cap hit), Jack McBain ($4.25MM cap hit), Mikhail Sergachev ($8.5MM cap hit), and Karel Vejmelka ($4.75MM cap hit) as Mammoth players signed through 2030 or longer.

Armstrong’s work to lock in a championship-contending force in Salt Lake isn’t done yet. There’s the future of Schmaltz and Hayton, the former of whom is a pending UFA and might be well on his way to pricing himself out of an extension. Keller, the team’s captain, has three years left on his current deal. Hayton will be an arbitration-eligible RFA this summer and has no years of team control left after that.

Image courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images.

Alexander Kerfoot Undergoes Procedure, To Miss 8-10 Weeks

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The Utah Mammoth announced that center Alexander Kerfoot underwent a successful procedure stemming from his lower body injury, and will miss the next 8-10 weeks. 

Kerfoot’s ailment was first noted last month which kept him out of training camp. Now Utah, off to an impressive 6-2 start this season, knows the fate of the veteran and will look to keep up the momentum in his absence. As noted by the team, the medical procedure was to repair a core muscle injury.  

The Vancouver native was inked to another year in Utah last March, at a value of $3MM. Originally arriving to the organization after several years in Toronto on a two-year deal, Kerfoot was a valuable member of the Coyotes in their final season, posting 45 points, setting a career high in total ice time, and even receiving votes for the Selke (top defensive forward) as an honorable mention fringe candidate.

Since then in Utah, Kerfoot’s role fell slightly last year, due to the emergence of several young talented forwards in the organization. However, obviously as the team brought him back, the Mammoth value the 31-year-old’s leadership and two-way prowess. On such a new team with youth throughout, he is actually among the team’s oldest and most tenured NHL forwards. 

A highly durable player who had missed just one regular season game since 2020-21, the hope will certainly be that Utah can continue to excel without Kerfoot, and that he will join in mid-late December set to hit the ground running into 2026.

Mammoth Recall Kevin Rooney

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The Mammoth announced that forward Kevin Rooney has been recalled from AHL Tucson. They’ve opened a roster spot for him by reassigning Andrew Agozzino to Tucson after he cleared waivers today.

Rooney was a late addition to the Utah organization this offseason. He went unsigned for much of the summer before landing a professional tryout with the Devils, with whom he suited up from 2016 to 2020. While that PTO didn’t result in a contract with New Jersey, he landed a two-way deal with the Mammoth after being released. He was waived the next day and cleared, beginning the season in Tucson after technically being included on Utah’s opening night roster.

The 32-year-old Rooney has 32 goals, 28 assists, 60 points, and a -12 rating in 330 career NHL appearances with the Devils, Rangers, and Flames. While he may have had to settle for a two-way deal, he’s actually coming off a career-high 70 games played in Calgary last season. He spent the year as a fourth-line center or winger as needed, averaging 9:25 per game while recording a 5-5–10 scoring line and 109 hits.

He provides a more stable, experienced option – and one more oriented for a bottom-six checking role – than the offense-minded Agozzino was. As such, there’s a good chance he could stick around for a while, at least until Alexander Kerfoot is ready to come off injured reserve and make his season debut. It’s also a reward for a strong start in Tucson for Rooney, who has three goale and an assist in four games in what was his first minor-league action in two years.

Mammoth Place Andrew Agozzino On Waivers

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The Mammoth announced Wednesday that they’ve placed forward Andrew Agozzino on waivers. If he clears on Thursday, he’ll head to AHL Tucson.

Utah will have an open roster spot either today or tomorrow, depending on whether they move Agozzino to the non-roster list while he’s on waivers. They have a few players on injured reserve, including forward Alexander Kerfoot, who was listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury at the beginning of training camp. If he’s nearing a return, that could be the impetus for Agozzino’s waiver placement.

Agozzino, 34, made an NHL opening night roster for the first time in his 15-year professional career this fall. He has 53 games of NHL experience, but before this year, he hadn’t touched NHL ice since March 2023 with the Sharks. The 5’10” winger signed a two-year, two-way deal with Utah in 2024 and played out last season with Tucson, recording 20 goals and 43 points in 55 games.

The Ontario native has long been a premier point producer in the minors. In a remarkable 791 career AHL games, second-most among active NHL/AHLers, he has a 265-358–623 scoring line. That’s quite the career for an undrafted player, who first landed a pro contract from the Avalanche’s minor-league affiliate back in 2012. Utah is his sixth NHL organization, following stops in Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Ottawa, and San Jose.

Agozzino appeared in the Mammoth’s first two games of the season but hasn’t played since, sitting as a scratch in five straight. He went 3-for-7 on faceoffs and averaged just 6:08 of ice time per game, staying off the scoresheet aside from a block and four hits. Utah was out-attempted 14-5 at even strength in his limited minutes.

Evening Notes: Lycksell, Cooley, Zamula

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The Ottawa Senators assigned forward Olle Lycksell to the AHL’s Belleville Senators early on Friday. Lycksell appeared in two games with Ottawa this week, but sat out of the team’s most recent game on Thursday. He didn’t manage any scoring in those appearances.

Lycksell is in his first year in the Senators’ organization after signing a one-year, two-way, league-minimum $775K contract with the club on July 1st. He spent the last three seasons bouncing between the Philadelphia Flyers’ major and minor league rosters. He totaled 11 points in 45 NHL games, and 128 points in 134 AHL games with the Flyers. He’ll look to maintain near point-per-game scoring in the minors with Belleville. If he can, he could soon return to a depth role with Ottawa.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Utah Mammoth have a colossal extension looming when top center Logan Cooley hits free agency next summer. But despite minimal talks of an extension, Cooley’s agent, Brian Bartlett, told the Daily Faceoff that he’s not worried about getting a deal done. Bartlett emphasized that Cooley still has plenty of time to work something out. There’s no doubt Mammoth fan will be watching closely for Cooley’s next contract, after he posted 109 points in 157 games with the club over his first two seasons in the NHL. He’s likely to sign a hardy extension that should cement his spot as Utah’s top center.
  • The Calgary Flames are interested in acquiring a big-bodied, left-shot defenseman per Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Di Marco, who adds that Flyers defender Egor Zamula could be a prime target. Zamula played in 120 games with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen before beginning his pro career. Now, he’s found himself on the outside of Philadelphia’s daily lineup, despite mixed results. Zamula boasts a career stat line of 40 points in 157 games. He posted a career-high 21 points and plus-three in 66 games of the 2023-24 season, but fell to just 15 points and a minus-14 in 63 games last year. That dip in scoring could make him a relatively cheap acquisition, should Calgary swing a trade.

Sean Durzi Out Four Weeks With Upper-Body Injury

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The Utah Mammoth have taken a big blow to their defensive core a handful of games into the 2025-26 season. According to a team announcement, defenseman Sean Durzi is expected to miss the next four weeks with an upper-body injury.

Injuries are slowly becoming a theme for Durzi in Salt Lake City. After playing in 76 games for the Arizona Coyotes in the 2023-24 campaign, Durzi only appeared in 30 games last season for Utah due to shoulder surgery. Unfortunately, his current injury is related to the same shoulder.

If the recovery timeline provided is exact, Durzi will miss the Mammoth’s next 11 games and would hypothetically return for their November 8th contest against the Montreal Canadiens. Fortunately, despite only having two additional right-handed defensemen, the Mammoth have eight blueliners on the active roster and should be able to fill in the void left by Durzi without any additional roster moves.

Still, without Durzi for the next several weeks, and having traded Michael Kesselring this past offseason, Utah doesn’t have much offensive talent on the point behind Mikhail Sergachev. By no means is it vital to have offensive prowess from the point, especially considering the team’s impressive crop of forwards, but it’ll certainly be a limitation over the next month.

Despite missing much of last season, Durzi provided quality two-day play for Utah. He provided four goals and 11 points in his 30 appearances, averaging 20:39 of ice time while blocking 52 shots. He again maintained above-average possession metrics, finishing with a 52.9% CorsiFor% at even strength.

Although the injury happened to the Mammoth’s defensive core, it may have a larger impact on the team’s forward group. Typically dressing seven defensemen for games, head coach André Tourigny may have to change his approach if depth defenseman Nick DeSimone doesn’t perform well in Durzi’s absence.

Afternoon Notes: Kleven, Player Fines, Devils

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This afternoon TSN’s Bruce Garrioch updated that Tyler Kleven expects to play tomorrow, as the Sens host Nashville in an afternoon tilt. Garrioch also mentioned Drake Batherson, who remains sidelined, but is still expected to return sometime this week, as noted yesterday. Having both been injured in training camp, last week it was speculated that the pair of Senators could possibly have appeared for the team’s season opener. While that was not the case, it appears Batherson and Kleven are on the cusp of a return, joining the one-win, one-loss club with high expectations this season. 

Elsewhere across the league:

  • This afternoon, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced a pair of $2,500 fines from infractions during Saturday’s games; the recipients being Ian Cole and Tyler Myers. Cole caught discipline for what was noted as a “dangerous trip” on Steven Stamkos. Next, fellow veteran Myers was fined for slashing Connor McDavid. Cole was caught up in a bizarre play with Stamkos, where both players ended up in the box as the Nashville forward’s stick struck Cole as he came down from the trip. Meanwhile, Myers was looking to box out attackers around Thatcher Demko, business as usual for the 6’8” defenseman, when he swung his stick upward, catching McDavid in the groin area, leading to a minor penalty.
  • With newcomer Evgenii Dadonov likely to miss multiple weeks with a fractured hand, James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now speculated earlier today on how the lineup should adjust. Nichols pointed out prospect Shane Lachance as deserving of an opportunity to be called up for his NHL debut. Acquired from Edmonton by New Jersey in the three-team deal headlined by Trent Frederic last season, Lachance, a former 6th-round pick has become a standout prospect for the Devils. After two respectable seasons with Boston University, the 6’5” forward turned pro last season, appearing in two games with AHL Utica, netting a goal and an assist. Although he has yet to find the scoresheet early on this season with the Comets, Lachance has the frame to slot into any lineup. Nichols also mentioned exciting rookie Arseny Gritsyuk as a candidate to move up to a top-line role, perhaps holding down the fort for his mentor, Dadonov. Regardless, it is a tough blow for a Devils’ club which is all too familiar with injuries to key players.

Mammoth Waive Kevin Rooney, Assign To AHL

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10/8: Rooney has cleared waivers and will be assigned to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners.

10/7: The Utah Mammoth have placed centerman Kevin Rooney on waivers. He signed a one-year, two-way contract with the club this summer. The deal moved Rooney away from three years with the Calgary Flames organization.

Rooney was on the Flames’ roster for the entirety of the 2024-25 season. He filled a true fourth-line role, and posted just 10 points in 70 games on the full year. Despite that, Rooney was routinely rotated onto the team’s penalty-kill, and his 47.2 faceoff percentage ranked third among all Flames centers to take at least 400 draws.

Rooney pulled his way back into an NHL role after spending the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons split between the NHL and AHL lineups. He totaled five points in 50 NHL games and 18 points in 56 AHL games between the two years. Before then, he found routine play in the Metropolitan Division, serving as a depth center for the New Jersey Devils, and then the New York Rangers, between 2016 and 2022. Through his career, Rooney has posted 60 points and 134 penalty minutes in 330 NHL appearances and 93 points and 156 penalty minutes in 242 AHL games.

An assignment to the minor-leagues comes as no surprise after Rooney signed a two-way deal. It would be a surprise to see a team claim the low-event center, only to be forced to hold him on their NHL roster or place him back on waivers. Instead, it seems more likely that Rooney will clear waivers and serve as the Tucson Roadrunners’ reliable veteran, until the Mammoth are in need of a call-up.

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