October 30, 2025 | 4:57pm ET
TheFourthPeriod.com

UTAH HAS BIG DECISION TO MAKE WITH SCHMALTZ

Nick Schmaltz, forward

The Utah Mammoth find themselves in a fascinating situation with forward Nick Schmaltz, who is playing in the final year of his current contract and is tied for second in the NHL in points.

Schmaltz, 29, will see his seven-year, $40.95 million contract expire next summer. He is earning $8.5 million this season – $1.5M in signing bonus and $7 million in salary – and is due for a raise on his next deal, but how much of a raise may depend on how his season goes.

On Wednesday, the Mammoth locked up rising star Logan Cooley to an eight-year, $80 million contract extension, a move that was agreed upon a few days prior, according to TFP’s David Pagnotta.

In Wednesday’s episode of “DFO Rundown Insider Edition” with Irfaan Gaffar and Pagnotta, the duo discussed Schmaltz’s situation and Pagnotta revealed the versatile forward was almost traded this past off-season.

“This is an interesting one,” Pagnotta said. “They had talks in the summer. . . It didn’t lead anywhere from a contract side of things.

“What I can tell you is that the Utah Mammoth had trade discussions with teams involving Nick Schmaltz in the summer. Obviously, it didn’t get anywhere because he’s still part of the team. But it got to the point where he even provided – from my understanding, according to sources – is he even provided a list of teams that he would accept to sign-and-trade to. Similar to a few others that are out there, ‘I’ll sign an extension and then you trade me.’”

According to Pagnotta, the Carolina Hurricanes expressed serious interest in Schmaltz this past summer “until they got Nik Ehlers and then they kind of put a pause on things from that side of it.”

Contract talks between the Mammoth and Schmaltz’s camp have been quiet, thus far, and it’s unclear when talks will resume.

“Look with the start that he’s had and with how the team has performed – he’s under $6 million now (on his cap hit) – this might be a scenario where Utah kind of shifts their mindset,” Pagnotta suggested. “And I don’t think they’re going to get into talks now because as far as know, there are no elevated contract talks right now. But you got to wonder if he keeps this up, is Utah going to be in a position to increase that salary into the $8M range, $9M range? It’s a big ticket for a guy that is just really starting to explode.”

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE

With the 2026-27 salary cap in the NHL projected to hit $104 million, the Mammoth have just over $27.7 million in cap space to play with, which gives them plenty of space to take on a least one more big contract.

“Sometimes players and teams don’t really see eye to eye in the summer and they want to trade and they want things to go well for them personally, and then you get to camp, and then you get to the start of your season and then you’re like, 'man, I’m playing some really good hockey on this team right now. Like, why do I not want to continue my career here?' And then I think it’s sometimes both sides panic a little bit,” Gaffar noted. “So, we’ll see where this goes.”

Given the team’s start to the season, assuming they remain in the playoff picture, it is unlikely Utah looks to move Schmaltz, but it may reignite contract discussions later in the season.

Alternatively, if more pending unrestricted free agents re-sign with their respective clubs, Schmaltz may be in line to cash in significantly on the open market next July.

“I got to imagine he was a little bit disappointed with how those conversations went in the summer with (Mammoth GM) Bill Armstrong in Utah,” Pagnotta added. “Everyone’s in a good mood right now in Utah, so maybe that shifts things, maybe things get ignited, maybe they wanted to get Cooley done and then they shift to Schmaltz.”