The Utah Mammoth are looking at how the Montreal Canadiens manage their contracts. The Habs use a “take-less” model where players accept slightly smaller salaries to help the team manage its cap space. Utah is interested in following a similar plan for Logan Cooley and other future signings, believing it could help the franchise keep key players long-term.
NHL insider David Pagnotta revealed this on Sunday.
“Utah has looked at what the Montreal Canadiens, I think a few teams have, quite frankly, are looking at what the Canadians have done with some of their top guys,” Pagnotta said, via “The Sheet with Jeff Marek.”
“Not necessarily from a limit perspective, but everyone’s going to take a smidge less, because we’re going to keep this unit together for an extended period of time.”
The team’s model started with Nick Suzuki’s contract, which carries an average annual value of $7.875 million. The Canadiens, worth $3.3 billion according to Sportico, have also signed Lane Hutson ($8.85 million AAV) and Noah Dobson ($9.5 million AAV) to long-term deals. They took less money to help the team’s salary structure.
“Lane Hutson, taking less in order to stick around, and in the grand scheme of things, 150-250 grand you’re saving per year on an AAV,” Pagnotta said. “But you get 10 guys doing that, that’s a decent amount of cap space to utilize moving forward.
“I think Utah wants to kind of mimic that in their own form, and if the bar is set with a guy like Logan Cooley, whom they anticipate being their primary weapon, he’s going to be one of their top guys consistently for years on end.”
Cooley is in the final year of his rookie contract and will become a restricted free agent after the 2025-26 campaign. He had 65 points last season, including 25 goals. Cooley is playing on the second line with JJ Peterka and Dylan Guenther, and the Mammoth expects him to lead the offense this year.
Bissonnette speculated on Logan Cooley’s contract with Utah
Paul Bissonnette spoke about Logan Cooley’s contract talks with the Uath Mammoth on Oct. 10. He said Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong often makes low first offers, but Cooley deserves around $10.5 million per season.
“I think he (Cooley) should be in the $10.5 (million) range,” Bissonnette said, via the “Spittin’ Chiclets” podcast. “For what people think his projections are, they need to lock him up to an eight-year deal.”
Utah missed the playoffs last season with a 38-31-13 record; however, the team hopes Cooley’s growth can push them into the postseason.
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