{"id":428160,"date":"2026-01-26T00:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T00:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/428160\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T00:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T00:40:16","slug":"toronto-has-a-chance-to-steal-top-six-forward-for-the-right-price-as-utah-puts-contract-talks-on-hol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/428160\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto has a chance to steal top-six forward for the right price as Utah puts contract talks on hol"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\t\t\t\t\t \"Jan <\/p>\n

Photo credit: Peter Creveling-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

According to a new report from David Pagnotta, the Utah Mammoth are pausing contract talks with Jordan Schmaltz as the Maple Leafs could swoop in with a deal.<\/p>\n

But with limited time to figure things out, they have to decide who is the best choice and while there’s certainly a slew of names available.<\/p>\n

Nick Schmaltz and Utah pausing contract talks as trade deadline looms<\/p>\n

Though there could be one who might be a sneaky addition and promises of a big contract could entice them to move.<\/p>\n

According to a new report from David Pagnotta courtesy of an interview with GM Bill Armstrong, the Utah Mammoth and Nick Schmaltz are pausing contract talks while they focus on the present:<\/p>\n

Well, first of all, Nick and his agent Kurt Overhardt have handled it unbelievable. Nick’s a pro’s pro. He comes to the rink every day trying to get better. I just said, ‘hey, listen, let’s worry about getting the team into the playoffs, and we’ll deal with the other stuff when it comes time.’<\/p>\n

But you know, one thing we try and do is quiet the noise a little bit, focusing in on what we have right now and go at it. And Nick’s been really, really good at that. So, we haven’t really got into that as much.<\/p>\n

With that being said, Schmaltz is in the last year of his seven-year $40.95-million contract and is definitely in line for a pay raise considering his production over the last three seasons including this one.<\/p>\n

Toronto could use Schmaltz but really can’t afford to pay for him<\/p>\n

In 212 games he has 170 points (60 goals, 110 assists) and while he isn’t exactly the most physically imposing player, he doesn’t mind blocking shots and is a smart defensive option.<\/p>\n

The issue here is that Toronto is going to need to make it worth Utah’s while, especially since they have a lot of hope to make the playoffs this season.<\/p>\n

It won’t be Matias Maccelli heading back but it could very well be Easton Cowan,<\/a> as well as Toronto’s first-round pick, with potential other NHL-ready names like Nick Robertson and Bobby McMann available as well.<\/p>\n

Schmaltz will be 30 this year, and if he’s looking at a long-term deal then Toronto can’t really afford to give him a deal worth $7-8 million and be able to really improve on their backend.<\/p>\n

But this is the Maple Leafs, and nothing has stopped them from making big deals using their last bit of future assets to make it happen. Utah could become a very dangerous team with Cowan alongside names like Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, and Dylan Guenther.<\/p>\n

Toronto has already seen Fraser Minten thrive in Boston, and while it would be tantalizing to add Schmaltz to the top-six, it is going to come at too high a cost but as history has proven, that really doesn’t matter.<\/p>\n

Previously on Hockey Patrol<\/p>\n

POLL<\/p>\n

1 HOUR AGO\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0\u00a039 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

Toronto has a chance to steal top-six forward for the right price as Utah puts contract talks on hold<\/p>\n

Do you think Toronto should make a deal for Jordan Schmaltz?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credit: Peter Creveling-Imagn Images According to a new report from David Pagnotta, the Utah…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5604,5,4646,4,18071,546,31,3154],"class_list":{"0":"post-428160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-david-pagnotta","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-jordan-schmaltz","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-nhl-news-and-rumors","13":"tag-nhl-trade-rumors","14":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","15":"tag-utah-mammoth"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115958620301361708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}