Logan Cooley doesn’t need to stare at the NHL’s new money wave and second-guess himself.
Yes, the numbers around him are eye-popping. Leo Carlsson landed $18 million a year with the Anaheim Ducks.
Connor Bedard is at $15 million with the Chicago Blackhawks. Macklin Celebrini pushed the bar even higher with his $18.8 million extension from the San Jose Sharks.
In a league where young stars are suddenly cashing in at a dizzying rate, Cooley’s eight-year, $80 million deal can look modest by comparison.
But modest is the wrong word for it.
Cooley made his choice based on the market in front of him, and that market has changed fast. That doesn’t turn his contract into a mistake. It means the landscape moved after he signed, which happens all the time in a league where the salary cap and the price of elite talent keep climbing.
Celebrini is a special case, the 2024 No. 1 overall pick who has already looked like one of the NHL’s premier young players. Bedard’s deal is tied to Chicago building around its franchise centerpiece.
Carlsson is the cleaner comparison for Cooley because their age, experience and trajectory are much closer. Even there, though, Cooley has something that matters a whole lot: eight years of financial security in Utah.
That kind of security changes everything. Cooley has already locked in enough money to alter the future for his family.
The house, the car, the investments, the debt wiped away - all of it is already in play. At a certain point, another $8 million a year stops being life-changing.
And for the Utah Mammoth, that gap matters too.
The difference between Cooley’s deal and Carlsson’s isn’t just a personal number. It’s room to build. Utah can use that flexibility around Cooley, Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther and the rest of the core to chase a better roster and, eventually, a Stanley Cup contender.
That’s the real tradeoff here. Cooley might have waited and maybe pushed his next contract into the $18 million or $19 million range.
Maybe the market would have rewarded him even more. But waiting brings its own risks.
Injuries happen. Production dips.
Careers veer in unexpected directions. The salary cap can rise, but uncertainty rises with it.
Cooley took the safer path. He chose certainty at 21.
And if Utah turns that financial breathing room into something real, the contract will look even better.
Because this isn’t really a contest over whose number is bigger. It’s about what those contracts lead to.
If Carlsson makes $18 million and Cooley makes $10 million, that difference won’t matter much if the Mammoth are the team lifting the Stanley Cup. If Bedard is at $15 million and Chicago is sitting home in the playoffs, Cooley won’t be losing sleep over it. And if Celebrini becomes everything the Sharks believe he can be, then that contract will be earned in full.
Cooley has already earned his own success. He bet on himself, secured $80 million and gave himself eight years to try to build something in Utah.
That’s a pretty good place to be. And if the Mammoth win a Stanley Cup during those eight years, the question answers itself. What exactly is there to regret?
In Other News...
Logan Cooley Is Giving Utah A Reason To Dream Bigger
Logan Cooley has been giving Utah plenty to think about as the young center continues to look more and more like the kind of foundational player a franchise can build around. Drafted third overall by the Coyotes in 2022, Cooley is now tied to the Utah Mammoth through 2034, and his early production is already making that long runway feel even more valuable. In 54 games this season, he has scored 24 goals, a pace that suggests his scoring touch is real, not just a hot stretch.
For Utah, the appeal goes beyond one strong season. Cooley is starting to look like the sort of offensive driver who could eventually push into elite company if his ceiling keeps rising, with the possibility of becoming a 30-plus goal, 90-point player down the line. If that kind of jump comes, it would change the conversation around the Mammoth fast, giving them a legitimate centerpiece for a team trying to close the gap in the Central Division. [Read more 🡒]