With NHL salaries climbing fast, the Utah Mammoth have quietly built something a lot harder to find than star power: a roster that doesn’t crush the cap.
That matters more now than ever. The league is in the middle of a spending surge, fueled by a $25.5 million cap increase from 2024 to 2028.
And over the last few weeks alone, three massive contracts have reset the market. The Anaheim Ducks matched Leo Carlsson’s offer sheet at $18 million AAV, the Chicago Blackhawks gave Connor Bedard a five-year deal worth $15 million AAV, and the San Jose Sharks locked up Macklin Celebrini on a five-year, $18.8 million AAV contract.
Those are eye-popping numbers, even if they make some sense for talents like Bedard and Celebrini. But the bigger question is whether deals that size actually help teams win when it counts.
History says no. According to prohockeyrumors.com, no team in the salary cap era has won the Stanley Cup with a player on its roster carrying a cap hit above $10 million.
Josh Cybulski put it this way: “Now, this is not to say that highly paid superstars haven’t won the cup. Of course, they have,” Cybulski wrote. “But generally, those who have done so have signed below-market contracts to keep the team competitive.”
He pointed to the Pittsburgh Penguins as an example, noting that they won three Stanley Cups with Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby making big money, but neither ever carried a cap hit above $9.5 million. Even in 2009, Crosby’s $8.7 million cap hit took up 15.3% of the Penguins’ $56.7 million cap limit, yet Pittsburgh still had enough depth to stay competitive.
That’s where Utah’s approach stands out.
Dom Luszczysyn of The Athletic has the Mammoth ranked with the 10th most efficient roster in the league in terms of team contracts, and the list helps explain why. Logan Cooley is at $10,000,000, Nick Schmaltz at $8,000,000, Clayton Keller at $7,150,000, and Dylan Guenther at $7,142,875. Behind them are Vincent Trocheck at $5,625,000, Anders Lee at $5,400,000, Barrett Hayton at $4,775,000, Lawson Crouse at $4,300,000, Jack McBain at $4,250,000, Kevin Stenlund at $2,750,000, Brandon Tanev at $2,500,000, Michael Carcone at $1,750,000, Kailer Yamamoto at $1,750,000, and Liam O’Brien at $1,000,000.
On defense, Mikhail Sergachev carries an $8,500,000 cap hit, MacKenzie Weegar is at $6,250,000, John Marino is at $4,400,000 before his extension jumps to $6,750,000 starting in 2027-28, Nate Schmidt is at $3,500,000, Andrew Peeke and Nick DeSimone are both at $1,000,000, and Dmitri Simashev is at $972,500. In goal, Karel Vejmelka is at $4,750,000 and Sebastian Cossa at $2,000,000.
The reason Utah sits in the top third comes down to how GM Bill Armstrong has handled the roster. He has not chased expensive mistakes, and that restraint shows up in the numbers.
Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley are the clearest example. Last season, they combined for 64 goals, 52 assists and 116 points in 133 combined appearances, which works out to .87 points per game. By comparison, Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier posted 70 goals, 66 assists and 136 points in 146 appearances, or .93 points per game.
The Ducks got a little more production, but Utah got it for far less. Guenther and Cooley together cost $17,142,875 in AAV, which is less than Carlsson’s new $18 million AAV by himself. And if Gauthier gets the kind of deal he is reportedly seeking next season - Anthony Di Marco of the Daily Faceoff reported a range of $16 million to $17 million AAV - Anaheim could end up paying more than twice as much for roughly the same offensive output.
That kind of structure gives Utah more room to build around its stars and stay under the $10 million AAV line that no Stanley Cup champion in the cap era has crossed. In a league where the biggest contracts keep getting bigger, the Mammoth have chosen a different lane, and right now it looks a lot like the smart one.
In Other News...
Kevin Connauton Begins Surprising New NHL Path After Final Season
Kevin Connauton spent the 2025-26 season doing what veteran defensemen often get asked to do in the minors: steadying a team, helping younger players find their footing and waiting for the next call. For Tucson, he appeared in 30 games for the Roadrunners, chipped in five assists and provided the kind of experience an AHL club leans on when the standings tighten and the season settles into a grind.
The Roadrunners never got close to a postseason push, finishing seventh in the Pacific Division and missing the playoffs, while Utahs NHL club moved on to a first-round loss against Vegas after a 43-33-6 regular season. Connauton also saw only limited time in the NHL picture, which made his role in Tucson feel especially notable as the season wound down and his path away from the ice began to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Utah Mammoth May Have Landed Two Draft Steals Nobody Saw
Utahs draft board got a little more aggressive when the Mammoth traded up from No. 19 to No. 17 and grabbed Ethan Belchetz, a prospect whose size and upside made him one of the more intriguing names available. The move fit the kind of swing a young team can afford to take, especially when the goal is to add players who might grow into bigger roles rather than simply fill immediate holes.
The bigger surprise may have come in the third round, where Adam Valentini was still on the board at No. 96 after being projected to go earlier. Size concerns helped push him down, but that kind of slide can create real value for a team willing to bet on talent over consensus. For Utah, landing both players could end up looking like a rare draft haul if those gambles turn into contributors. [Read more 🡒]