Overview
- The Utah Mammoth matched New Jersey’s offer sheet on Wednesday and signed Barrett Hayton to a one-year contract worth $4.775 million, keeping the 26-year-old in Salt Lake City for 2026–27.
- Collective bargaining rules mean Utah cannot trade Hayton for one year, can begin extension talks on Jan. 1, 2027, and will see him become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2027 if no new deal is reached.
- Matching the offer creates a $4.775 million cap hit the Mammoth must absorb and deepens an already crowded center group after the Vincent Trocheck addition, likely forcing lineup shifts such as moving Hayton or others to the wing.
- For the New Jersey Devils, the failed bid preserves roughly $4.8 million in payroll flexibility and cost them nothing beyond the attempt, while Utah would have received New Jersey’s 2027 second-round pick had it declined to match.
- Offer sheets remain rare in the NHL but can be a low-cost tactic to test rival plans; Mammoth GM Bill Armstrong framed the move as keeping a two-way faceoff piece and Hayton said he’s excited to stay with the core he has grown with.