The Utah Mammoth locked up a key piece of their core through 2034 on Wednesday. Center Logan Cooley signed an eight-year contract extension with a $10-million cap hit, the team announced. The signing, which kicks in next season, comes amid a four-game point streak for the 21-year-old and a hot start to the campaign for the NHL's newest franchise [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/utah/latest-news/breaking-mammoth-sign-logan-cooley-to-an-8-year-80-million-contract-extension]. "Choosing to play with this group of teammates was the easiest part of this decision, and living in Utah has been amazing since Day 1," Cooley said in a news release [https://www.nhl.com/utah/news/utah-mammoth-sign-forward-logan-cooley-to-eight-year-contract-extension-release-10-29-25]. "The atmosphere at the Delta Center in front of our fans is unreal, and (owners) Ryan and Ashley Smith have given our team every resource to succeed, which is all you can ask for as a player. We have an opportunity to do something special here, thanks to the incredible people in the organization." The Mammoth are tied for the most points in the NHL, with 16, and the most wins, with eight. They're also tied for the fifth-most goals-for per game, at 3.64, and Cooley's played an important role in that success. He has eight goals and four assists for 12 points in 11 games, including six goals and nine points in his last four outings alone. Logan Cooley (Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/92deb1f1-6060-4dd6-82af-3ca1587aeb1e.jpeg] Logan Cooley (Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images) The third overall pick in the 2022 NHL draft joined the Mammoth after they acquired the Arizona Coyotes' hockey assets in June 2024. After a 20-goal, 44-point rookie campaign in Arizona, Cooley recorded 25 goals and 65 points in 75 games in Utah's inaugural season. While it's still too early to take much stock in his scoring rate, Cooley is on pace for 59 goals and 89 points over 82 games. Averaging a career-high 18:47 in ice time this month, it's likely Cooley will at least hit new career highs in scoring once again. In 168 career NHL games, the Pittsburgh native has 53 goals and 68 assists for 121 points. Image [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/6168ee3f-ae33-4e6a-93b4-95b0e4dc0104.png] Insider Frank Seravalli [https://x.com/frank_seravalli/status/1975201035405894136] reported on Oct. 6 that Cooley's camp turned down an eight-year contract with a $9.6-million cap hit before the season. He got $400,000 more per year, bringing his new deal to $3.2 million more than the pre-season offer. Cooley's not the only youngster to sign a significant contract extension this week. Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley, 24, signed an eight-year deal [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/dallas-stars/latest-news/star-defenseman-inks-massive-extension] with an average annual value of $10.587 million on Tuesday night. But Harley and Cooley did set new marks for U-25 NHL players. Harley's average annual value is the highest for that group in 2026-27, while Cooley's is the highest among U-24 players. Mammoth teammate JJ Peterka, 23, initially had the team's highest cap hit for next season, at $7.7 million. He's on a line with Cooley and Dylan Guenther, which has produced 11 goals so far, according to moneypuck.com [https://moneypuck.com/lines.htm]. Utah has one more pending RFA on the NHL roster, Barrett Hayton, and 10 pending UFAs, including Nick Schmaltz, Alexander Kerfoot and Vitek Vanecek. For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
