​The Utah Mammoth have matched New Jersey’s offer sheet for Barrett Hayton, locking the 26-year-old center into a contract worth 4.775 million dollars for the upcoming season. “Barrett is a key piece of our team and important to what we are building here in Utah,” said Bill Armstrong, the team’s general manager. “He’s strong in the faceoff circle, he plays well on both sides of the puck, and he can fit with anyone in our forward group. We are grateful to be able to count on Barrett in our lineup next season.” If Utah had chosen not to match, the Devils would have received New Jersey’s 2027 second-round pick as compensation. Unlike some other offer sheet risks, New Jersey’s decision cost them nothing; the move was similar to Philadelphia’s $90 million offer sheet to Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson.
The Mammoth now plan to keep Hayton in Utah, and he is eligible to sign an extension starting January 1 but cannot be traded before July 1, when he would be able to reach the unrestricted free agent market at age 27. “I’m fired up to get back with my teammates and remain in Utah,” Hayton said. “I’ve grown with this core group for my entire career, and it’s exciting that we have an opportunity to accomplish something special next season.”
Hayton finished the previous season with 25 points in 67 regular-season games. The fifth overall pick in the 2018 draft, selected by the team when it was based in Arizona, Hayton has accumulated 155 points in 362 NHL games, including playoffs, to date.
Offer sheets have been relatively rare in recent years, though there have been notable exceptions. In the summer of 2024, St. Louis successfully lured forward Dylan Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg away from Edmonton, taking advantage of the Oilers’ salary-cap constraints to keep two promising young players. This year, fifteen restricted free agents filed for arbitration, with Dallas’ Jason Robertson among the most high-profile, making them ineligible to sign an offer sheet.
Sunny Mehta, who became a first-time general manager when he took control of the Devils’ hockey operations in April, spoke cautiously about the prospect of offering Hayton an offer sheet. “I know that the offer-sheet thing is a unique situation. It’s exciting, I understand all that, but with it still within that seven-day window, I can’t comment on any of it right now,” Mehta said during a video call with reporters.