Since Oct. 17, the only NHL player with more points than Utah Mammoth forward Nick Schmaltz is his line mate, Clayton Keller.
Keller finished 11th in league scoring last year, so it should shock no one that he’s continuing to do big things this year. Schmaltz, on the other hand, is not exactly a household name.
The underlying numbers agree. Money Puck’s data has him ninth in high-danger expected goals and in the 91st percentile in medium- and low-danger expected goals.
It took him 23 games to score his first goal in a Utah jersey last year, but Schmaltz ended last season with 20 goals and 63 points. That’s the second consecutive season in which he has precisely matched Nikolaj Ehlers, 2025’s highest-paid departing free agent, in points.
The peculiar thing is that every hockey fan out there can tell you all about Ehlers and his contributions to the Winnipeg Jets over the last decade, but if you were to ask anyone outside of Utah and Arizona about Schmaltz, they’d probably just vaguely recognize the name.
Part of that is because of where he’s spent most of his career.
He had a few decent seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, but it wasn’t until his trade to the Arizona Coyotes that he blossomed into a full-time top-six player. Arizona never got the type of attention that Winnipeg or any other Canadian city gets, and the team hardly made the playoffs, where it would have drawn extra eyeballs.
Everyone on those Coyotes teams flew under the radar, from Schmaltz and Keller to Jakob Chychrun, Matias Maccelli and Conor Garland.
Being in Utah hasn’t changed much in that regard. While people outside the state are interested in the arena, the team name, the jerseys and other aspects of the transition from Arizona, Utah as a team hardly gets airtime on shows or podcasts that claim to focus on the league as a whole.
The simple fact is that stories about the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks get more clicks than pretty much any American market.
But attention doesn’t make the player any less valuable. Every team has enough pro scouts to cover the entire league, not just the big markets. Schmaltz is eligible to sign a contract extension now, and if he makes it to free agency, he’ll be among the most sought-after names — even if the general public doesn’t realize it.
What could Nick Schmaltz be worth in free agency?
Ehlers’ deal came in at $8.5 million over a six-year term, for $51 million in total. He and Schmaltz are both slightly undersized wingers, and they’re nine days apart in age, so even beyond their identical point totals, there are plenty of comparable factors between the two.
That said, Schmaltz has a few extra factors in his favor.
When Ehlers signed, contract values were only slightly higher than they’d been in years past. But in the last month or so, they’ve absolutely skyrocketed. Guys who may have previously been worth $9-$10 million are getting $12 million-plus. Players barely coming off their entry-level deals are signing for the type of money Ehlers worked his whole career to get.
Schmaltz is also capable of playing center if needed. He showed that throughout the preseason when Barrett Hayton, Logan Cooley and Jack McBain were injured, filling in. That’s where he played when he was younger, but Mammoth coach André Tourigny has almost always had him on the wing.
Centers are more valuable, and the versatility of being able to play either position can really make the player attractive to teams.
Schmaltz will absolutely get a raise from the $5.85 million he currently makes. Ehlers’ number might be an easy comparable, but with the way the salary cap is going up and the way Schmaltz has started the season, it wouldn’t be surprising if his camp asked for more than that.
One interesting note: Schmaltz’ agent, Kurt Overhardt, is an executive vice president at Wasserman, the sports agency company where Mammoth president of hockey operations Chris Armstrong spent 14 years, most recently serving as an executive vice president.
Overhardt joined after Armstrong had departed, so they never worked together, but they undoubtedly have plenty of mutual connections.
