On July 1st, the Utah Mammoth had an eventful day. One of the biggest things that happened was the rare offer sheet. The New Jersey Devils decided to take a chance at restricted free agentBarrett Hayton and offer a one-year, $4.775M deal, and the Mammoth had one week to match- or not match it. Interestingly enough, despite the great majority of Mammoth fans not really wanting the deal to be matched, Utah did it anyway. The GM, Bill Armstrong, gave an interesting reason:
A "second-round pick has a 30% chance to play in the NHL", according to Armstrong
In an interview with KSL Sports, Cole Bagley, the GM of Utah, just said that the Devils "were trying to steal a player and weren't offering a lot back." If Utah hadn't matched the deal, which of course, they did, then Utah would've only received a second-round pick in return. According to Armstrong, a second-round selection has just a 30% of reaching the NHL, which is an interesting statement from the GM. Clearly, Armstrong wasn't impressed by what the Devils had to offer, and even though Hayton is being paid a pretty hefty amount for what he produced last season, Utah was trying to avoid being robbed or pushed into a corner.
"We need a player that's a proven NHL player," Armstrong said. This is completely true. Yes, Utah would've had about 4 million in salary cap room left to get maybe good talent still on the market. However, that deal isn't too expensive, and Hayton can pretty much do everything. Unfortunately, the story of Hayton hasn't been a great one as the former 5th overall selection of the 2018 NHL draft has failed to be an X-factor in Utah. Hayton scored just 10 goals and added 15 assists this last season in 67 games after scoring 20 goals and adding 26 assists the season prior. Even with that being said, though, at the very least, the depth of Utah is among the best in the NHL. Hopefully, Utah won't regret this decision. The 26-year-old after all has some pret
Add us as a preferred source on Google