New Jersey Devils

Devils Make Surprising Offer Sheet Move — Now Utah Stuck In UFA Loophole

The New Jersey Devils’ offer sheet to Barrett Hayton raises eyebrows. Discover the implications of this bold move.

by
NHL Trade Talk
July 1, 2026

The New Jersey Devils have tendered an offer sheet to Utah Mammoth forward Barrett Hayton, a one-year deal worth $4.775 million. If Utah declines to match, the Devils would send a second-round pick as compensation.

The Devils confirmed the offer sheet in a statement, and the rest of the NHL world is trying to figure out what exactly the Devils are trying to accomplish.

#NEWS: We’ve tendered an offer sheet to Utah Mammoth center Barrett Hayton, a one-year contract at $4,775,000 per year, which would require a second-round draft pick as compensation.
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) July 1, 2026

The move has drawn some head-scratching reactions around the league. Sources indicate Utah has no real cap crunch, and at $4.775 million on a single-year term, matching is considered an easy call. Perhaps the one wrinkle the Devils are banking on is that fact that if Utah matches, Hayton can’t be traded for a full calendar year — though he’d still hit unrestricted free agency next summer regardless. That means, if he didn’t want to stay, Utah couldn’t recoup any assets for him at the NHL trade deadline. They’d have to let him walk.

The fact that he signed the offer sheet might suggest he’s looking to leave the Mammoth anyway. Perhaps Utah would prefer to take the pick as compensation, essentially trading him to the Devils for a second-rounder.

Hayton, 26, posted 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in 67 games last season, including four power-play goals and a career-high 54 penalty minutes, though he saw just one game of playoff action. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound forward has 155 career points across 358 NHL games since debuting with the Arizona Coyotes in October 2019, spending four seasons there before the franchise relocated to Utah.

Utah has seven days to make its decision, and the situation raises an interesting question: would the Mammoth have traded Hayton for a second-round pick anyway, if given the choice?

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