Arizona Coyotes hand Nick Schmaltz lengthy contract extension

The Arizona Coyotes today announced that they have handed Nick Schmaltz a fairly lengthy contract extension.

Nick Schmaltz will now be a member of the Arizona Coyotes until 2026, having signed a new seven-year extension with the club.

While it is club policy to not reveal the monetary value of contracts, the Athletic’s Craig Morgan and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman both stated it holds an average annual value of $5.85 million.

Schmaltz, who was set to become a restricted free agent this summer, will become the team’s second-highest paid forward behind Derek Stepan with this extension.

The 23-year-old, originally a first round (20th overall) selection by the Chicago Blackhawks, originally joined the Coyotes in the blockbuster trade that saw Brendan Perlini and Dylan Strome sent the other way.

Since arriving in the desert, Schmaltz has registered five goals and 14 total points in 17 regular season games – having suffered a season-ending injury at the turn of the year.

The Wisconsin native was undoubtedly showing real potential within the Coyotes line-up, with his injury seen as a huge setback for Rick Tocchet‘s side.

With Schmaltz on the ice, the Coyotes had a successful power-play unit, with a 20% success rate – 3.2% higher than the team’s season average to date.

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The contract is a surprisingly long one and comes with a surprisingly high cap hit, despite Schmaltz having only one significantly impressive season so far in his career.

The 2017/18 season saw Schmaltz register 21 goals and 52 total points in 78 regular season games, improving on his rookie campaign by 24 points.

Schmaltz was on pace to earn around 50 points again this season, and the hope will be that he can reach that point on a regular basis for the foreseeable future.

It is a positive sign that the Coyotes are locking up their most talented players, with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Christian Dvorak and Jakob Chychrun all having new contracts starting from next season.

With the team still scratching and clawing in their hunt for the playoffs, the future certainly looks far brighter for the organisation than at the end of last season.

That future now seems to feature Schmaltz heavily, who will likely hold a top-six role once he is back on the ice by the start of next season.

What do you think Coyotes fans? Are you pleased to see Schmaltz given such a long deal? What are your thoughts in the monetary value? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!