A Utah Hockey Club rising star is set for a big payday. How much might Logan Cooley get?

Logan Cooley pushed up in the defensive zone as he saw the puck stall at the blue line.

The center collected a chipped pass from Barrett Hayton and hurtled forward. With a defenseman in front of him and the option to dish to Nick Schmaltz on the left, Cooley instead picked his shot off the rush. He wired it bar-down on Connor Hellebuyck — the clear leader for the Vezina Trophy this season. The goal helped lift Utah Hockey Club to a 5-2 win over the then league-best Winnipeg Jets on a January night at Delta Center.

Cooley had turned a corner. The confidence and assuredness the 20-year-old was skating with were different. It is part of what made Cooley’s sophomore showing in the NHL a roaring success.

And now, as the long offseason commences for Utah Hockey Club, it is what will get Cooley paid.

Cooley — who was selected third overall in the 2022 NHL Draft by the Arizona Coyotes — has a year left on his entry-level deal, which carries a $950,000 average annual value. However, he is eligible to sign a contract extension as early as July 1.

It is a piece of business that general manager Bill Armstrong and his staff have on their long to-do list this summer. Cooley, after all, is looking like a franchise player for the Club, and in the modern NHL, teams must lock talent down early.

“It is a mutual thing where you get together with the player and the agent and get down to work. There are a lot of comparables out there for a player like that,” Armstrong said. “We’re looking forward to those talks. Obviously, he’s a great young player in our organization.”

Cooley’s rookie year, while still impressive, was plagued with uncertainty. He joined the Coyotes in the midst of swirling relocation rumors — which eventually landed the team in Salt Lake City — and he was learning to be a professional after spending just one season in college. Cooley battled inconsistency at times and finished with 44 points (20 goals, 24 assists) in 82 games.

He then took the summer to fine-tune ahead of the inaugural season in Utah. He got stronger and bigger. He worked on his shot and he committed to his two-way game. And then, it paid off.

Cooley posted 65 points (25 goals, 40 assists) — all of which were career highs and good for second-most on the team, just behind captain Clayton Keller — in 75 games. He ended the season centering the first line between Keller and Dylan Guenther, spent time on both power-play units and contributed to the penalty kill.

Cooley proved to be a difference maker — one Utah needs to keep around.

“Cools has all-world talent,” defenseman Mikhail Sergachev said. “No. 3 pick for a reason. You don’t get picked third if you’re not great. And he is great. He’s a maximalist as well. He pushes himself, pushes guys beside him to be better. He’s got the potential to be a leader. He’s a young guy right now but you can see — he’s very responsible without the puck and defensively. That is what I appreciate about him most.”

Utah has around $22 million in cap space and will use a chunk of that to sign Cooley to a more extensive deal. What could that look like?

A potential comparison is Wyatt Johnston on the Dallas Stars. Johnston, who was selected 23rd overall by the Stars in the 2021 NHL Draft, is a 21-year-old center. He had 71 points (33 goals, 38 assists) in 82 regular-season games (Cooley likely would have logged the same if he were not injured for seven games this year). Johnston is on both the power play and penalty kill for the Stars, too.

Dallas signed Johnston to a five-year, $42 million contract (with a $8.4 million AAV) in March. It is a deal Cooley’s agent can bring to the table to show why — based on the market — his client deserves that range or more. There is also the fact that the NHL salary cap — which was $88 million this year — is going up to $95.5 million in the 2025-26 season and continuing to increase from there. Accordingly, players will likely negotiate for more money.

“For us, it was about — with me and my agent — just playing, not thinking about [a contract extension] too much throughout the year. I’m sure there’s going to be some talks coming up here soon. This is kind of the only time I’ve really thought of it. It’s always in the back of your head but you just try to focus on the season,” Cooley said. “[Utah] is a spot I want to be for a while.”

Cooley, Armstrong and others involved in the contract conversations can also look internally — Utah signed Dylan Guenther to an eight-year, $57.14 million contract (with a $7.14 AAV) in September. The 22-year-old had 60 points (27 goals, 33 assists) in 70 games and is another piece of the team’s future core.

“There’s certainly no rush at this point. There are priorities — not that Logan is not a huge priority — but it is just the way it rolls,” Armstrong said. “We will deal with it at some point in time this summer.”

Guenther got a longer term while Johnston got a higher value. Cooley may get a mix of both or sacrifice one for the other. Either way, the Utah players are excited to have him in the system for the years to come.

“They’ve been unbelievable. So good, so quickly. They are great guys to be around. Great teammates,” Keller said of Cooley and Guenther, with whom he played on a line. “They’re always trying to get better. They’re two special guys that this franchise is going to have for a very long time. They’re only going to get better; they’re both so young.”

Keller can relate to what Cooley is going through. He was the first overall pick in 2016, came into the league at 18 years old and proceeded to sign an eight-year, $57.2 million contract in September of 2019.

“I remember when I was that age, too. It is crazy to think about it, how young they are. I was kind of in the same position. It is cool to kind of help them,” Keller said. “I think we have a really talented, unique young core that not a lot of teams in the NHL have. It’s awesome. Super motivating. We all want to win and that is what is most exciting about next year for sure.”

Despite the ensuing lofty contract talks, Cooley is trying to remain focused on his game. He will represent Team USA at the World Championship in May and will spend time training at home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, too. And perhaps, somewhere in there, he will ink a life-changing deal, too.

“There is still a lot of work to be done. My career is obviously just getting started. ... It is a dream come true and it is something that I love to do and want to do for a while,” Cooley said. “Starting from the ownership — what they’ve done in such a short time — it’s super special to be a part of. I think that allows players and [makes players] want to play here for this ownership.”