Logan Cooley is no generational talent, but he's a brewing star player for the Utah Mammoth who signed an $80 million extension with an AAV of $10 million. Elliotte Friedman confirmed the news on Wednesday, and for the Detroit Red Wings, this might foreshadow a potential problem.
The good news is that the salary cap is rising. But the bad news is that the Wings have four youngsters in their core who will all be due for extensions at some point in the next three seasons: Simon Edvinsson, Marco Kasper, Emmitt Finnie, and Axel Sandin-Pellikka.
Cooley happens to be playing in his third full season with the Arizona Coyotes/Utah Mammoth, which is why it's worth talking about now. He has also progressively gotten better, now averaging over a point per game through 11 contests in 2025-26.
While it would be great if Finnie and Kasper evolve into point-per-game (or better) players in Detroit while Edvinsson and Sandin-Pellikka transform into playmakers, keeping all of them is going to be a challenge with these rising contract extensions.
Price tag for players like Logan Cooley will keep increasing in the coming seasons
The increasing salary cap will be a godsend for a Red Wings team looking to keep the Yzerplan's core players together. But if Edvinsson (eligible for an extension now), Kasper (eligible in 2026-27), Finnie, and Sandin-Pellikka (both eligible in 2027-28), exceed expectations, that $80 million problem could dramatically increase.
So far, Finnie has been a revelation with eight points and four goals in 10 contests. Kasper has struggled, with one point in 10 games, but he proved in 2024-25 that you can't write him off.
Edvinsson is showing signs of turning into a half-point per game player, at worst, and his trajectory will keep sailing north. Sandin-Pellikka is still adjusting offensively, but with 16 blocks in 10 games and a 50 percent Corsi at even strength prove he's showing flashes of brilliance.
Simon Edvinsson's upcoming contract extension will get murky
Beyond what we have seen regarding what a youngster like Logan Cooley will make, Edvinsson's upcoming extension will be interesting. He still has room to grow and has shown incredible growth, factoring in as a surefire top-four blueliner with 20:57 of average total ice time.
Does that mean Steve Yzerman should give him an eight-year extension if he's on pace for at least 40 points, or does he sign him to a "bridge deal" for two or three seasons? At that point, if Edvinsson grows into a 50-60-point player, then his value just skyrocketed.
Again, it's only a matter of time before youngsters in the NHL who are non-generational talents surpass the $10 million AAV Logan Cooley is making. We haven't even gotten to Kasper, who will turn his 2025-26 season around, Finnie, who's making teams look foolish for passing on him 200 times in the 2023 NHL Draft, or Sandin-Pellikka, who will turn into a playmaker.
Keep a close eye on what's going on around the league regarding these youngsters, and keep an even closer eye on when Edvinsson signs his extension, either sometime this season or in the summer of 2026.