Logan Cooley, the third overall pick in 2022, has seemingly changed course and decided to sign his ELC with Arizona, foregoing his sophomore season. Cooley is one of the brightest prospects in the NHL and will be bringing his electrifying game to the Desert, where he will be joining a forward core headlined by Clayton Keller. The Pittsburgh, PA native finished his freshman season with Minnesota as the national championship runner ups as he also was a Hobey Baker finalist finishing with a statline of 22-38-60 in 39 games played. Cooley also brought his stellar play to the U-20 World Juniors, where in seven games, he finished with 7-7-14 as USA finished the tournament with a bronze medal.
The Coyotes have made several moves to be a more competitive team this season, and Cooleys addition just keeps helping there. Cooley should be stepping into a top-nine forward role right out the gate with plenty of room to move up in the lineup while playing a significant part of the Coyotes PP. The Yotes are looking at improving an offense that finished 27th in the league last year, and Cooley is a massive boost to that. With the additions the team made, they have plenty of players to ease Cooley into the lineup, and while he may start on the wing, there will be opportunities to get some time at center as well. This is a very exciting development for Coyotes fans and fans of hockey in general, as Cooley should be a must-watch talent pretty quickly.
While this is exciting for Coyotes fans, this is a definite blow to the Gophers chances at a title, although they will still have a great team with newcomer Oliver Moore and returning standout Jimmy Snuggerud.
