Brian Mueller can pinpoint the exact moment when he knew that Logan Cooley was special.

Cooley was a 15-year-old when Mueller called him up to the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 16U team after Cooley lit up a tournament in Canada with the 15U team. Cooley played well with the older boys, but he still looked a bit uncomfortable with a group that was more physically mature. 

“We were playing Florida Alliance, a team that was pretty heavy, and he had an open-ice hit and he just laid this big guy out,” said Mueller, who coached the 16Us.

The big guy was Clint Levens, a 6-feet-2 forward who played for Sioux City in the USHL the past two seasons and has committed to Providence College.

“Back then, Clint was a manchild who used to run guys left and right,” Mueller said. “Logan just flattened him and the bench went crazy. He had a grin on his face and I could just see it in his face, the confidence he got from that hit. He knew he belonged at that point.”

That 46-point season (45 games) was Cooley’s springboard to the USA Hockey National Training Development Program (NTDP) where he had 75 points combined between the U18 and juniors (USHL) teams this past season. And that stint with what is affectionately called “The Program” has vaulted the University of Minnesota commitment to the cusp of realizing his dream.

Cooley is widely expected to be among the first five selections at the 2022 NHL Draft in Montréal in July; possibly the top two or three. As mock drafts begin to roll out, both Daily Faceoff’s Chris Peters and The Athletic’s Corey Pronman project the Coyotes to select Cooley at No. 3 with Kingston’s Shane Wright and TPS’s Juraj Slafkovský going first and second respectively to Montréal and New Jersey.

“The most dynamic player in this draft as far as I’m concerned, Cooley checks a lot of boxes,” Peters wrote in his latest mock draft on May 11. “He’s among the most explosive skaters in this draft and has lightning quick hands to match. The only thing that Cooley doesn’t have is a big frame, but I do think he has arguably the best potential among forwards in this draft. The Coyotes can allow Cooley, who was named best forward at the U18 World Championship, to develop at Minnesota before bringing him into the fold.”

Over the past few weeks, Cooley has been inundated with media interview requests that have made it impossible for him to stop thinking about that life-altering event that is now just seven weeks away.

“My parents tell me it’s good practice to get the same questions over and over,” Cooley said, laughing. “I don’t know, but I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as I can. Obviously on draft day I will be a little nervous, but you only get drafted once so you’ve got to enjoy that, too.”

As Peters noted, there is obvious skill in Cooley’s toolbox. That’s the eye-catching part of his game, but there is another element of his game that excites scouts and executives just as much: his ability to impact the game in all three zones.

“His hockey IQ is extremely high, like at a unique level,” NTDP coach Adam Nightingale said. “He’s also really competitive and with the way he skates, when you combine all of those together, he really is a special player.

“Learning to play without the puck is one of the blessings of playing in the program. That 17-year-old year you’re in over your head in the USHL so you’ve got to play without the puck, and you’ve got to play 200 feet. You can’t just wait for the puck. I thought he really took a step in that area this season.”

The only knock on Cooley’s game — to which Peters alluded — is his frame. Per the last NHL Central Scouting official measurement, he was listed at 5 feet 10¼ inches. Cooley said he is now 5-11 and hopes to keep growing, but those measurements will be verified once again at the NHL Scouting Combine May 29–June 4 at KeyBank Center and LECOM Harborcenter in Buffalo.

There are smaller centers who excel in the NHL including 5-foot-10 Lightning center Brayden Point and former Coyote Daniel Brière (5-9). It’s not unheard of for teams to employ them, particularly in a game that is increasingly emphasizing speed and offense, but there are challenges.

“If you give away size you have to be really, really good,” former Coyotes director of amateur scouting Tim Bernhardt said. “Ideally, you want size because then it’s not as difficult to match up against the guys that do have that size; the Alekander Barkov, Ryan Getzlaf, Eric Staal type of centers. But if they’re really good like Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic or Sidney Crosby, it won’t matter so much.”

Nobody is comparing Cooley to those Hall-of-Fame caliber centers yet, but it is worth noting that Crosby and Sakic were both 5-11. One of the things that makes Crosby such an elite defensive center is his lower-body and overall strength. Cooley has been hard at work in that area. The NTDP put him on a program last summer and he added 10 pounds of lean muscle. He is hoping to accomplish the same thing this summer with his 174-pound frame.

“There’s always reporters out there that talk about your height but Jack Hughes is 5-10, Patrick Kane is probably the same, Brayden Point, too, so that’s something I don’t really focus on or listen to,” Cooley said. “I think as you get to the next level, it’s very important that you can play both sides, so that’s something I’ve been working on and continue to work on, and I’m definitely still working to add more strength.”

Nightingale sees another advantage in Cooley’s frame.

“The thing I think people don’t talk about with Logan is he’s got a really long wingspan,” Nightingale said. “To me, you play the game how long your arms are and his wingspan might be that of a guy that’s 6-2, 6-3.”

All of these topics will be discussed ad nauseam wherever Cooley lands, but he has simpler aspirations in the weeks leading up to that seminal moment.

“I’m going to continue to work out here at home, skate for a little and just enjoy the summer a little bit,” he said. “I don’t know exactly what date but I think in two weeks, we will go to Buffalo for the combine. After that I’ll probably come back to Pittsburgh, train a little bit and skate, probably go to Minnesota for a little bit just to see the campus again and meet some of the teammates, and then we’ll head to the draft.”

Cooley understands the Coyotes’ situation — both the rebuild and the arena — but none of it appears to daunts him. 

“I think they have a really bright future with their past draft picks and hopefully this year’s draft picks, too, so I’d be really fortunate to go to them,” he said. “Being able to come in and be surrounded by younger guys like me would be great. I kind of try to model my game after Clayton Keller so being able to play with him would be pretty awesome. And going through a rebuild to hopefully turn that team around would be something that was pretty cool.”

Top photo courtesy of Rena Laverty/USA Hockey NTDP

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