In-depth breakdown of Logan Cooley’s game

Logan Cooley is a center who entered the season with a very impressive pedigree after being, by far, the best player for the United States at the World Under-18 Championship in 2021, when he was the youngest player in the squad. His start to the season was slightly delayed due to injury and in my eyes, it took him some time to find his bearings. For most of the first half of the season, he and Nazar fought a heated battle over who would be the first of the two on my list.

His skating is probably his primary quality. He is arguably the best skater of this draft. The number one thing that makes him such a good skater is his speed. As a center, his speed gives him the ability to be anywhere on the ice, without it seeming to require the slightest effort. He may as well be deep in his own zone supporting his defensemen one second and find himself on the counterattack the next. Even in possession of the puck, he likes to cover a lot of space and we will often see him circling the offensive zone while keeping the puck. His speed poses a threat and also sets opposing defensemen back a lot, making him one of the best players in this draft in transition. However, it is really his agility that sets him apart from the other fast skaters in this crop. Cooley is extremely ‘slippery’ and always finds a way to escape his opponents. He can turn on himself and change direction skillfully without losing speed. He also has a very high level of coordination where he manages to recover pucks behind his back without having to turn around or break his skating stride. He has a unique skating technique that allows him to distinguish himself by using an unusually wide base of support for a player of his size. This serves him very well on a few occasions when he pushes the opponent’s stick away with his leg.

Another aspect where Cooley rises well above his peers in this draft is in offensive creativity as well as natural ability. He plays with unwavering confidence and has the audacity to attempt plays in game situations that the majority of players wouldn’t even attempt in practice. He’s got great hands and he’s going to dangle more players than anyone in this draft. He loves to pass the puck between his legs in a one-on-one situation. As said before, he likes to keep the puck in the offensive zone for a long time and go around the entire zone. He likes to innovate and deceive his opponents in a daring way, for example, going through the offensive blue line he will pretend to leave the puck between his legs for his defenseman who switches positions with him and will finally keep the puck, leaving his cover with the defender and giving him the center of the ice. He also shows ingenuity in small spaces, for example, along the boards by passing the puck to himself or by using his agility and puck handling to get out of difficult situations.

More concretely, Cooley’s playmaking talents are expressed primarily through his propensity to keep the puck and dangle his opponents in order to open the play for his teammates. That being said, Cooley would still be a good playmaker if it weren’t for the fact that the quality of his hands and his skating greatly amplifies his passing skills. He’s really good at misleading his opponents by intentionally looking at another passing option. As far as I’m concerned, this is a fundamental quality of any good playmaker and Cooley manages to make these kinds of plays from different places on the rink; When playing in the left circle on the power play (which is not always the case), he will keep his shoulders, head and hips pointing towards the net before threading a pass through the defensive box. Another sequence showcased this quality perfectly as he descended down the right flank in a 3-on-2 and kept his eyes constantly on the player on the left to finally slide the puck delicately towards the player in the center who rushed to the net. Another quality of his passing skills is that he is comfortable on his backhand. We regularly see him using this type of pass to extend his reach while defenders lay down on the ice to cut passing lanes. His offensive creativity is also put forward with this type of pass as he will make backhand passes behind his back behind the opposing net. The final inclination that consistently comes out in his passing choices is that he really likes to drop-pass (or leave the puck between his skates for a teammate). It happens to him regularly in zone-entries to leave the puck directly to the player who follows him behind but he also uses this kind of pass laterally when he’s criss-crossing while gaining the zone, going from east to west.

If there’s one aspect of his offensive arsenal that Cooley has much to envy his rivals, it’s his shooting. His shot lacks power and Cooley doesn’t show the same signs of deception using his shot as he does with his puck distribution. He also doesn’t seem to possess any goal-scoring instincts as seen with other players. From a longer distance, his shots don’t hit the target as consistently. Overall, he’s still progressed over the season at that level, I’d say enough to pose some threat at the USHL level, but I don’t see him becoming a feared shooter at the next level. One thing I liked about his shot selection, and it may sound counterintuitive, but it was that he was forcing the other team to be honest and not cheat while using his shot. Since it’s not necessarily in his DNA to take a lot of shots, opposing teams had adjusted to his style of play and cheated on the penalty kill, keeping a tighter coverage towards his teammates. Cooley who was operating in the right circle had started taking a lot more shots. By having to be more wary of him, it again gave more space to his teammates. At this time of year, Cutter Gauthier (the primary shooting option on that powerplay) was at the left circle and he now had a lot more room to unleash his shot when Cooley gave him the puck.

Another aspect that identifies Cooley is his two-way game. He is one of the good defensive centers in this draft. This quality in him is expressed by three constants; his level of alertness on the ice, his skating and his work ethic. He is always taking information on the rink and he adjusts his positioning accordingly, he will never be taken on the wrong foot and he never cheats on the rink (which one might believe judging by his play with the puck). He always spots the occasions when, in his own zone, an opposing defender leaves his position to go down the goal crease. His level of involvement is also beyond reproach.

In conclusion, Cooley is a player that I like and have a lot of fun watching play. That said, I’m less optimistic than many of his ultimate potential. For the last stretch of the season, we saw him simply dominating in the USHL, that said, the style of play he advocated is far from guaranteeing success in the NHL. Too often his spectacular plays don’t materialize into anything concrete, it puts a damper on his offensive ceiling, plus he’s not much of a goal-scoring threat. At some point in early winter, I had him as low as 9th on my list. Although some doubts have been dispelled, others persist. His rise (or rather, his return) in my top 5 was a combination of his dominance in the last stretch of the season, as well as other players in front of him who have seen, question marks arise or remained in their play. He is quite possibly the most talented player in this draft, but not necessarily the most effective in his offense.