Second-Year Star Key to Utah's Success

If the Utah Hockey Club wants to have success during their inaugural season, they need one of their second year players to take a huge step.

Sep 22, 2024; Des Moines, Iowa, USA; Utah Hockey Club forward Logan Cooley (92) skates on a breakaway during their game with the St. Louis Blues at Wells Fargo Arena. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-Imagn Images / Reese Strickland-Imagn Images

The Utah Hockey Club's inaugural season is sure to be an exciting one. With their first season in Salt Lake City, the organization is hoping a change of scenery and some savvy offseason moves can propel the team back into the postseason.

Utah's biggest moves came via trade, acquiring defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino. Both trades give the team a level of defensive depth the organization has never seen. But when it comes to moving up in the Central Division, there is a player even more important to their success: forward Logan Cooley.

The second-year center is a crucial piece of Utah's current and future success. The team selected him third overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, and the 20 year-old forward debuted with a solid rookie season last season. He recorded 20 goals and finished with 44 points while playing

Entering year two in the NHL, Utah and Cooley are expecting a big jump. And if the team plans on making it back into the playoffs, they need him to take that step. 20 goals and 44 points is an excellent start, but Utah needs Cooley to be a 30-goal, 70-point player as a sophomore in the NHL.

Which Cooley is absolutely capable of. If you watched any of his 20 goals as a rookie there was a theme that developed. Cooley has other worldly speed, and needs just a stride or two to separate from the defense. It happened during his first NHL goal when he took a pass in between the center line and blue line and by the time he was in the offensive zone, he was two strides in front of the closest defenseman.

It was a thing of beauty that he kept up most of the season and continued to improve. What also stood out was how creative he was with the puck. On a breakaway, in tight, or releasing a one-timer, he has the ability to score in any way imaginable. With a season of confidence behind him, he should be able to create more and convert more as well.

Which Utah desperately needs. Most of their offensive hopes currently rest on winger Clayton Keller, who is a bonafide 30-goal scorer in the NHL. It isn't enough to get them to the postseason, however. But with a tangible step forward from Cooley on the ice and on the stat sheet, Utah could become a sneaky contender in the Central Division.

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