Joining Cooley were Arizona's two other first-round selections, forward
Conor Geekie
(No. 11) and defenseman
Maveric Lamoureux
(No. 29).
"It's nice to have shoulders to lean on, other guys to go through this with you," Cooley said.
The three first-round picks, who are considered to be the future of the Coyotes' extensive rebuilding project, took part in a morning session that included a physical, various tests and meetings.
"It's all a new process, and we're not used to that," Geekie said. "Just starting to know how everything works. Trying to learn from everyone, too. It's just getting as much information as we can for now."
In the afternoon, the 45 players invited to development camp split into teams as part of a four-hour practice. During that session, Cooley was the top center on his team while Geekie was No. 2 on his behind Jack McBain.
Lamoureux isn't practicing this week because of a shoulder injury but is expected to be 100 percent for rookie camp later in the fall.
"Right now, I'm trying to soak it all in and learn from this experience," Cooley said.
Cooley (5-foot-10, 174 pounds), who had 75 points (27 goals, 48 assists) in 51 games for the USA Hockey National Team Development Program Under-18 team last season, was selected third overall because of his potential to be an impact player, and that's a role he's comfortable with.
Although he is committed to play for the University of Minnesota, Cooley said he has already exchanged texts with Coyotes' top-line forward Clayton Keller about the possibility of playing together soon.
"From my days of building teams, centers are probably the hardest to come by in the sense they can have the biggest impact," Arizona general manager Bill Armstrong said. "If you're a high-level center in the NHL, you're never getting traded for the most part. If you see somebody you like at the center position … they're first on your list."
Also on Armstrong's list was to improve the Coyotes' size and playmaking down the middle, so it wasn't surprising when they used their other two first-round picks on Geekie and Lamoureux.
Geekie (6-3, 193) and Lamoureux (6-6, 196) will each add badly needed size and physicality to Arizona, and Geekie showed he could produce offensively as well after getting 70 points (24 goals, 46 assists) in 63 games for Winnipeg of the Western Hockey League.
Lamoureux had 24 points (four goals, 20 assists) in 54 games for Drummondville of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, but he is known for his big hits, with Geekie, who has played against him, saying, "He can be a real pain in the butt."
"There's always been a size factor. I do believe in that," Armstrong said. "You still have to have your guys who can really change the game. … If you're powerful, if you're dynamic, that's a great aspect to have, too, but there's definitely a lot of height and size we went after.
"It was extremely important for us to have a draft that would have some impact on our organization. You want to walk out of the draft with players that you love, not like, and we were able to do that."
It's all been a bit of a whirlwind for Cooley, Geekie and Lamoureux since the draft on Thursday. Even before all the congratulations had ended, they were already on a plane to Arizona in order to report to camp, get acclimated to the heat -- it was 113 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday -- and introduce themselves to teammates they mostly didn't know.
"It's definitely been the best day of my life, that's for sure," Lamoureux said. "Since I heard my name (called at the draft), everything shut down around me. It's actually amazing. It's a dream we've all had since we were kids, so just being here is incredible."
