SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Logan Cooley is determined to play in the NHL for the Arizona Coyotes this season, and his first chance to make an impression will be in Australia.
Cooley, a 19-year-old center and the No. 3 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, will be among 25 Coyotes players making the trip to the 2023 NHL Global Series -- Melbourne for two preseason games against the Los Angeles Kings on Sept. 23 and 24.
While deciding whether to stay at the University of Minnesota for a second season or sign with Arizona on July 27, Cooley probably didn’t expect his first NHL road trip to be 16,400 miles roundtrip.
But he can’t wait.
“It’s going to be awesome. You don't get to go to a place like Australia too often and to play hockey there, and it’s something I’m looking forward to,” Cooley said Tuesday. “It’s going to be nice to continue to meet the guys and explore a new place and, obviously, get some games.”
Cooley will play one game in the NHL Rookie Faceoff on Friday in Nevada before starting his first NHL training camp. And, he’s certain, his first NHL season.
“I'm a guy that's super competitive. I've always had high expectations,” Cooley said. “Going in, I want to be an impactful player. That's my goal. I want to help this team win as many games as possible, I want to produce and I want to thrive in this league. And I feel like I'm ready to do that.”
Cooley will be joined in Australia by all of the Coyotes’ top returning players, including forwards Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz and Lawson Crouse, on the nine-day trip that begins Saturday and incorporates most of their training camp.
NHL teams normally take 50-plus players to camp, but coach Andre Tourigny will have his core group available immediately. For Cooley, that means working right away with mostly NHL-level players rather than a mix of veterans and prospects.
“We’ll have kind of a jump start on what we want to do, how we want to play in our special [teams], how we want to play 5-on-5, what's our fundamentals and that's a tremendous opportunity,” Tourigny said. “We're going to Australia and we’ll have a good time. We'll have all the boys together.”
Cooley, who is from Pittsburgh, has been an elite scorer throughout his career. He had 60 points (22 goals, 38 assists) in 39 games in 2022-23 for Minnesota and 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) for the United States at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Tourigny and general manager Bill Armstrong are eager to see how quickly Cooley adapts to the NHL and how he fits in alongside players such as Dylan Guenther, Matias Maccelli, Jason Zucker and Crouse.
“I want to see his work ethic. I want to know how much information he can absorb, how quickly he can adapt,” Tourigny said. “I want to see where's the ceiling in terms of teaching him, in working with him.”
