Coach André Tourigny had high praise for Logan Cooley as he dove into the 19-year-old's improvement playing with Dylan Guenther.
Arizona Coyotes forward Logan Cooley has been one of the top storylines for the team through this season.
The 19-year-old was drafted with the third overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and is currently in the midst of his rookie campaign.
It’s been an up and down year for Cooley where he has shown flashes of extreme promise while also making some rookie mistakes.
Over the course of 43 games, Cooley has four goals, 17 assists and 21 points. He is also playing 16:09 minutes per night.
Cooley was going through some growing pains, but since the Coyotes called-up Dylan Guenther from the Tucson Roadrunners, he has slowly emerged into a more complete player.
“I’ll tell you this, since Guenther is with us, Cooley is twice the player he was,” André Tourigny said. “He was good before, he is really good now.”
Guenther was called-up from the AHL prior to the Coyotes’ matchup against the Winnipeg Jets on January 7 and has been with the team ever since.
Cooley and Guenther were quickly paired together and have shown great promise and flashes of what is to come in the future.
Through the past five games, Cooley has one goal, two assists and three points which is a testament of his steady improvement.
It’s more than just stats though. Cooley just looks more confident alongside Guenther and seems to be playing a faster and tougher brand of hockey. He has become much more noticeable on the ice and could really be on the verge of truly breaking out.
Guenther has been playing at a high level as well. In six games, he’s tallied two goals, one assist and three points while showing that he is fully deserving of staying with the Coyotes permanently.
Not to mention Clayton Keller played alongside these two young forwards for a little bit on Thursday night against the Vancouver Canucks and it was extremely exhilarating to watch as it is a line that many Coyotes fans may have dreamed of that’s finally coming to fruition.
The future is now. It will be exciting to see what Cooley and Guenther could do together for the remainder of this season and potentially for years to come.