Here is why pairing Logan Cooley and Matias Maccelli would impact the Arizona Coyotes in a huge way.
In the third period of the Arizona Coyotes Tuesday night game against the New York islanders, coach André Tourigny experimented pairing up Matias Maccelli with Logan Cooley and Jason Zucker in order to try to get some sort of offensive spark.
While that line did not produce any goals, they had their chances and played a quick brand of hockey so keeping Maccelli and Cooley together is something Tourigny should consider.
Playing with a player like Maccelli can really elevate Cooley’s game. Both Cooley and Maccelli have a pass first mentality and they can work off each other perfectly, creating one of the strongest young pairings in the Central Division.
It would really benefit Cooley to be paired with a player that can help him generate some more scoring chances which is exactly what Maccelli is made to do.
Maccelli is picking up right where he left off in terms of performance from last season, but playing with Cooley who has the capabilities to be an elite goalscorer, would really help his game takeoff to a different dimension.
It seems that Maccelli has strong chemistry on and off the ice with Nick Bjugstad and Lawson Crouse but the two power forwards play a completely different style of play compared to the 23-year-old winger. Bjugstad and Crouse use their size and to their advantage while Maccelli really isn’t really a physical player.
For Cooley, both Zucker and Kerfoot are both good goalscorers to have on the wing but sharing the ice with someone who has the same sort of creativity with the puck can really help. It opens the opportunity to not just have one elite playmaker on the ice but two at the same time which would be trouble for opposing teams.
It’s an interesting concept that could elevate the Coyotes top-six forward group in a huge way.