Coyotes vs Devils: Logan Cooley’s NHL debut goes very well

Everyone expects the New Jersey Devils to be Stanley Cup contenders and rightfully so. They have a roster loaded with talent that is ready to take another step in their development. On Saturday night, they took on an Arizona Coyotes team that everyone thinks is kind of bad. Again, that is fair considering how they have played in recent years.

However, the Coyotes had some seriously impressive wins in 2022-23. They took down teams like the Boston Bruins and Vegas Golden Knights while always playing well at home. This team is scrappy and is going to make a lot of games hard for their opponents in 2023-24.

The Yotes got even better during the off-season by making some very nice additions to their roster. One of those additions was Logan Cooley as he decided to leave college and come to the NHL. The Minnesota Golden Gopher was incredible there after Arizona made him the number three pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.

He made his NHL debut on Friday night and it went very well for him. He collected his first career NHL point at 4:23 of the second period as he assisted on a power play goal scored by Sean Durzi. That goal gave Arizona a 2-0 lead.

Logan Cooley and the Arizona Coyotes had a good start against the New Jersey Devils.

This was the second straight game in which New Jersey had a little bit of a slow start. However, it is also the second straight game that they battled back. Some incredible work by Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Dougie Hamilton allowed the Devils to take a 3-2 lead. They are going to do this a lot over the next handful of years with players like this.

In the third period, Logan Cooley collected his second NHL point on a power play goal by Nick Schmaltz that tied the game. Eventually, the Yotes won the game in the shootout and found a nice little victory over an elite team. Cooley was right in the middle of it all.

New Jersey passed on Cooley in the 2022 NHL Draft as they selected Simon Nemec with the second overall pick.

We don’t at all know if that was a bad idea or not because Nemec is also a very highly touted prospect. He is a defenseman so the Devils are making sure he is truly ready with his development. They are also far deeper than Arizona so they can afford the patience right now.

Cooley will remember this as an incredible NHL debut for himself. He was as good as advertised and he helped his team to a win.

He should be proud. Now, he is going to work on scoring that first goal of his career. His next chance is going to come on Monday when they take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

As for New Jersey, they are also off until Monday now after their 1-0-1 start. They will take 3 out of four points in their first two games, especially since they were a bit sloppy and have a lot of work still left to do.

Their next game will also come on Monday when they host the Florida Panthers. What a start it’s been for the stars of these two teams.