Star Utah middle Logan Cooley might be sidelined indefinitely with a lower-body damage, the staff announced Friday. He’ll be re-evaluated when the league schedule resumes following the 4 Nations Face-Off.
It’s not clear when Cooley sustained the injury. He skated 19:50 against the Penguins on Wednesday, more than two minutes above his season average, and ended a three-game point drought in the process with a secondary assist on a Mikhail Sergachev energy play objective.
Cooley, the third-overall decide of the 2022 draft by the Coyotes, has but to overlook a sport since signing his entry-level contract with Arizona in the summertime of 2023. He’ll now be held out of Utah’s subsequent six video games, the stability of their schedule till the 4 Nations event, at a minimal.
The 20-year-old’s absence might be felt immensely for a staff with a bottom-10 offense already coping with a lower-body injury to top-six winger Dylan Guenther. He’s damaged out in an enormous method after an inconsistent rookie marketing campaign, rating second on Utah in scoring with 43 factors (15 G, 28 A) by 50 video games. His plus-four ranking is tied for fourth on the membership, and his 17:47 ATOI ranks third amongst forwards behind Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz. He’s additionally enhancing within the faceoff dot — whereas nonetheless subpar with a 44.2% win charge on over 500 attracts, it’s up by a major margin from final 12 months’s 38% determine.
That soar in manufacturing comes regardless of Cooley logging most of his time at even energy away from Keller and Schmaltz, who Barrett Hayton has centered for a lot of the 12 months. As a substitute, Cooley anchors the staff’s second line between Guenther and Jack McBain, nonetheless tying for second on the staff with 19 even-strength assists.
Cooley’s two-way sport continues to be creating, however extra regarding is the lack of Utah’s arguably handiest even-strength producer as they slide additional out of the wild-card race within the Western Convention. It’s been an injury-fueled, inconsistent first 12 months in Salt Lake Metropolis for the ex-Coyotes group, who’ve handled prolonged absences to Guenther and top-four defenders Sean Durzi and John Marino. It’s not all dangerous information, although — Marino returned earlier this month and has 4 assists by eight video games, whereas Guenther and Durzi skated with the staff Friday in non-contact jerseys, Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune studies.
Within the meantime, Hayton will seemingly overtake Cooley’s job on the highest power-play unit and can look to spice up his manufacturing. The 2018 fifth-round decide has been an excellent two-way complement at even energy to Keller and Schmaltz, recording 26 factors by 50 video games with a second-place plus-seven ranking. Hayton’s 11 even-strength targets are second on the staff behind Keller’s 13, however he has simply two power-play factors this season whereas skating with the second unit.
