The Pittsburgh area has produced three first-round draft picks in NHL history.
The first was Plum native R.J. Umberger, who was selected No. 16 overall by the Canucks in 2001. Henrik Samuelsson, who didn't grow up in Pittsburgh but was born in the city during his father Ulf's time with the Penguins, was picked No. 27 overall by the Coyotes in 2012. The highest-ever draft pick from the region was J.T. Miller, who grew up in Coraopolis and went on to be selected No. 15 overall by the Rangers in 2011.
Other recent high draft picks from the area include John Gibson (second round, 2011, Ducks), Brandon Saad (second round, 2011, Blackhawks), Vince Trocheck (third round, 2011, Panthers).
West Mifflin's Logan Cooley is set to become the highest-drafted Pittsburgh native in NHL history.
Cooley, a center, is projected top-3 pick in this summer's draft, which will be held on July 7 in Montreal. The Canadiens hold the first overall pick, followed by the Devils at No. 2 and the Coyotes at No. 3.
Cooley began playing hockey as an inaugural member of the Little Penguins Learn to Play Program, an introductory program for children aged 5-9 that was spearheaded by Sidney Crosby in 2008. Cooley went on to play in the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite Program for two years before making the move to the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2020. He's committed to the University of Minnesota for next season.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS ELITE
Logan Cooley with the U16 Pittsburgh Penguins Elite team.
Pittsburgh has seen an explosion in youth hockey since the early 1990s, with players like Miller, Gibson, Saad, and Trocheck part of a phenomenon that was dubbed the "Mario Lemieux effect." After Lemieux and the Penguins brought back-to-back Stanley Cups home to Pittsburgh, local children's interest in learning to play hockey skyrocketed.
With Pittsburgh now becoming part of the discussion as a real hockey hotbed, fueled in part by program's like Crosby's Little Penguins Learn to Play, it could be said that players like Cooley are part of what should be dubbed the "Sidney Crosby effect."
When Cooley's name gets called next month in Montreal, he's hoping that it continues to elevate Pittsburgh's hockey hotbed status.
"There haven't been too many guys that have really came out of Pittsburgh," Cooley said Friday at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo. "J.T. Miller, Vincent Trocheck, John Gibson. I'm just trying to make maybe a bigger name for the city, make it more of a hockey town. I think it's done a really good job of starting to produce more and more players. I'm happy where the Pittsburgh area is at right now."
Various scouting reports on the 5-foot-10, 174-pound Cooley leading up to the draft praise his playmaking abilities, vision, skating, and faceoff skills. He's regarded as having one of the best two-way games in the entire draft class, according to the scouting service Smaht Scouting.
"Logan Cooley’s style of play is one which every team in the NHL could use on their roster," wrote USHL scout Paul Zuk. "He’s an extremely talented two-way forward, and where he may lack in size to some, he certainly more than makes up for it by playing an extremely mature game in all areas of the ice. Cooley can be trusted in every situation, regardless of how the game is playing out. His two-way game is arguably amongst the top of the class, if not already sitting atop the list."
And as Cooley showed in this year's U18 World Junior Championship, he has some pretty sick hands too:
"I'm a player that is not the biggest," Cooley said. "So I need to be pretty skilled with the puck. That's something that I've also worked on over the past two years, is to get my skill better, work on my hands, work on in-tight."
Asked on Friday which current NHL player Cooley thinks his game most resembles, Cooley didn't choose a forward from his hometown team.
"A guy who I like to watch his Patrick Kane," Cooley said. "You know, we're similar in height. I think we're real skilled with the puck. A guy like him, watching the way he maneuvers through bigger defenders, that's what I try to do and try to model my game after him."
Something Cooley thinks he needs to improve on in order to become an impactful player at the NHL level is getting stronger and more explosive, something he thinks he's been able to make progress with at the USNTDP.
Kingston Frontenacs center Shane Wright has been the projected No. 1 overall pick this summer for quite some time. But over the last year, Cooley has climbed the ranks and emerged as a serious challenger to Wright for that first pick.
Cooley said Friday that he had meetings with the Canadiens' front office, and also went out to dinner with five members of Montreal's staff while at the combine. He's also had lengthy meetings with the Devils and Coyotes.
"I don't think it's really intimidating," Cooley said of those meetings. "You know, you're just trying to get to know each other, they're trying to get to know more about your family, how you are as a player, a person. It's building kind of a friendship and a relationship, and trying to get to know each other. It's not intimidating at all."
Whether Cooley ends up in Montreal, New Jersey, or Arizona, he said he'd be comfortable playing in any one of those markets, and believes he could handle the added pressure that would come with playing in a Canadian market like Montreal.
"With Montreal, it's a real passionate fan base," he said. "Media can be a little intimidating too, but that's something that I think you need to develop as a player, a person is just not really paying attention to the media too much. You need to focus on yourself, getting better and focus on the team too."
Wright was the top-ranked North American skater in NHL Central Scouting's final rankings released last month, with Cooley right behind at No. 2.
Cooley believes that his compete level is one thing that sets him apart in the battle for that top spot.
"I bring it every night," he said. "My motor is always going. My two-way game, I think I'm at the top of the class. I'm a skilled player that plays both sides of the puck and when I'm doing that, I'm pretty hard to beat."
No matter where Cooley ends up being selected, it'll be a momentous day for Pittsburgh-area hockey.
