The Arizona Coyotes selected Cooley with the No. 3 pick of the 2022 NHL Draft. At 19, he had 44 points (20 goals, 24 assists) in 82 games in 2023-24 and finished fifth in the voting for the Calder Trophy, which goes to the NHL rookie of the year.<\/p>\n
The NHL established a new franchise in Utah on April 18, 2024, and the team bought the Coyotes hockey assets. At 20, Cooley had 65 points (25 goals, 40 assists) in 75 games for the Utah Hockey Club.<\/p>\n
Although he missed 28 games with a lower-body injury from Dec. 6-Feb. 4 this season, he had 43 points (24 goals, 19 assists) in 54 games for the rebranded Mammoth. That projects to about 65 points (36 goals, 29 assists) over a full 82-game schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he is a player that\u2019s ready to take that step onto center stage here in the playoffs and be a guy that commands a lot of space out there,\u201d defenseman Nate Schmidt<\/a> said. \u201cHe really makes a lot of plays for guys and creates space for people. I love his game. It\u2019s nasty around the puck. He\u2019s not someone that\u2019s going to shy away from it, and that\u2019s what I love about him.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooley seems to love playing Vegas.<\/p>\n He has 12 points (eight goals, four assists) in nine regular-season games against the Golden Knights, more than he has against any opponent but the Nashville Predators, against whom he has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 11 games.<\/p>\n