Jiricek or Slafkovsky over Cooley is not even an argument, and we can likely throw Nemec in that mix as well. The Devils are not using a top 5 pick on a player who would project to be their third-line center. If we're talking "best available player" -- which is a perfectly legitimate argument -- these four can be arranged in multiple orders depending on who you talk to. Personally, I rank Cooley 3rd or 4th out of the 4 right now, but that's not my argument either because it's pretty close between them.
The argument would be based in the concept of "team building vision". The Devils are absolutely desperate at RD and absolutely desperate for a power forward to create room for their smaller skill guys, and you'd be passing on both for a center who is positionally redundant to Hughes and Hischier and stylistically redundant to Hughes and Bratt.
If Cooley were the straw that drove the US-NTDP, I'd still say okay, you have a point. But I'm not sure he's better than Nazar.
This is from Elite Prospects, and I'm not saying whether they're right or wrong, but it's an interesting comparison:
Frank Nazar III, C, USNTDP U18s – From No. 10 to 4
The two top-5 debutants, Frank Nazar and Logan Cooley, flip their placement on the ranking. Now, Nazar is ahead one spot ahead.
A dynamic, explosive attacker with an unrelenting inside-driven style, Nazar brings a unique skill set to this draft. He doesn't just overwhelm defenders with pace, he misdirects them with deceptive handling, crossovers, and eyes, and then explodes to the inside. His improvements as a decision-maker – deking less, passing more – and his application of manipulation skills to quick-possession plays earned him the fourth rank on the board.
Considering his natural explosiveness, we anticipate his skating to accelerate ahead of the curve as his mechanics improve.
Logan Cooley, C, USNTDP U18s – From No. 9 to 5
Cooley is more in the Shane Wright mould. He's best when making quick, short-to-medium range plays that put himself in the middle of every play. As the season's wore on, he's started experimenting with a style that leans heavier on individual skill and flash. Concerns of sustainability aside, learning what works and what doesn't only bode well for his future.
Essentially, Nazar's and Cooley's games are converging after being strikingly different to the start year, and that's to the benefit of both. For this exercise, we deemed Nazar's ultimate upside to be higher, but there's a sound argument for the other way around. Keep an eye on this ranking moving forward.
Now, ultimately I don't have a problem with Cooley as a player -- as I've stated at length, I really like him. His skating is explosive and his skill is high-end. But he's a perimeter forward if anything, and the name of his game is flash-and-dash. For the Devils, Nazar would clearly make more sense out of the two, as he's just as skilled -- if not moreso -- and plays a more interior style.
Again, Cooley is a great player and he's going high in the 2022 draft. Along with Lambert, he's the best skater in the entire class. But at some point, team building involves acquiring different types of players to handle different roles, and Cooley's role would be "center who is not as good as Hughes or Hischier" or "skill/speed forward who is not as good as Hughes or Bratt". Yes, maybe he develops into a player as good as Hischier or Bratt, though he has no hope of rivaling Hughes' talent. But the Devils have no Jiricek anywhere in the organization, they have no Nemec anywhere in the organization, and there might not be a Slafkovsky in the entire NHL.
Though I hate arguing
against players I'm high on, I don't foresee Cooley being even top 5 on the Devils draft board come June. He's an exciting prospect, but he will wind up somewhere else. I can see him as a target for a center-starved team like Arizona, Montreal, Philadelphia, Columbus, etc.
