SALT LAKE CITY – There were myriad challenges thrown at Logan Cooley as a NHL rookie last season with the Arizona Coyotes. He had to move, for the fourth consecutive year, to a new place where he knew almost nobody. He had to adjust to the pace and lifestyle of professional hockey, which was a huge step up from his one exemplary season as a Minnesota Gopher. He joined a NHL team that was breathing its last gasps in the Valley of the Sun, selling off assets at the trade deadline while playing in a 4,500-seat college rink, and openly exploring relocation. And, he admits, the always sunny and warm weather in the Phoenix metro area presented its own kind of challenge.

When Cooley met with the media a few weeks ago in the franchise’s new home — the Delta Center in downtown Salt Lake City — it was cloudy and chilly outside and there was snow on the Wasatch Mountains that dominate the east side of Utah’s largest city. The nip in the air brought a smile to Cooley’s face.

“I honestly like the snow. I like the seasons and stuff. Even being at Minnesota, it’s nice to get the snow, especially during hockey season,” he said. “I honestly like it better than Arizona. It’s kind of tough to get up for games when it’s 90 out and sunny. So, it’s nice to get the seasons, for sure.”

For the rebranded Utah Hockey Club (which will get an official nickname sometime in 2025) pretty much everything is better after moving one state to the north of their previous home in the desert.

They’re playing in an arena that needs remodeling but is much closer to NHL standards than the temporary home rink that ultimately spelled their end in Arizona. The crowds are large and enthusiastic. Where the owners in Arizona got them evicted from one rink for lack of paid bills, the new owner in Utah has an open checkbook, investing millions in facilities and making sure the players have all they need.

Fueling his inner fire

For Cooley, his rookie pro year after a lone season of college hockey with the Gophers ended with him making the NHL’s all-rookie team. But there were bumps along the way as he adjusted to the pace and the lifestyle of the world’s top level of hockey. It’s a process that is seen on the ice in practice and in games every day, as Cooley’s internal fire has driven his ascension as a pro.

“I think that it’s been a consistent improvement for him. He’s been good since day one, but he’s progressing all of the time,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “I won’t repeat it enough: he’s extremely competitive. Cools is the kind of guy that’s mad after a two-point night because he could’ve had four. Cools (being) satisfied is not really something we see often. And I’m not saying that in a bad way. He’s not a grumpy guy to be around, but he’s always a guy who wants more, who wants to contribute more, who wants to be a difference-maker. He has that DNA and we like that a lot about him.”

Originally from Pittsburgh, Cooley made his way to the U of M and the Gophers’ run to the 2023 NCAA title game after originally committing to Notre Dame, then switching directions and following USA Hockey National Team Development Program teammate Jimmy Snuggerud to Minnesota.

By the end of October of his lone college season, Cooley was skating on a line with Snuggerud and Matthew Knies, who is now on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ top line. That trio formed one of the most exciting and deadly offensive combos in the century-plus history of Gophers hockey, winning a Big Ten title and coming within an overtime goal of the program’s sixth national crown.

Another summer switch

Cooley initially pledged to return to Minnesota for a second season. But the Coyotes, who picked him third overall in the 2022 NHL draft, convinced him to sign a contract in late July of 2023. They played their final game in Arizona last April, and when he wasn’t home in Pittsburgh training, Cooley’s first full summer as a pro was spent finding yet another new place to live.

“We came out here at the end of the season. They kind of took us around and showed us different parts of Utah and stuff,” Cooley said. “For the summer part, it was kind of busy. You’re looking for a spot to live and it took me a while to kind of find a good spot between the practice rink and this rink. But other than that, it was a really good summer, training-wise, skating and being back home.”

He eventually settled in a suburb south of Salt Lake City, a short drive from their current practice rink, and 20 minutes, when traffic cooperates, from the Delta Center. On the ice, he has found a home with Dylan Guenther and Jack McBain on one of Utah’s more effective forward lines.

“I thought he played really well starting in the second half of the season last year, too. He’s a young guy, he skates super well, super skilled with the puck and he makes nice plays. So, obviously, there’s some maturity and understanding the time and place in the game,” Guenther said, admitting that the move to Utah was the ultimate bonding experience for some players. “For me and Logan, it’s not as huge of a move because we don’t have families or anything. So, it was pretty simple. But the energy that this city and a new building provides, we definitely feed off it and it helps a lot. Plus, having four seasons again and a little snow at Christmas is nice.”

Tourigny said that the chemistry that trio has displayed on the rink begins off the ice, and can be seen in three young men with a genuine friendship, and the shared experience of their end in Arizona and the new beginning in Utah.

A new hockey home

For Cooley, his last four winters have been spent, in order, in Michigan, then Minnesota, then Arizona and now Utah, and also getting home to Pennsylvania when he can. It has all gone fast, he admits now, and it is hard to fathom that 22 months ago he was carrying a backpack to college classes in Minneapolis.

Cooley confessed that Friday’s trip to St. Paul to face old teammate Brock Faber, or going to Toronto to face Knies, or when Anaheim visits Utah and Jackson LaCombe is on the opposing blue line, remain special for their shared experience in maroon and gold.

“It’s been a kind of crazy few years and it goes by super quick, too. The Gophers, when I was there, it feels like 10 years ago already, so it’s crazy how quickly time goes by,” he said, showing additional appreciation for the franchise’s solid base in Utah. “It’s nice to kind of officially have a spot here now. After last season with the media saying where we’re gonna go, where we’re not gonna go, it’s nice to kind of have a home now and to be able to play here.”

For more than 150 years, this spot nestled between the mountains and Great Salt Lake has been the stopping point after people traveled great distances looking for a place where they felt welcome. As his level of comfort and on-ice stardom grows, Cooley is happy to follow in that pioneer tradition, making Utah — the state, and the team — feel like home.

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