Major turnaround involving Logan Cooley as Kent Hughes seems to have made the right choice with Slaf

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Elias Edmonson
February 10, 2024 (7:38 PM)

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At the start of the campaign, many Habs fans were furious to see Logan Cooley's progress. They did not understand why the Habs had favored Juraj Slafkovsky over the American prospect.

At that time, Slafkovsky was greatly searching for his game while Cooley was moving at full speed.

Canadiens' Acquisition at the 2022 Draft: Slafkvosky was the right choice!

Few people thought that the 1st overall pick of the 2022 draft would surpass the one who was selected 3rd. Tony Marinaro had at that time expressed an opinion on BPM Sports that many shared.

"Me, I'm already ready to say that Logan Cooley will be a better hockey player than Juraj Slafkovsky. He has a vision of the game, skating, passing ability, and he is a playmaker. He's a guy who makes the guys around him better!" - Tony Marinaro, BPM Sports

A few months later, things have drastically changed. Even if we still have to wait to see Slaf's ceiling, we can say that the last few weeks have been good and very encouraging. The Slovak seems to have gained confidence and is on a very good path.

However, Slafkovsky must be given credit because he has worked hard to get there. As we have recently mentioned, he works very hard in practice and before them. He has often been seen with the director of hockey development Adam Nicholas and more recently with Glen Tucker, who is nicknamed Dr. Shot.

In a recent intervention on the "JiC" show on TVA Sports, Renaud Lavoie also praised the efforts of number 20 and even gave his opinion on the comparison with Cooley. According to him, Slaf is superior, in many ways.

"Very interesting things are happening with Juraj Slafkovsky [...] I think it's not just the production and I'm going to tell you a second thing. As of today. It's not even close." - Renaud Lavoie

As of today, Cooley has accumulated 25 points, including 6 goals, in 48 games with the Arizona Coyotes. On the other hand, Slafkovsky now has 23 points, including 10 goals in 51 games with the CH, this season.

We repeat, it is still early to compare the two young players, but it seems that the gap between them is now much smaller than it was at the beginning of the season. However, we should not simply rely on points to compare the two players. The CH forward, with his large stature, brings a physical aspect to the game that Cooley does not have.

It will be interesting to see how the departure of Monahan and his return to the first line will help Slafkovsky accumulate points in the upcoming games and thus catch up, in this aspect, with the Yotes' forward.