Cooley expects to make NHL next season, No. 2 rated skater for 2022 Draft

The 2022 NHL Scouting Combine is taking place this week at KeyBank Center and HarborCenter in Buffalo. The combine will allow NHL teams an opportunity to conduct interviews and physical and medical assessments of the top prospects eligible for the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft, which will take place at Bell Centre in Montreal on July 7-8. NHL.com will bring you all the sights and sounds.
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BUFFALO -- Logan Cooley will play for the University of Minnesota next season.
After that, the forward expects to be starring for an NHL team.
"I have all the skills and all the attributes to be an impact player in the NHL right now," Cooley said. "I think it's just going to come down to my physical aspects of the game, continue to get stronger, fill out my body a little bit more. Once I do that everything will come into place and I'll make the jump."
Cooley (5-foot-10, 174 pounds) had 75 points (27 goals, 48 assists) in 51 games for the USA Hockey National Team Development Program Under-18 team, and 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in six games for the United States at the 2022 IIHF World Under-18 Championship. He's No. 2 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters for the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft.
As much as Cooley stands out for his offensive skill, it's his work ethic and competitiveness that really makes him a special player.
"He's obviously a really gifted skater, but he's ultra-smart and he's competitive," said Adam Nightingale, who coached Cooley at the NTDP the previous two seasons. "When you come here, I think our goal is we want to develop winning hockey players and I think that's what Logan is. ... It's his play away from the puck, his willingness to defend. … At the end of the day when these teams are drafting players, how does Logan, how do these guys help us win hockey games and I think Logan does that by playing a 200-foot game."

Lorenz's confidence shines through

One scout who spent time with Rieger Lorenz said the team was so impressed by his confidence during an interview that they moved him up their internal draft board.
The 6-2, 184-pound forward has a lot to be confident about after he finished fifth in the Alberta Junior Hockey League with 85 points (38 goals, 47 assists) in 60 games for Okotoks. He's No. 17 in Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters.
"I'm pretty confident with myself as a person and as a player," Lorenz said. "And I think I show that in the way that I play and with the way that I kind of conduct myself in these interviews."
Lorenz believes he's at his best when he's using his work ethic to drive his skill and patterns his game after Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex Killorn.
"Just seeing the way that he plays, the way he conducts himself, work ethic is the basis of his game," Lorenz said. "Grit, intensity. That's what I aspire to be."
Lorenz will play at the University of Denver next season, but it might not be too long before he's in the NHL.
"A guy with that size who can score, make plays, can bring a physical element, that's something that would be very attractive to a lot of teams," Central Scouting's John Williams said.

Jets excited to have two first-round picks

The Winnipeg Jets were one of the biggest beneficiaries of the New York Rangers reaching the Eastern Conference Final. A condition of the trade that sent forward Andrew Copp to the Rangers on March 21 was Winnipeg would get New York's first-round pick in the 2022 draft if it reached the conference final.
"We're really excited, obviously with the draft here, that we managed to acquire a second first-round pick," Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said. "And so that's putting a lot of emphasis on this week here [Scouting Combine] and making sure decisions are made to help bolster things for the future."
The Jets will pick between 29-32 per the trade condition based on what happens in the conference final and Stanley Cup Final. They also have the No. 14 selection.
It's the first time the Jets have two first-round picks since 2016, when they selected forward Patrik Laine (No. 2) and defenseman Logan Stanley (No. 18).

Medical testing underway

All 85 prospects at the combine had medical testing Wednesday to gauge their overall health and whether they would be eligible to take part in the fitness testing that starts Friday.
"Prior to getting to the combine all the players are required to fill out a medical history form, talks about previous injuries and what their health is at that moment," Central Scouting senior manager David Gregory said. "Once we have that they're all scheduled to go off-site to a medical facility and have a full physical.
"It does a couple of things. It allows the doctors to talk about the previous injuries and see where they're at and determine whether they're healthy enough to test at this event. Over the years we've found different things come up and players have been held out for precautionary reasons."
TPS forward Juraj Slafkovsky and Nitra defenseman Simon Nemec will not take part in the physical testing after they just finished playing in the 2022 IIHF World Championship. Hermantown (Minnesota) High School defenseman Zam Plante won't have any upper-body tests because of recent shoulder surgery. Gregory said the results of the medical testing will determine if Plante can perform any of the lower-body exercises without risking damage to his shoulder.
Data from the medical exams are put into a central database that all 32 teams have access to.
"The medical allows teams to have another item that they can value players at and decide whether this player has something that we would like to avoid and not draft because that's just how they feel about his medical condition or not," Gregory said.
NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger contributed to this report
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