The Mammoth have received clarity on star center Logan Cooley’s recent lower-body injury, and it’s a mixed bag of news. He’ll be sidelined for at least eight weeks, the team announced.
Based on how it looked, Utah’s likely happy with the outcome, since it’s not a season-ending absence. In Cooley’s most recent appearance against the Canucks last Friday, he spun out while trying to deliver on a scoring chance and smacked his left knee into the right post of the Vancouver net, dislodging it. The bird’s-eye cam appeared to show significant stress on his knee during the collision, but a two-month timeline indicates there wasn’t significant structural damage.
It was the second time in a week that Cooley’s left knee took hard contact. He left a Nov. 29 game against the Blues after being involved in a knee-on-knee collision with Alexey Toropchenko. That also looked like a long-term absence, but he ended up with only an eyebrow-raising strain and was back in the lineup for their next game two days later.
What began as an auspicious season for Utah has turned into a rather anxiety-inducing one. Cooley, until now, hadn’t been a part of that. Still just 21 years old, he’s their leading goal-scorer with 14 in 29 appearances and has added nine assists for 23 points. He’s shooting at a team-high 23.7% clip and is averaging 17:49 of ice time per game, third among Mammoth forwards behind Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz.
Utah has already dropped three games in a row with Cooley out of the lineup. That’s brought them down to a 14-15-3 record, only scoring five goals in those three games. Their 8-2-0 tear through the beginning of October also props up that record. Since Oct. 28, the Mammoth are 6-13-3 (.341), the worst points percentage in the NHL during that span.
More to come…