Logan Cooley at $10M or Juraj Slafkovsky at $7.6M?

Dose
Crédit: X

The Utah Mammoth have announced that they have reached an agreement with Logan Cooley.

The forward has signed an eight-year contract (2026 to 2034) worth $80 million. He will earn $10 million per season under the terms of a contract that includes no signing bonus.

It’s the third-biggest contract in history for a player coming off his entry-level contract.

The question is whether we’d rather have Logan Cooley at $10 million or Juraj Slafkovsky at $7.6 million. These are two players the Canadiens could have drafted first overall in June 2022.

Cooley was selected third overall by the now-defunct Arizona Coyotes… moments before the Canadiens announced the Kirby Dach trade. #Center

It’s agreed that when it comes to the actual player right now, the answer is Logan Cooley ahead of Slaf. The Mammoth player is, in October 2025, the better player of the two. He plays center, he scores more, he collects more points, and so on.

Cooley, in Montreal, would form an incredible one-two punch at center with Nick Suzuki.

But I’d be curious to ask Kent Hughes. After all, he’s looking for a center… but he’s also the one who drafted Slaf over center players like Shane Wright and Logan Cooley.

Without wishing to impugn his intentions, I’m sure the Habs GM would raise two points.

  • Salary scale
  • Slaf’s progress on the first line

Cooley, who plays mostly center, may one day be better than Nick Suzuki. It’s hard to say, because both continue to progress.

But at $10 million, Cooley would be paid more than anyone else in Montreal. Clearly, the Mammoth player didn’t take a discount like we often see here. Or at least, he didn’t take the same discount we see in Montreal.

More importantly, if Slaf wasn’t in town, who would be playing with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield?

I agree that it’s harder to develop a top-notch center than a winger. But the chemistry the guys on the first line have been developing together for years is paying off in Montreal right now.

I imagine Kent Hughes, if asked about it, would say that it takes specific ingredients to build a hockey club that aspires to the Stanley Cup.

And that’s not wrong: if Slaf has an important role to play in a possible Stanley Cup conquest, Cooley will be the least of Habs fans’ worries.

But on the other hand, in terms of talent, it’s true that the Canadiens could have drafted Logan Cooley, Matvei Michkov and Ivan Demidov from 2022 to 2024.

I find the debate interesting. But since Slaf hasn’t finished developing either, and seems keen to move on to the next level, we’ll give him time to see what he can become before judging the 2022 draft.

overtime

– That helps the Blue Jays.

– Read more.

– Also seen.