Skip to content
Your daily dose of hockey
Canadiens

Maveric Lamoureux just took a swing at Kent Hughes and his scouts

 Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
Share : facebook icon twitter icon
Maveric Lamoureux just took a swing at Kent Hughes and his scouts

Maveric Lamoureux fits the expression perfectly: A gentle giant. At 6’7″, it’s rare that he doesn’t look down on someone. Not that he’s haughty, just that he sees a lot of bottom in his life in general. Or so I imagine!

The 29th overall pick in the 2022 draft, selected by the Arizona Coyotes, was on Kevin Raphaël’s Unrestricted podcast, where he talked about one of his teammates who’s likely to be all the rage next season in the NHL. I won’t keep you waiting any longer, the guy in question is Logan Cooley.

The 19-year-old center was just passing through the University of Minnesota, where he did more than enough to earn the honor of being named college field hockey’s Most Valuable Player. His Hobey-Baker trophy was not stolen, with a production of 60 points in 39 games.

According to Lamoureux, his diminutive teammate was the best player available at their draft, no less!

Remember, however, that he wasn’t selected first, or even second. Cooley was taken after Juraj Slafkovsky (Montreal) and Simon Nemec (New Jersey). In other words, he questions the work of Kent Hughes and the Canadiens’ scouting team.

Before you get scared, there’s nothing wrong with that. We all have our opinions on this sort of thing, and according to many experts in the field, it’s true that he’s ranked ahead of Slaf.

He adds:

“The way he sees the game, that’s another level,” Lamoureux pointed out. He finds everyone. He easily gave me three chances to score [at the last development camp].” – Maveric Lamoureux

The point I want to make is that the defenseman doesn’t have the hindsight to make that kind of statement. Playing with Cooley allowed him to evaluate his talent and skills by comparing them with those of other players he’s faced or rubbed shoulders with. He hasn’t done that with the other talents of the crop, and his sample is very thin.

What’s more, Logan Cooley is his team-mate, so he wasn’t one to speak ill of him after all.

All that being said, I’m really looking forward to seeing how Cooley holds up in the best league in the world. Coming in a year older than Juraj Slafkovsky, we’ll never really be able to compare the circumstances in which their first skate in the Bettman Circuit took place.

One thing is certain, however: while the Coyotes prospect was playing college hockey and scoring close to two points a game, Slaf was up against some of the best talent in the world.


In a gust

– Gives me chills down my spine.

– It was brief and touching.

– For ball fans.

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!
More Content