​Utah Mammoth’s Logan Cooley (92) celebrates with teammate Clayton Keller (9) after scoring against the Montreal Canadiens during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Montreal, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
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Graham Hughes
When the Seattle Kraken called Shane Wright’s name with the fourth overall pick at the 2022 NHL Draft, he was visibly shaken.It’s not that he didn’t want to go to Seattle, but rather that for the previous half-decade of his life, he was “supposed” to be that year’s first pick. On the way up to the podium, Wright infamously stared down the Montreal Canadiens’ draft table as if to say, “You’ll regret this.”Four and a half years later, that might finally be true.The Canadiens don’t regret taking Juraj Slafkovský over Wright. In fact, the Kraken gave up on Wright on Sunday, trading him to the Nashville Predators.Instead, they might wish they’d taken Logan Cooley.Cooley put up three goals — a hat trick — plus an assist against the Canadiens during the Utah Mammoth’s visit to the Bell Centre Thursday, a 5-4 overtime loss for the Mammoth.It was his second three-goal game on Utah’s current road trip, and he now leads one of the NHL’s highest-scoring teams in goals.In fact, Cooley has become the fastest player in NHL history to record five career hat tricks, according to NHL PR, eclipsing Alex Ovechkin by two games. Ovechkin is the NHL’s all-time goals leader and ranks fourth all-time in hat tricks.Of course, Slafkovský is no slouch either.He sent Nick Suzuki a beautiful pass for a back-door tap-in against the Mammoth, improving to 12 points in 16 games on the season. Cooley, however, is now up to 21 points in 17 games, and he had more goals on Thursday alone than Slafkovský has all season long.Suzuki, the Canadiens’ captain, weighed in on the debate after the game.“They’re both pretty elite players. Slaf’s our guy and he had an amazing game. Thought he came to play. Won a lot of battles. Had an unreal pass to me. Does a lot of great things out there,” Suzuki said. “Obviously, Cooley’s a talented player, too.”I hate that I was right about Logan Cooley >> Juraj Slafkovsky. Totally hate it.— Louhabs1909 (@Loubrass2) November 6, 2026I am starting to think if the habs should’ve drafted Logan Cooley instead of drafting Juraj Slafkovsky. He got a hat trick and owning us in the game, and would’ve been a nasty 2C behind Suzuki. Would’ve been a lot easier if we traded for 1-2 top 6 young wingers instead of a 2C.…— Sol (@SpidermanVennom) November 6, 2026Cooley: 🎩 🎩 🎩 Slafkovsky: One lucky pass from 4 miles away and a TV interview.—