Logan Cooley's Massive New Deal Has a Surprising Sidney Crosby Connection

Utah Mammoth forward Logan Cooley was dominating the headlines today when he signed an eight-year, $80 million deal with the franchise.

The 21-year-old paces Utah with eight goals and ranks second among the Mammoth with 12 points in 11 games this season, tallying one Tuesday in a 6-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

Not many know, however, that Cooley started out playing hockey in Pittsburgh, and Sidney Crosby's youth camps led the way.

Cooley's origins lie in the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 14U AAA club, part of a series of youth-hockey complexes fueled by Crosby's "Little Penguins Learn to Play Hockey" program.

Even though Crosby did not coach him directly, the organization, established in 2008 as a partnership among the NHL, NHLPA, USA Hockey, and DICK'S Sporting Goods, provided children across Western Pennsylvania with their initial true opportunity to become hooked on the sport.

It was there at Rostraver Ice Garden that Cooley got hooked on playing after years of watching his older brothers.

The Little Penguins program was a model for league-wide youth hockey development, exposing thousands of children between the ages of 5-9 to the sport in an organized, fun setting.

That groundwork served Cooley, propelling his movement through the Penguins Elite ranks, where he accumulated 83 points in 69 games as a 14U player and 46 points in 45 games as a 16U player before being invited into the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2020.

Now a star in the NHL, Cooley is living proof of Crosby's amateur hockey beginnings and their lasting effect, a full-circle story connecting the city of Pittsburgh's amateur hockey ranks to one of the league's brightest up-and-coming stars.