When the Calgary Flames signed Devin Cooley, everyone thought he’d be the AHL starter. But when more information came out, it sounded like he’d get the opportunity to make the Flames roster instead. The Flames really like Cooley, and they gave him a two-year deal, with the second year being a one-way deal.
And Cooley has impressed so far.
He began the preseason playing against the Edmonton Oilers, saving 44 of 47 shots and posting a 0.936 SV%. Cooley has also split the net in two games against the Canucks, saving 11 of 13 shots (0.846 SV%) in game one, and 10 of 10 shots (1.00 SV%) in game two. And we haven’t even talked about Cooley’s incredibly infectious personality yet. I want to listen to his interviews all year. With several teams facing goalie troubles, especially the Boston Bruins, there’s a high chance Cooley would get claimed. That’s not something the Flames want.
None of the Flames goalies have much NHL experience
Between Dan Vladar (75), Dustin Wolf (18), and Devin Cooley (6), the Flames have 99 games of NHL experience. That’s a stark difference from relying on Jacob Markstrom the past several seasons. The most games played in a single season is Dan Vladar with 27 in 2022–23. Being a starter or a 1A/1B is not familiar with any of the three goalies. It’s a massive question mark for the team, but exactly what they should be doing.
We’ve already seen the Boston Bruins claim goaltender Jiri Patera off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks. There are always several goaltending claims that happen during every preseason as teams try and shore up their depth or recover from an injury loss. For the Bruins, it’s due to Jeremy Swayman being unsigned and that relationship deteriorating.
The Flames lack goaltending depth
If the Flames were to place Cooley on waivers and he was claimed, their depth would be severely weakened. Aside from Vladar and Wolf, who are already inexperienced, the Flames have Walterri Ignatjew and Connor Murphy down with the Wranglers.
Ignatjew is coming over for his first season in North America. Murphy spent last season between the AHL and ECHL. He’s on an AHL contract, so he’d need to sign an NHL contract to play with the Flames.
We saw three goaltenders being used by other teams last year
In 2023–24, the Sabres started the season with three goaltenders on their roster. This was due to inexperience in the position. Both Ukko-Pekka Luukonen and Devon Levi were rather inexperienced (53 NHL games played between the two), so they elected to keep Eric Comrie on the NHL roster as a third option. This ended up working out well, as Levi showed he wasn’t 100% ready and spent part of the season in the AHL.
The Sabres could do this because they had an extra goalie on their roster. Ironically, Devin Cooley was in the AHL system with the Sabres to start last year, so he’d be very aware of how they used the three-goalie system at the NHL level.
In total, five teams started with three goalies on their NHL roster last year; the Red Wings, Kings, Canadiens, Flyers, and the aforementioned Sabres.
Wolf looks like he’ll be a good goalie at the NHL level, but he is still unproven. Maybe the team decides he still needs some AHL action at some point this season. We see this happen all the time with young goaltenders. The Flames have that luxury this season with Wolf being waiver exempt. And with three goalies on the roster, they could also afford the luxury of being able to send Wolf down and having two active goalies still available on the roster.
An argument for not using the three-goalie system
I think we can all remember when the Flames began the 2015–16 season with three goalies on their roster (Jonas Hiller, Karri Ramo, Joni Ortio). In doing so, the Flames waived Paul Byron, who was claimed by the Montreal Canadiens. Byron went on to have very productive seasons with the Canadiens, including a career-high 22 goals and 43 points in 2016–17.
There’s also an argument to be made about each goalie playing fewer games in a three-goalie system, which is true. In every game, you’d have one goalie sitting in the press box or watching the game from home. Now, time off is a great idea to keep players fresh, especially goalies, but there has to be a limit.
I’m sure these are all conversations that Flames management have had, or are having, in these final few days of training camp.
