It is not every day that a goalie on the third-worst team in the NHL has the sixth-highest save percentage in the entire league, but alas. Devin Cooley is having himself a miraculous season, posting a .911 save percentage, putting him alongside Jesper Wallstedt (.915) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (.912). What you may notice is that both play on teams that are contending: the Minnesota Wild and the Tampa Bay Lightning. In contrast, Cooley plays on the Flames, who sit in the basement of the league, which makes his performances all the more astonishing.
You would think that when a team has a goalie with some of the best stats in the league, they would have no thought of moving them, but that shouldn’t be the case for Calgary, however.
Add draft capital
The Flames have an influx of draft picks in the next three years, with eight picks in the first three rounds just this year. There would most certainly be teams that would give up a second-round pick in exchange for Cooley. He has a two-year $1.35M contract extension kicking in next year, giving teams flexibility with their cap situations. At 28 years old as well, for a team that is looking to shore up goaltending, whether that be their starter or backup, as they attempt to make a serious run.
Continuing to garner picks for the Flames is important, the reason being that it gives them more ammunition come June and beyond. For example, their four picks in the second round this year. Two of those picks may be packaged to move up in the draft to gain a better spot and draft one of the Ruck twins, possibly. For a team that has committed to a rebuild when they traded Mackenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri last month, stocking up on picks is the way to go. These next few draft classes have a ton of talent, even after the top players; if not, that pick is worth more than a 30-year-old Devin Cooley with worse numbers.
Last season, we saw the Avalanche bring in both Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood to address their need between the pipes. There will be more teams like them.
Is this sustainable?
As mentioned above, there is an extremely good chance that in two years, Cooley’s stats will take a hit. His success is too good to be sustainable. According to Natural Stat Trick, Cooley has a High Danger Save Percentage (HDSV%) of .855, which is sixth out of goalies to have played 25+ games. His High Danger Goals Against Average (HDGAA) of 1.22 puts him with Wallstedt and Jakub Dobes. Again, this is all on the team with the ninth-highest Chances Against, sixth-most Shots Against, fourth-most Scoring Chances Against, and eighth-most High Danger Chances Against. Those stats are nothing short of remarkable.
It isn’t outlandish to say that this isn’t sustainable. After all, before this season, Cooley had only played six NHL games back in the 2023–24 season, where he registered a 4.98 Goals Against Average and an .870 Save Percentage.
Fit with Flames timeline
Another big thing to look at is that Cooley is already 28; he doesn’t exactly fit into the long-term plans for the Flames. What good will it do the franchise if they keep him on and he regresses when they could’ve gotten assets back? This is all about asset management. It isn’t as if Cooley is a starter; that job belongs to Dustin Wolf, and will for a long time. When the Flames become a playoff-calibre team, they will be able to acquire a serviceable backup to play behind Wolf. While Cooley may be right now, Calgary isn’t in that spot yet, and keeping Cooley will only reduce his trade value as time passes, and the Flames will have lost an opportunity to continue their rebuild.
A trade isn’t likely
All of that said, a Devin Cooley trade doesn’t seem likely. There were never any rumblings about him being moved, and he has become a fan favourite in Calgary. One of the most likable guys on the team, who battled his way to the NHL, and is now the Flames nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. Though the saying goes, it’s a business, and while moving Cooley would hurt losing such an amazing person in the locker room, on the business end, it is what makes the most sense.
