Goalies are never quite wired like the rest of the room, and Devin Cooley seems determined to prove it every time he gets behind a microphone.
The Calgary Flames netminder turned his latest postgame availability into another memorable session after stopping 34 of 36 shots in a 3-2 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. It was his first victory of the season, and the performance came with a glimpse into the mindset that keeps him sharp once the puck drops.
For Cooley, the answer is to get out of his own head and let instinct take over.
“The game is way too fast out there to let your conscious brain decide, and I’m a really bad conscious goalie, if that makes sense,” he continued. “So I just let my unconscious brain do everything. Don’t think about anything, don’t have too much fun, don’t smile too much, just shut it off, and then I just start making saves.”
He pushed that idea even further when talking about how he handles mistakes and whatever happened on the last shift.
“The past is dead, there’s nothing for you there,” he said.
That kind of attitude has made Cooley one of the more watchable voices in the Flames’ room, but it also lands at a time when Calgary needs its goaltending to hold up. General manager Craig Conroy singled out Dustin Wolf and Cooley as a strength heading into the season, and there was plenty of reason to believe that would be the case.
Instead, the Flames have stumbled out of the gate and put more pressure on the tandem than anyone wanted this early. Calgary opened 0-5-0, has moved to 2-6-0, and still owns a minus-20 goal differential. Eight games is hardly enough to hand out a final verdict, but it has been enough for concern to start creeping in around the crease.
Cooley didn’t sound interested in feeding that panic.
“Everyone’s panicking about the goalies, everyone just chill out, we’re going to be fine. Dustin (Wolf) is going to be fine, I’m going to be fine,” he said.
“Sometimes you just have a bad start and things aren’t going your way. But I have so much faith in our goalie department, in (Jason LaBarbera), in our process, in our work ethic, in our talent level, I just have so much faith.”
At 29, Cooley talked with the kind of confidence the Flames have been searching for in the early going. Sunday’s result won’t erase the team’s rough opening stretch, but it did show Calgary can still put together a solid night against quality competition.
That may be the simplest path forward for the Flames: cut out the overthinking, trust the work, and keep the game from snowballing shift to shift. For Cooley, that’s not just advice. It’s the whole philosophy.
Don’t think too much. Don’t smile too much. Just make the saves.
In Other News...
Flames Finally Protected Home Ice In A Test Fans Will Notice
The first home win of the season finally gave the Calgary Flames something tangible to build on, and it came in a game that asked plenty of them before the night was over. Calgary beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2, getting goals from Matvei Gridin, Morgan Frost and Yegor Sharangovich while Devin Cooley supplied the kind of early stability that helped the group settle in against the defending Stanley Cup champions.
What stood out for the home crowd was how the Flames handled the pressure when the Hurricanes pushed late in the third period. Calgary had to survive a tense finish to protect the lead, and the result offered a better snapshot of what this team wants its home games to look like, even if the road to a steadier identity is still in progress. [Read more 🡒]
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The price tag, though, is where things get interesting for Calgary. Any deal would likely have to start with real value coming the other way, and the Flames could be looking for a first-round pick or a stronger young player if they decide to move Whitecloud. Toronto has been careful about not parting with its best young pieces, which is why the chatter has stayed just that for now, with no official move yet to close the loop. [Read more 🡒]
Devin Cooley Is Forcing A Flames Goalie Question Again
Devin Cooley keeps making the Flames goaltending conversation harder to ignore. The backup stepped in against Carolina and handled the moment well enough to turn heads, continuing a season that has already forced Calgary to take a fresh look at the depth chart behind Dustin Wolf. For a team that has long viewed Wolf as the centerpiece of its future in net, Cooleys early work has added an unexpected layer to an already interesting position battle.
What makes it more intriguing is that Cooley does things a little differently from the typical NHL goalie, and the results have been hard to dismiss. His play has given Calgary something it did not necessarily expect this early, especially with a goaltending situation that already carried plenty of weight from last season and into this one. The question now is not just whether Cooley can keep this up, but how long the Flames can afford to leave the door open if he keeps giving them reasons to rethink it. [Read more 🡒]