Devin Cooley

This Season So Far

The 2026-27 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.

Last Season

31 appearances, 10-10-6, a 2.69 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage — better than Wolf’s .899 across the same season and the same defence, on a club that finished 22nd in expected goals against.

The Physical Game

6-5 and 192, which is the modern build and the opposite of the man ahead of him. He plays deep and square and lets the puck hit him, and against volume from distance that works very well.

The lateral movement is the weakness. He is long rather than quick, and a play that moves him across the crease gets him reaching.

The Mental Game

An undrafted goaltender who reached the NHL at 28 after years in the minors and the ECHL, and then outperformed a starter in his first real look. Whatever that requires, he has it.

Over his last 10 appearances, .885 on 286 shots — a poor finish to a good season, and the reason the job did not change hands.

The Intangibles

This is a genuinely awkward page to write. The backup out-saved the starter by 10 thousandths across 31 games, and nobody involved thinks the depth chart is wrong, because Wolf has 128 games and a .903 career figure behind him and Cooley has 37 games and 29 years.

Both readings are defensible and the club has to pick one. Calgary’s goaltending finished only 2 goals worse than the chances it faced, which on this roster is close to a miracle, and both men are responsible for it.