Flames Devin Cooley Isn't a Normal Backup Goalie

You watch some preseason games to figure out who might make the team. And then there are preseason games that remind you what a team will need once the real games start. Thursday night's Calgary Flames game in Seattle was a bit of both.

The Flames lost 4-3 to the Kraken in a shootout, but Devin Cooley had himself a pretty decent night. He stopped 23 of 26 shots over the full game, good for an .885 save percentage. Not spectacular. Not terrible. Just the sort of performance you can live with from your backup goalie.

Cooley Isn't Just Dustin Wolf's Backup

Everybody knows the plan in Calgary. Dustin Wolf is the No. 1 goalie. Cooley is the backup. Simple enough. But being the backup goalie in the NHL isn't quite as simple as it sounds.

Cooley played 31 games for the Flames last season and put up a 10-10-6 record with a .909 save percentage and a 2.69 goals-against average. That's a pretty useful season for a guy playing behind a young No. 1 goalie. And Calgary is going to need more of that.

Wolf is going to play a lot. That's what happens when you've got a young goalie the organization believes in. But Wolf won't play every night. There will be back-to-backs, tired legs, injuries and those nights when a coach simply decides it's time to give his No. 1 a breather. That's where Cooley comes in.

Thursday Was Interesting Given the Flames Lineup

Here's the part I liked about Thursday. Calgary wasn't exactly sending its finished NHL lineup into Seattle. The Flames dressed a group that was thin on NHL experience, while Seattle had a much stronger lineup. Calgary still took a 3-1 lead into the third period before the Kraken came back and eventually won in the shootout.

That makes Cooley's night a little more interesting than the .885 number suggests. He didn't steal the game. But he gave Calgary a chance. And for a backup goalie, that can be the whole job. The Flames are simply asking Cooley to be dependable when Wolf isn't in the crease. That's a pretty important job.

Preseason numbers won't tell us much on their own. Cooley has now allowed six goals on 48 shots in two preseason games.

Can the Flames Trust Cooley in the Crease for 30 NHL Games?

But the bigger question isn't whether Cooley will suddenly become Calgary's No. 1. It's whether the Flames can trust him for the 25 or 30 games they're likely to need from him. Thursday night, at least, he gave them another reason to think they can.