Josh Frojelin
What’s different for Devin Cooley this time around in the NHL?
Jr. Sharks alum and Los Gatos native Devin Cooley made his NHL debut with the San Jose Sharks with a 4.98 goals-against-average and .870 Save % in six games played in 2023-24.
Through five games this season as Dustin Wolf’s back-up with the Calgary Flames, Cooley has a 1.75 GAA and .935 Save %.
“All the tools were there: I had size, mobility, speed, whatever; I had everything,” Cooley reflected. “There were some technical issues that I had to work through, and it’s really hard to work through those issues when you’re playing the best league in the world.”
Despite a rough showing in the NHL in 2023-24, Cooley signed a two-year contract with the Calgary Flames and spent last season in the American Hockey League, getting selected to the AHL All-Star Game.
While the 29-year-old will not start tonight against his former team, he reflected on his time with the San Jose Sharks, his friendship with former Milwaukee Admirals teammate Yaroslav Askarov, and how cool it is that he’s in tandem with South Bay native Wolf in the NHL.
He also jokingly throws Wolf under the bus and shares a great Askarov story about the Russian netminder’s infamous bench press celebration.
Cooley, on partnering with a goalie, Dustin Wolf of Gilroy, from a similar hometown:
It’s so cool, right? I tell [Wolf]: we’re making history a little bit. It’s really special. Me and [Wolf] have a really close bond, so that’s awesome. And it’s great having other people from the hometown area.
Cooley, on he and Wolf facing their local NHL team:
It’s gonna be a little surreal for me. I think he’s a little bit of a fake Northern Californian, he went down to LA, so I think his team is the LA Kings, Jonathan Quick and those guys. It’s really awesome, and it’s great to see all the California teams doing well again.
Cooley, on his impression of the San Jose Sharks’ goaltending staff:
It was incredible. I talked about it a lot when I was there. [Goaltending coach] Thomas Speer was just unbelievable, and really put me on [the] right path for my career. We worked, we spent a lot of time together, and he was just an awesome person and a really awesome goalie coach. We really connected.
And [director of goaltending Evgeni Nabokov] too. I got to work with him a little bit, and he’s an awesome guy as well. Obviously, somebody I grew up watching and idolizing a little bit, so it was just really special to work with him as well. It seems like the goalies in San Jose just continue to get better and better, and the goaltending department is just top notch.
Cooley, on how he’s improved since leaving San Jose
There’s a lot I had to work on still. I went to San Jose, so grateful for the opportunity, and just really tried to make the most of it, but I don’t think my game was there. It didn’t really matter how hard I worked or whatever. When you get to NHL, your game has to be there, and if it’s not there, you’re going to get exposed.
I think I showed [that] I had a lot of talent and a lot of ability, but there were still some major flaws in my game that I needed to continue to work on. Coming here and spending last season in the American League gave me everything I needed to succeed this year in the NHL. Continue to work on my game and continue to build [on] certain flaws that I had.
Because for me, all the tools were there: I had size, mobility, speed, whatever. I had everything. There were some technical issues that I had to work through, and it’s really hard to work through those issues when you’re playing the best league in the world.
Cooley, on his relationship with former Milwaukee Admirals teammate Yaroslav Askarov:
I don’t know man, we just connected. I always try to really connect with my goalie partners. I always try to be really close, because it’s really important. No one really understands goalies like other goalies. I think the more that you guys can support each other and be a good friend and somebody that you can vent to, it just makes everybody better. It just makes your environment better. You feel better coming into the rink.
I try to do that with every single one of my goalie partners, but [Askarov] and I just really hit it off in Milwaukee. He’s a really funny guy, and when he came, he barely spoke English. He was just the kid and we just really hit it off, and we really bonded. I’m really happy to see that he’s having so much success.
Cooley on the origins of he and Askarov’s postgame celebration, which they reenacted at the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic:
We just talked about it in the locker room one day… I think it was like, when [Jeremy] Swayman and [Linus] Ullmark really started doing like their hug thing. I think he brought it up first, He’s like, “hey, we should do like a celebration.” Like, “I’m all for it.”
And we started brainstorming some stuff in locker room, and that’s what we ended up coming up with. It was funny, because we had the exact same pads too when we were in Milwaukee, so we had the celebration in the same setup too. So it’s pretty funny.
Cooley, on Askarov’s iconic bench press celebration:
I was dealing with a family matter, so I wasn’t in the building. I just saw the highlights all over social media. I’m like, “Oh my God,” but that’s [Askarov] in a nutshell. He used to tell me when people would get mad or whatever, he used to say… “We’re entertainers. Our job, we’re supposed to entertain. It’s not for the other players. It’s for the fans…” [That] really resonated with me. I’m like, “Dude, that makes total sense.”
That’s just, again, him in a nutshell. And that just shows his personality. He’s always thinking about the fans, being an entertainer, and just having fun.