Browsing: Cooley

Turns out backup goaltending is the least of the Calgary Flames’ concerns right now.

In the most important start of his career, Devin Cooley made an overwhelmingly positive first impression with a 29-save performance that made him the gameâ€s first star Wednesday in Utah.

However, his heroics werenâ€t enough as the offensively-challenged Flames lost their fourth in a row, this time by a 3-1 score to the Mammoth.

And while the effort was solid, the reality is becoming daunting, warned coach Ryan Huska afterwards.

“You need to find your game in a hurry because you canâ€t make the playoffs the first month of the year, but you surely can miss them,†said Huska, whose club played in Calgary the night before and arrived at their Salt Lake City hotel after 3 a.m.

“It is important for guys to recognize the work is there, but itâ€s some of the execution thatâ€s not, or the mistake at an inopportune time that is costing us some of these games.â€

“That stuff has to be cleaned up. I do feel weâ€ve beaten ourselves in this stretch weâ€re in right now. Those are all things I think are correctable for sure.â€

Given the nightmarish second half he had in the AHL last season, followed by a subpar pre-season, plenty was riding on Cooleyâ€s opening performance.

With rumours abounding the Flames are already looking to bolster their backup position, the 28-year-old responded to the pressure by being the gameâ€s first star, keeping Calgary in a game that could easily have gotten out of hand without him.

“I thought for his first game of the year I thought he was excellent,†said Huska, who will need Dustion Wolfâ€s backup to win at least half his starts for the team to make the playoffs.

“He made the saves he had to, and he sprinkled in some that were competitive saves, and thatâ€s what you want to see from him.â€
Making just his seventh NHL start, Cooleyâ€s first NHL action in 18 months saw him make a trio of great saves in the first period that gave plenty of early hope he was up to the task.

“I felt pretty good, maybe a little jumpy, a little scrambly, but maybe that comes with not playing in a while and having a lot of energy and feeling excited to have an opportunity,†said the California native, who was an AHL all-star last season.

“Especially in a backup role, my job is to give the team a chance every single night Iâ€m in, whether itâ€s a tough travel day or whatever, Iâ€ve got to find a way to dig in.â€

He did. And his teammates did well to scrap their way through a tight game, despite the obvious fatigue that comes from playing their second back-to-back in eight days.

“I thought our guys battled really hard,†said Cooley.

“I think we got in at 3:30 or 4 in the morning on a back-to-back, so it wasnâ€t easy, but our guys battled to the end.â€

With just six goals in their last four games, the Flames†inability to finish continues to plague a franchise that missed the playoffs last season because of it.

Joel Farabee and Matt Coronato were the most dangerous of all Flames Wednesday, as they pushed hard in the third period to erase a one-goal deficit, outshooting the hosts 12-4.

But shortly after Karel Vejmelka made a crucial shoulder save on Nazem Kadri in the final minute, the door opened for Kevin Stenlund to bank a lucky clearing attempt into an empty net after banked it in off the side boards.

Fact is, scoring is hard enough for the Flames without having to kill six Utah power plays.

Full marks to the revamped penalty kill approach and personnel the Flames employ for being perfect on the night, but it makes it awfully tough to come back in a game when youâ€re constantly down a man.

“Itâ€s going to be a hard game to win when you take six minors,†said Rasmus Andersson, whose power-play goal in the first period came courtesy of a fortuitous rebound off a defender.

“The penalties cost us tonight, I thought.â€

Huska didnâ€t disagree, pointing to a second-period lapse in which the Flames were outshot 18-3 and outscored 2-0 while having to kill off three penalties.

“Once we were killing that many penalties, I donâ€t think we got out of our zone the whole period,†he said.

“Then youâ€re making fatigue mistakes more than anything.â€

One of those mistakes saw Zayne Parekh fail to close a gap at mid ice and lose a footrace to JJ Peterka, whose breakaway conversion stood as the winner.

The Flames visit Vegas on Saturday.

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The Philadelphia Flyers started this
season missing two of their top four defensemen.

Cam York is
day-to-day with a lower-body injury and expected to miss the Flyers’
first three games. Meanwhile, Rasmus Ristolainen is still recovering
from surgery in April to repair a ruptured triceps tendon.

On Oct. 7, Sportsnet’s Elliotte
Friedman reported the Flyers were “definitely checking what’s out
there on defense†in the trade market. However, he doesn’t
anticipate much activity this early in the season.

The Flyers have over $6.6 million in
salary cap space after trading permanently sidelined defenseman Ryan
Ellis to the San Jose Sharks earlier this week. Daily Faceoff’s
Anthony Di Marco cited sources suggesting they could use that room to
bolster their blueline.

Jonathan Bailey of The Hockey News
doesn’t expect the Flyers to trade assets for an older defenseman or
a smaller, offensive-minded blueliner. Di Marco agrees, believing
they’ll target an impact player if they make a move.

Di Marco indicated the Flyers were
interested in Bowen Byram before he signed a two-year extension with
the Buffalo Sabres earlier this year. He wondered if they might
revisit their interest, suggesting they offer up winger Owen Tippett
and young blueliner Emil Andrae.

However, Bailey doesn’t consider Byram
the defensive stalwart they need. He noted that Thomas Harley of the
Dallas Stars and Philip Broberg of the St. Louis Blues will be
RFAs seeking big raises next summer but doubted
they will be available. He also doesn’t see the New Jersey Devils
trading Simon Nemec to a division rival.

Meanwhile, in Calgary, Flames center
Nazem Kadri has surfaced again in trade speculation.

Kadri, 35, has been a frequent subject
of media trade conjecture for the past two years, mostly based on the
Flames’ position as a retooling club. For his part, Kadri has
insisted he and his family enjoy living in Calgary and he has no
intention of requesting a trade.

Nevertheless, the possibility of a
Kadri trade hasn’t gone away. During the Oct. 3 episode of Flames
Nation’s Barn Burner podcast,
TSN’s Darren Dreger suggested the Flames might consider moving the
veteran center if they’re out of playoff contention by the March 6
trade deadline.

If the Flames
attempt to move Kadri, they might wait until the off-season. That’s
when his full no-movement clause reverts to a 13-team no-trade list
on July 1.

Turning to the Utah
Mammoth, NHL insider Frank Seravalli recently reported Logan Cooley
rejected an eight-year contract extension worth an average annual
value of $9.6 million, which would’ve made him their highest-paid
player.

Cooley, 21, centers
the Mammoth’s top line and in the final season of his entry-level
contract. Given the rising salary cap, he’s likely waiting to see how
the market unfolds. He could set his sights on something closer to
$11 million.

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