Devin Cooley had reporters cracking up with hilarious Calgary Flames stories
“It’s still ingrained in me. I’m really glad they didn’t score so I can laugh and joke about it, but man, that was rough.”
"If they would’ve scored, I would’ve had to pretend I was injured." 💀
Devin Cooley with the pure honesty on After Hours 🤣 pic.twitter.com/p3kiBljEvd
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 29, 2026
Cooley’s path to the NHL was a long one, having made his debut with his hometown San Jose Sharks in 2023-24 before then signing with the Flames organization in the summer of 2024. From there, he dominated the AHL and has now put up fantastic numbers in his first full NHL season.
He credited the Calgary Wranglers’ AHL goalie coach, Mackenzie Skapski, and even made a pact to get him a Rolex if Cooley managed to get a contract extension from the Flames. That happened this past December, but he admitted that there has been a bit of a disagreement on the pact.
Skapski texted Cooley after the deal, saying he wanted the most expensive Rolex, but Cooley pushed back.
“He hasn’t got one yet. I told him he has to wait until I start getting paid,” Cooley said. “He’s being a little bit greedy because at the time we were talking about $5+ million on a deal and I got $1.35 [million], which is still a pretty sweet deal, but he’s like ‘You still owe me that watch,’ and I’m like yeah, I’ll still get him the watch.”
Though Cooley has been magnificent for the Flames, he is still very much the backup to fellow California native Dustin Wolf. Though both goaltenders grew up fairly close together, Cooley did joke about Wolf leaving Northern California so quickly.
Nothing wrong with a little bit of friendly rivalry.
“He’s kinda a traitor in the Northern California parts,” Cooley said of Wolf. “Once he was like ‘Hey, well, I’m actually really good,’ he went down to Southern California, where, at the time, the hockey was a little bit better.
“I was never that good when I was a kid, so I was like, I wanna stay home and hang out.”
This hasn’t been a great season for the Flames, but having a guy like Cooley keeping things light has got to be helpful for not only his teammates but the fan base as well.