The truth about the Flames’ goaltending

Despite all the noise surrounding the Calgary Flames this season, one thing keeps getting thrown into the blender, whether it belongs there or not: the team’s goaltending. When a team is losing, fans often like to point to the crease. It’s easy. But in the case of the Flames, it’s wrong.

So let’s take the two young goaltenders out of the Flames’ season wreckage and see how they actually play.

Cooley: The “Where did this guy come from?” Surprise

If you had told me in October that Devin Cooley would be such a regular goaltender, I would have been surprised. He bounced between the NHL and the AHL for so long that it was hard to know what he really was.

But here we are. Nineteen games played with sixteen startsa save percentage of .921, and a goals-against mark that looks like he belongs on a playoff team and not the group he currently plays behind.

Cooley plays like a man who grew up studying video in goaltending clinics. He brings calm movements, a patient attitude, gets on his feet early and doesn’t leak goals. You get the feeling he finally got a real NHL opportunity and grabbed the wheel with both hands.

It’s a small sample, but these are real numbers. What’s even better is that when you hear him in interviews, he really loves being in Calgary. That makes a huge difference. And I think it also excites everyone around him. He is an engaging, cheerful goalkeeper.

Wolf: The young goalkeeper carrying a piano up the hill

Then there’s Dustin Wolf, the young star who has been handed the keys to a car with three flat tires. He made 40 starts, over 1,100 shots, and still has two shutouts. The save percentage of .896 isn’t great on paper, but if you watch Flames games, half of the goals come from odd rushes, poor coverage or turnovers at the blue line that would make a goaltending coach cry.

Wolf plays the game with electricity. He is athletic, reactive and explosive. That style can win games on its own, but when the skaters in front of him turn routine nights into track meets, the numbers take the hit. This looks a lot more like a young goalkeeper in a rough environment than someone losing his edge.

The fold is not the problem that stops the flames

Cooley is calm. Wolf’s dynamics. Both are better than the Flames’ record suggests. And honestly, both are cleaning up messes that start long before a puck ever gets near the blue paint. They see too much turnover and too many dangerous looks. Too many nights where the goalkeepers are the only ones keeping it respectable.

Agree with these two average structures, and the stat sheets look very different very quickly. The bottom line is that Calgary doesn’t have a goaltending crisis. It has a defensive character. And the goalies are just the poor souls left to stand in the storm every night.

Related: Flames may have just found their next key