Flames goalies set for ‘open competition’ in camp after Markstrom trade

Wolf, Vladar, Cooley have limited experience, but GM, coach excited to watch battle unfold

CALGARY — Calgary Flames general manager Craig Conroy understands he’s got a bit of a crease conundrum.

With three untested goaltenders battling for the starting job in Calgary, Conroy admitted it’s his net that’s the biggest question mark heading into the 2024-25 season.

“I want to see where the goaltending goes,” Conroy told NHL.com. “That’s a little bit unknown. But I can’t worry about it. Talking to the guys, they all believe, ‘this is an unbelievable opportunity for me and I’m going to grab the reins and run with it.’ That’s what I want, someone to do that. All three guys feel very comfortable they’re going to be that person.”

Conroy will have Dustin Wolf, Dan Vladar and Devin Cooley battle it out for NHL gigs after he traded former No. 1 Jacob Markstrom to the New Jersey Devils for a first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and defenseman Kevin Bahl on June 19.

Wolf, selected in the seventh round (No. 214) in the 2019 NHL Draft, was the top goalie in both the Western Hockey League and Canadian Hockey League in 2020, and American Hockey League goaltender of the year in 2022 and 2023, also earning AHL MVP honors in the latter.

The 23-year-old, the organization’s top goalie prospect, went 7-7-1 with a 3.16 goals-against average and .893 save percentage in 17 games with the Flames last season, and a 2.45 GAA and .922 save percentage in 36 games with Calgary in the AHL in 2023-24.

“Nothing in the way of playing hockey has changed,” Wolf said. “You come into camp trying to be as prepared as you physically can. It’s about going out there playing the game we love and having fun and trying to push for a job.

“You have to come in very confident. You have to mentally believe you’re going to go in there and take a job and play well and help your team win games. That’s the mindset I’m coming into camp with.”

Vladar, acquired from the Boston Bruins in July 2021, is the most experienced of the three. He has played 75 games (66 starts) over parts of four NHL seasons, going 37-23-10 with a 3.09 GAA and .894 save percentage, primarily playing behind Markstrom.

The 27-year-old was 8-9-2 with a 3.62 GAA and .882 save percentage in 20 games with the Flames in 2023-24 before having season-ending hip surgery in March. He is in the final season of a two-year, $4.4 million contract ($2.2 million annual average value) signed Oct. 20, 2022.

“That was my dream since Day 1 when I came to this organization,” Vladar said about a potential starting role. “Right now, I’m going to take the opportunity and take the ball and run with it. I know who’s here with me, but the only thing I can control is to be the best goalie out there and stop as many pucks as I can so I’m going to do that.

Dustin Wolf signs 2-year extension with Flames

“If I didn’t think I was ready I wouldn’t come here. For me, I just trust myself. I’ll just do the best that I can to help the team win as many nights as possible.”

Cooley, who signed a two-year contract ($775,000 AAV) on July 1, made his NHL debut last season, going 2-3-1 with a 4.98 GAA and .870 save percentage in six games with the San Jose Sharks.

The 27-year-old requires waivers to be assigned to the minors.

“It’s just an open competition,” Cooley said. “That’s part of the reason I wanted to sign here. It just seemed like the jobs are open and whoever competes best is going to get it. That’s hopefully what I can do. For me, I just wanted to have a place where I can come in and compete and do my best and know that I’m going to get a look if I do really well.”

Despite the uncertainty, the crease battle has coach Ryan Huska excited heading into Calgary’s first preseason game Sunday at the Seattle Kraken (10 p.m. ET; NHLN, KHN, KONG).

“I love it,” Huska said. “You can talk about any player at the end of the year or if you’re having conversations with them during the year, often times you hear, ‘if I had a little bit more opportunity’ or ‘if I had a little bit more ice time I know I can show you I can do the job,’ and that’s a common theme for every player because they all want a little bit more. But in the net now, that’s what our guys have, is opportunity.

“It’s up to one of them to really step up and grab that job. I guess I’m excited to see who rises. I hope they all do. That’d be great for us. But we know we have good goalies and we know they’re going to give us good games and the competition between all of them are going to be really good.”