The Buffalo Sabres have acquired a 2025 seventh-round draft pick from the San Jose Sharks in return for goaltender Devin Cooley.
Cooley, 26, has been a career minor-leaguer, totaling 66 appearances in the AHL since making his professional debut in the 2020-21 season. That includes the 14 games he’s appeared in with the Rochester Americans this season, where he’s managed six wings and a .891 save percentage. That brings Cooley’s career totals in the AHL up to 32 wins and a .900 save percentage. He has also posted 14 wins and a .916 in 25 ECHL games.
San Jose’s last-minute acquisition of Cooley corresponds with their swapping of Kaapo Kahkonen and Vitek Vanecek. Devils team reporter James Nichols reported that Vanecek could miss the rest of the season with a lower-body injury, some bad news for a Sharks team already down Mackenzie Blackwood to a groin injury. That means the San Jose Sharks will have to ice Magnus Chrona and Cooley as their top two options. Interestingly, the pair of rookie NHL goalies have experience playing together – with a senior-year Cooley backing up a freshman-year Chrona at the University of Denver in the 2019-20 season. The pair combined for 20 wins, before Cooley moved to the pros in 2020-21. Chrona is now in his first pro season, boasting an .830 save percentage in his first four NHL games and a .892 in his first 24 AHL games.