This morning, the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League announced that they have signed now-former Denver goaltender Devin Cooley to a two-year, entry-level contract. The undrafted 23-year-old goaltender spent three seasons with the Pioneers and was poised to share starting netminder duties with rising sophomore teammate Magnus Chrona for a second straight year.
NEWS: Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/GM David Poile announced today that the #Preds have signed goaltender Devin Cooley to a two-year, entry-level contract.https://t.co/YyfjWKz8Ol
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) September 29, 2020
In his three years with the program, Cooley went 15-9-4 with a 1.93 GAA, and .927 save percentage to go along with his six shutouts while being named to the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team each year as a Pioneer. What makes Cooley’s story so much better is that his journey took him from a third-string walk-on goalie at DU to being a key piece of a starting goalie tandem that went to the Frozen Four in 2019 and could have gone to another in 2020 if not for the season’s cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And now, he’s officially an NHL goaltender.
Cooley now joins Ian Mitchell (Chicago Blackhawks) and Emilio Pettersen (Calgary Flames) as Pioneers who have signed NHL deals following the 2019-2020 season. For the Pioneers moving forward in the crease, though, Chrona slots into the everyday starting role for the Pios whenever the season does end up starting. Incoming freshman Jack Caruso will fill the backup role behind Chrona. Though don’t be surprised if David Carle ends up tapping into his recruiting pipeline to bring in another goalie before the puck drops on the 2020-2021 season.
Photo courtesy of Denver Athletics