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<p>When the Calgary Flames began training camp, they did so with three pretty interesting goaltending options for their roster: Dan Vladar, Dustin Wolf and Devin Cooley. The game plan for the hockey operations group was simple: play each goalie a bunch and see who distinguishes themselves.</p>
<p>Well, the good news is that through the first five games of pre-season play, all three goalies look pretty good. The bad news is that <em>all three goalies look pretty good</em>, which really hasn&#8217;t done much to inform which of the three netminders might not begin the season with the big club.</p>
<p>With three pre-season games left on the schedule – Monday at home against Seattle, Wednesday away in Winnipeg and Friday at home against Winnipeg – here&#8217;s how things have shaken out for each of the three netminders.</p>
<h1>Dan Vladar</h1>
<p>Vladar is the incumbent backup and has a one-way deal with a $2.2 million cap hit. Considering he has the most NHL experience of the three goalies involved, he probably has the inside track on an opening night gig.</p>
<p>Through two appearances, he&#8217;s played 79:42 of action and posted a 2.26 goals against average and a .917 save percentage. He&#8217;s allowed three goals. Vladar has been afforded two home starts, which means he hasn&#8217;t had to travel and he&#8217;s been provided with bluelines chock full of NHL experience in each game – 1,530 games at home against Edmonton and 1,228 at home against Vancouver.</p>
<p>If you look at his body of work, he&#8217;s been quite good. His three goals against have been a power play deflection (Edmonton), a weird deflection off a defender (Vancouver) and an oddly-played odd-man rush from a defender (also Vancouver). He hasn&#8217;t given up any goals that would make onlookers go &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if he&#8217;s good enough to be here.&#8221;</p>
<h1>Dustin Wolf</h1>
<p>Wolf is the sexy pick, the up-and-coming youngster who has literally done everything he can do at the lower levels – he&#8217;s a two-time Western Hockey League goaltender of the year, two-time American Hockey League goaltender of the year and former AHL most valuable player. If you&#8217;re handing out jobs entirely based on resumes, Wolf has the inside track.</p>
<p>Wolf&#8217;s also posted the strongest stat line of the three goalies involved. Through two appearances, he&#8217;s played 100:00 of action and posted a 1.80 goals against average and .943 save percentage. He&#8217;s allowed three goals. Both of his games were on the road, so he&#8217;s travelled and had a less-experienced defensive group – 259 NHL games against Seattle and 1,221 NHL games against Vancouver.</p>
<p>Wolf hasn&#8217;t really looked bad on his three goals against. He allowed a one-timer goal from the slot against Seattle, and against Vancouver he was victimized by a pass towards the front of the net that took a weird bounce off somebody and a deflection from the front of the net.</p>
<h1>Devin Cooley</h1>
<p>If you&#8217;re choosing goalies by what the kids call &#8220;vibes,&#8221; Cooley may be your guy. He&#8217;s an interesting character whose interviews are spectacular, and he&#8217;s also a pretty damn good goaltender.</p>
<p>Through three appearances, two of them in relief, he&#8217;s played 100:58 of game time and posted a 2.97 goals against average and .929 save percentage. He&#8217;s allowed five goals. He&#8217;s played a full game on the road (against Edmonton), a road game in relief (against Vancouver) and a home game in relief (against Vancouver). He&#8217;s had a mix of NHL experience in front of him: 206 NHL games in Edmonton, 1,221 NHL games in Abbotsford against Vancouver, and 1,228 at home against Vancouver.</p>
<p>Most of the goals he&#8217;s allowed have been pretty effective passing sequences by the opposition or wild individual efforts – like when Daniel Sprong carved through the Flames&#8217; defenders on a two-man advantage. He&#8217;s done nothing to make onlookers doubt his NHL capabilities.</p>
<h1>Nobody&#8217;s played their way out of the job</h1>
<p>You could make an argument that Wolf and Cooley have been placed in more challenging situations – on the road with leaner defensive groups – while Vladar, coming off hip surgery in the spring, has been given a bit more wiggle room in terms of how he&#8217;s been used. But all three goalies have played well in their circumstances, to the point where it&#8217;s tough to point to numbers or the eye test that suggest one goalie is less good than the other two.</p>
<p>As a result, suddenly the final three games become incredibly important to help decide which netminders stick around when the games start counting on Oct. 8. We&#8217;ll see if the final exhibition outings result in any separation between the three &#8216;tenders, or if somehow they make the Flames&#8217; decision-making even more challenging.</p>
<p><em><strong>Which goaltenders do you think the Flames should start the season with on their NHL roster? Let us know in the comments!</strong></em></p>
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<em class="text-lg italic">This article is brought to you by bet365.</em>

When the Calgary Flames began training camp, they did so with three pretty interesting goaltending options for their roster: Dan Vladar, Dustin Wolf and Devin Cooley. The game plan for the hockey operations group was simple: play each goalie a bunch and see who distinguishes themselves.

Well, the good news is that through the first five games of pre-season play, all three goalies look pretty good. The bad news is that <em>all three goalies look pretty good</em>, which really hasn't done much to inform which of the three netminders might not begin the season with the big club.

With three pre-season games left on the schedule – Monday at home against Seattle, Wednesday away in Winnipeg and Friday at home against Winnipeg – here's how things have shaken out for each of the three netminders.
<h1>Dan Vladar</h1>
Vladar is the incumbent backup and has a one-way deal with a $2.2 million cap hit. Considering he has the most NHL experience of the three goalies involved, he probably has the inside track on an opening night gig.

Through two appearances, he's played 79:42 of action and posted a 2.26 goals against average and a .917 save percentage. He's allowed three goals. Vladar has been afforded two home starts, which means he hasn't had to travel and he's been provided with bluelines chock full of NHL experience in each game – 1,530 games at home against Edmonton and 1,228 at home against Vancouver.

If you look at his body of work, he's been quite good. His three goals against have been a power play deflection (Edmonton), a weird deflection off a defender (Vancouver) and an oddly-played odd-man rush from a defender (also Vancouver). He hasn't given up any goals that would make onlookers go "I don't know if he's good enough to be here."
<h1>Dustin Wolf</h1>
Wolf is the sexy pick, the up-and-coming youngster who has literally done everything he can do at the lower levels – he's a two-time Western Hockey League goaltender of the year, two-time American Hockey League goaltender of the year and former AHL most valuable player. If you're handing out jobs entirely based on resumes, Wolf has the inside track.

Wolf's also posted the strongest stat line of the three goalies involved. Through two appearances, he's played 100:00 of action and posted a 1.80 goals against average and .943 save percentage. He's allowed three goals. Both of his games were on the road, so he's travelled and had a less-experienced defensive group – 259 NHL games against Seattle and 1,221 NHL games against Vancouver.

Wolf hasn't really looked bad on his three goals against. He allowed a one-timer goal from the slot against Seattle, and against Vancouver he was victimized by a pass towards the front of the net that took a weird bounce off somebody and a deflection from the front of the net.
<h1>Devin Cooley</h1>
If you're choosing goalies by what the kids call "vibes," Cooley may be your guy. He's an interesting character whose interviews are spectacular, and he's also a pretty damn good goaltender.

Through three appearances, two of them in relief, he's played 100:58 of game time and posted a 2.97 goals against average and .929 save percentage. He's allowed five goals. He's played a full game on the road (against Edmonton), a road game in relief (against Vancouver) and a home game in relief (against Vancouver). He's had a mix of NHL experience in front of him: 206 NHL games in Edmonton, 1,221 NHL games in Abbotsford against Vancouver, and 1,228 at home against Vancouver.

Most of the goals he's allowed have been pretty effective passing sequences by the opposition or wild individual efforts – like when Daniel Sprong carved through the Flames' defenders on a two-man advantage. He's done nothing to make onlookers doubt his NHL capabilities.
<h1>Nobody's played their way out of the job</h1>
You could make an argument that Wolf and Cooley have been placed in more challenging situations – on the road with leaner defensive groups – while Vladar, coming off hip surgery in the spring, has been given a bit more wiggle room in terms of how he's been used. But all three goalies have played well in their circumstances, to the point where it's tough to point to numbers or the eye test that suggest one goalie is less good than the other two.

As a result, suddenly the final three games become incredibly important to help decide which netminders stick around when the games start counting on Oct. 8. We'll see if the final exhibition outings result in any separation between the three 'tenders, or if somehow they make the Flames' decision-making even more challenging.

<em><strong>Which goaltenders do you think the Flames should start the season with on their NHL roster? Let us know in the comments!</strong></em>
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