San Jose Sharks acquire Devin Cooley from the Buffalo Sabres for a 2025 7th round pick

Your San Jose Sharks are still moving pieces at this trade deadline. Devin Cooley is the newest addition to the San Jose Sharks organization as the Sharks acquire the netminder from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a seventh round draft pick in the 2025 draft. This deal brings in a healthy new netminder to replace the departing Kaapo Kahkonen who is headed to the New Jersey Devils organization. Vitek Vanacek is out for the year, so this is the netminder partnering Magnus Chrona for the time being.

This is a depth move. Cooley isn't going to be waiver exempt, meaning that the Sharks may risk losing him if they are sending him down before the end of the season. Now, the flip side of this is that Chrona is still waiver exempt. Cooley can backup until Mackenzie Blackwood returns from his injury and then Chrona can go down, and Blackwood takes the reigns back. There's enough to suggest that it could work.

Now, Cooley is trying to prove that he is capable of breaking into the NHL. He's been called up a lot, but he's never made his debut in the NHL. With the Sharks, he's going to get a shot at the NHL here. At 26, he's still young enough to prove that he can make an NHL job full-time. With that in mind, he's got a 20 game audition or so until the end of the year to prove that he belongs in the show.

Another trade to bring in a stopgap. This raises the question as to why the Sharks didn't just claim a goaltender off of waivers, like when the Carolina Hurricanes waived Antti Raanta. This is a better story for the Sharks, and the team could get a boost from some of the results this allows. If Cooley can play well in teal, the Sharks could even re-sign him before his contract expires in the summer.