It’s long been public knowledge that Jim Benning and the rest of the Vancouver Canucks’ hockey ops department are incredibly high on goaltending coach Ian Clark.

Clark’s track record speaks for itself, and Thatcher Demko used his final media availability of the season to offer one last plea for the organization to bring back the goaltending coach he’s worked so well with over the years.

It was recently reported that Clark’s internal deadline had passed and that the only way he was coming back was likely if the organization were to offer him a somewhat unprecedented five-year contract, which would make his contract expire the same year as Demko’s new deal does.

It’s unclear at this time if it will be for five years, but general manager Jim Benning’s comments on Donnie and Dhali – The Team on CHEK TV today sure made it sound like a deal was close to being completed.

“We’ll get something worked out there,” said Benning when asked about the contract negotiations with Clark. “We’ll get that figured out.”

Last night was 1st time felt optimistic Ian Clark would be back; not done yet but if Canucks get this across finish line as expected they deserve credit for being progressive in approach + aggressive (if belatedly) right up to ownership. I’ll be on @Sportsnet650 at 1:30 with more https://t.co/2or5j9VdGZ

— Kevin Woodley (@KevinisInGoal) May 28, 2021

More to come.