It’s kind of funny we haven’t heard more about the Vancouver Canucks goaltending situation this season, especially given the history of this franchise and its frequent experience of crease-related controversies. In the end, it’s probably largely a consequence of the team’s continued path through a rebuild. If winning games in the 2026-27 isn’t the aim, and losing as many as possible would be a huge benefit, it’s hard to muster up much care about who is tending the nets.

But the Canucks have a bit of a situation on their hands all the same. We are sitting here less than a month out from Training Camp 2026, and if anyone tells you they know how the goaltending duties are going to be split this year, they’re lying. There are simply too many question marks at this point.

The largest question mark surrounds Thatcher Demko’s health. But there are also questions to be asked about Kevin Lankinen’s performance and Nikita Tolopilo’s readiness. And then there’s that overarching question of how many and which of the three are actually going to be spending the bulk of their time in the crease.

Today, we’re attempting to lay out all the scenarios that could reasonably come out of camp, and what they might mean moving forward into the 2026-27 season and beyond.

Let’s get the terminology out of the way here first. When we say “Demko Healthy,” we mean simply that he shows up to Training Camp ready to go, participates fully or as close to fully as is reasonable, and doesn’t re-injure himself or pick up a new injury in the course of the preseason. This is his expected status at this point, but not yet guaranteed. What we don’t mean is “healthy in the long run,” because, to be frank, there will be no way of knowing that by the time camp is complete. Demko could get injured again at any point, and some might even say he is likely to. Any of these “Demko Healthy” scenarios carry an inherent risk of him becoming injured again sooner or later.

But let’s say, for now, that he appears in camp healthy and remains as such for the duration. At that point, he’s the de facto starter for the Canucks. He might need to be eased back into the role as he shakes off the rust, but that won’t change his status as the clear-cut number one.

The question, then, becomes what to do with Kevin Lankinen and Nikita Tolopilo, with one option being what is often referred to as a “three-headed goalie monster.” In this scenario, Demko gets the bulk of the starts over the season, Lankinen gets fewer than he has been, and the team tries to rotate Tolopilo into the net as often as possible. Lankinen and Tolopilo probably rotate backup duties in this scenario, as well.

The upside of this scenario is that the team is well-covered if Demko ends up becoming injured later. The downside is that there’s just not enough crease to go around if everyone is healthy, and chances are that Tolopilo in particular spends most of the season in the press box. There’s also a concern of wasting one of the 23 active roster spots on a goalie who isn’t going to play very much, as opposed to an extra forward or D.

If the team wants to cut one of their three goalies, it kind of has to be Tolopilo, regardless of how he performs in camp. He’s the only one without a no-movement clause for the 2026-27 season.

Tolopilo is newly waiver-eligible, so we can’t really gauge the likelihood of his being claimed. But the preseason is a busy time, and most of the various creases around the NHL look full, so there is at least a chance that he passes through.

This is a pretty ideal situation for the Canucks. Demko and Lankinen tend the net in Vancouver, while Tolopilo returns to Abbotsford, where the goaltending is otherwise a little sparse at the moment. He’s sitting down there ready and willing to come back up if and when Demko gets injured again, so the Canucks have coverage.

The only real downside to this scenario is the uncertainty. Until Tolopilo actually hits that waiver wire, there’s no way to know whether he’ll make it through to the other side or not.

The other side of that previous scenario is one in which Tolopilo is waived and claimed by another team.

It might seem unlikely, with Tolopilo only having 23 NHL games to his name. But preseason injuries and shuffling happen, and every year it seems like some fairly random goalies get claimed. Last year, Pheonix Copley, Cayden Primeau, Colten Ellis, and Brandon Bussi were claimed on waivers in October. And if the only one of those four you’ve heard of is the one who went on to win the Stanley Cup, that’s kind of the point. Goalie claims are hard to predict.

So, there is definitely a world in which Tolopilo is claimed, the Canucks are left with Demko and Lankinen at the NHL level, and then a likely combination of Ty Young (28 AHL games and 35 ECHL games as a pro so far) and Aku Koskenvuo (nine AHL games and 22 ECHL games) down in Abbotsford, along with AHL signing Mitchell Weeks.

The AHL Canucks might be able to get by with such an inexperienced duo, but it leaves the Canucks without much NHL-level coverage if Demko or Lankinen get injured. If this scenario comes to pass, we could see the Canucks trade for a more veteran AHL option to cover the gap. Alternatively, they might just wait to see if Tolopilo ends up on waivers again. That was the case a few years ago when the Canucks lost Jiri Patera on preseason waivers, only to get him right back a couple weeks later. 

Call this the Silovs Scenario. The Canucks found themselves in a similar situation last year, and they solved it by trading Arturs Silovs to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Chase Stillman and a fourth-round pick.

But that was all they got for Silovs, who was coming off a dominant AHL championship run. Tolopilo just doesn’t have the same resumé, which means that the Canucks would probably struggle to find a buyer, and if they did, the return would be minimal.

Plus, trade Tolopilo, and the Canucks are still one injury away from Young or Koskenvuo on the NHL roster. It seems like attempting to waive Tolopilo down to Abbotsford might be more worthwhile, in the end, than cashing him in for a sixth or whatever.

This is a scenario that hasn’t gotten a lot of play yet. But if Demko comes back and looks truly, truly healthy, then maybe Lankinen starts considering if there’s more playing time for him elsewhere. With that NMC in place, Lankinen is master of his own destiny, but there is at least a possibility of him seeing another opportunity elsewhere and being willing to take it.

Given Lankinen’s numbers last year, the Canucks couldn’t expect much, if any, of a return. This trade would be more about clearing Lankinen out of the way to allow Tolopilo to take over as Demko’s full-time backup (assuming Tolopilo puts in a camp performance worthy of that role, of course).

There’s that same risk of Demko getting injured and the Canucks lacking coverage here, but one difference is that the backup role would be held by someone with some real growth potential in Tolopilo, as opposed to a fairly stagnant asset in Lankinen. If this scenario comes to pass, we’d really expect the Canucks to acquire some sort of AHL veteran, just in case.

If we’re naming all the scenarios, we’ve got to mention this one, even if it is incredibly unlikely. A team would have to want to trade for Demko and commit to his full three-year, $8.5 million AAV extension, and they’d have to want to do that based on just a Training Camp and preseason performance. That’s probably not going to happen.

And then, on the other side of the equation, we’d have to imagine Demko, who has spoken openly about his desire to return to and remain with the Canucks, having a healthy and successful camp and then deciding to waive his NMC to go elsewhere.

This one just isn’t going to happen.

There is still every possibility that Demko ends camp with his status still up in the air. Maybe he’s not as recovered from previous injuries or surgery as he thinks; maybe he re-injures something; maybe he gets injured again; maybe the rust isn’t coming off. There are a few different ways we could get here, but the end result is that camp concludes and Demko is no longer in a position to be the definitive starter.

The path forward from this scenario seems pretty obvious, and it’s that aforementioned three-headed goalie monster. Sure, there are downsides to that, but the coverage provided by having both Lankinen and Tolopilo available all year probably outweighs those downsides in a situation where Demko is an active and ongoing question mark. 

This one would be interesting. The team could reasonably gamble on Demko’s health a bit, still waive Tolopilo, and say to hell with the consequences. They roll into the season with Lankinen back in his familiar 1B role, Demko starting as much as is possible, and they wait to grab a goalie on waivers or for cheap later if they find they need something more.

It’s risky, sure, but what is the risk at the end of the day? That they lose more games in the 2026-27 season? Oh no! 

Let’s not forget that Demko could very easily not be fully recovered in time for the start of the 2026-27 season, or he could outright re-injure or injure himself in a different way during preseason, to the point that he starts the year back on the IR or LTIR.

That would be awful for Demko on an individual level, but it would make the Canucks’ decision pretty easy. Lankinen and Tolopilo would just platoon in the net, ideally with more of an even split than they enjoyed last year, until the point at which Demko returns – or doesn’t. With Demko on IR, there’s an extra roster spot to be had, so there’d be no extra cuts required.

We’re not trying to jinx anything here, but we should mention that Demko is not the only goalie in the world who could become injured. There’s always a chance that Lankinen and/or Tolopilo gets injured in the preseason, at which point the whole thing gets thrown into a bit of chaos. Hopefully, it’s not both at the same time. Imagine the Canucks starting 2026-27 with a Demko/Young combo in net!

We’ll end by saying there’s a clear worst-case scenario here, and it’s a bit of a combination of some of the above. The worst-case scenario is one in which Demko appears totally healthy in camp and preseason, to the point that the Canucks feel comfortable waiving Tolopilo and rolling with the Demko/Lankinen duo. That all sounds well and good, but then what if Tolopilo is claimed, Demko gets injured again shortly thereafter, and the Canucks are left with some bizarre Lankinen/Young tandem for the rest of the season.

Again, one might ask what the real consequences of that might be for a team that should be a-okay finishing in last place. But it’s still very plainly less than ideal, and would at the very least be an unnecessary bit of instability for a youthful roster.