Plenty of ink has been spilled about the Vancouver Canucks‘ upcoming goaltending dilemma. With Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen locked in long term, there doesn’t appear to be much room in the Vancouver goal crease for Arturs Silovs. Unless the Canucks want to carry three goalies, Silovs will require waivers, where the 24-year-old Calder Cup Playoffs MVP is almost certain to get claimed.

It’s something the team is well aware of, and it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise to see the Canucks get ahead of that by trading Silovs this offseason, as both Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford have alluded to.

But is there anyone else on the Canucks’ roster who get claimed? Let’s dive in.

For this exercise, we’re going to break down two likelihoods: The Likelihood of getting put on waivers in the first place, and the likelihood of getting claimed if that happens.

Barring a beyond dreadful showing at camp — or a trade or two to bring in new centres — Aatu Räty is going to slot into the Canucks’ bottom six next season. He turned in a strong near point-per-game season in the AHL this past season and even showed some flashes during his 33 games at the NHL level with the Canucks. His faceoff prowess is a valuable asset and the Canucks won’t be putting Räty on waivers unless they feel they’re left with no choice.

Still just 22 years old, another NHL team would almost certainly put in a claim on Räty if he were to hit waivers. Which is of course, part of the reason that the Canucks won’t be doing that in the first place.

Based purely on age and profile — a point per game player in the AHL who has played 130 NHL games — you might think Nils Aman should have some chance of getting claimed. But the contract extension that the Canucks signed Aman to had an eye toward the future. A one-way deal, Aman will be paid the same amount whether he’s in the NHL or not. Plus, Aman’s base salary will be higher this season than it was last season, making it a contract most teams (and owners) would like to stay away from. For the Canucks? Aman is valuable centre depth that they now don’t really have to worry too much about losing via waivers.

When we examined the Canucks’ lineup post-free agency last week, one thing that stood out was just how many wingers this team has. Many of whom are of the set-in-stone variety, too. Unless the Canucks move out a winger, it would seem like Nils Höglander, Dakota Joshua, Drew O’Connor, and Kiefer Sherwood would have all four winger spots in the Canucks’ bottom six locked up; with Conor Garland, Jake DeBrusk, Brock Boeser, and Evander Kane making up the top six.

That doesn’t leave much room for a player like Arshdeep Bains, who has played in 21 NHL games over the last two seasons but has been a key piece for the Abbotsford Canucks. On top of being named to the AHL All-Star game in 2023-24, Bains was a point per game player en route to Abbotsford winning their first Calder Cup Championship in franchise history. That might make a team take a flyer on him, but it still remains unlikely. Another thing to note, the new two-year deal the Canucks just signed Bains to turns into a one-way deal after next season, meaning there’s a certain commitment level required if a team wanted to claim Bains. All in all, this is closer to low than it is medium.

For all the same reasons we listed for why it’ll be hard for Arshdeep Bains to stick around with the Canucks after training camp, Linus Karlsson is going to really have to earn his spot if he hopes to stick at the NHL level. With 23 goals and 16 assists through 32 AHL regular season games before posting 26 points through 24 playoff games, Karlsson firmly put himself on the map as someone deserving an NHL opportunity with the Canucks next season.

Karlsson’s defensive game and hockey IQ gives him a high enough floor that he can work in an NHL bottom six, and there’s reason to believe he can start to translate some of that offence we’ve seen so much of in the AHL to the NHL. For that reason, we’d say there’s at least a medium-sized chance that he gets claimed if he hits waivers this fall. That being said, Karlsson is a prime candidate to win the job as the Canucks’ 13th forward, which would keep him from needing waivers at all.

PO Joseph signed on to essentially play the role that Noah Juulsen and Mark Friedman filled for the Canucks over the past few seasons as a 7/8th defenceman. Joseph is essentially a fallback plan of sorts as well, there to help ensure the Canucks aren’t just gifting roster spots to their young defencemen, and making them earn it instead. This means he’ll likely hit waivers, where it would be a surprise to see a team put a claim in on him.

It happened last year, and maybe it will happen this year too! Goaltending injuries happen, and there are only so many available out there. While there shouldn’t be any contract disputes that affect the goaltending market (as was the case with Jeremy Swayman and the Boston Bruins when Patera was claimed last year), it’s not uncommon to see veteran goaltenders like Patera get claimed by teams looking for short-term band aid solutions that they don’t have to give up assets to acquire. All in all though, if there’s one Canucks goaltender who’s likely to be claimed on waivers, it’s not Patera, it’s Arturs Silovs.