The goalie drama over the past two days surrounding the Vancouver Canucks seems never-ending.
Firstly, Chek TV’s Rick Dhaliwal hinted that the club was unsure of Thatcher Demko’s timetable and that they may be poking around the goalie market. Then yesterday, General Manager Patrik Allvin announced long-time Head Goalie Coach and Director of Goaltending Ian Clark had asked for a new position as a goalie scout and goaltending development coach.
The club also announced Development Coach and Goaltending Coach Marko Torenius of the Abbotsford Canucks has been promoted to Goaltending Coach of the Vancouver Canucks.
There was much speculation as to who the Canucks were poking around on in the goalie market. Well, today, Dhaliwal shined some light on who the team was targeting: Kevin Lankinen.
Canucks continue to look for a goalie. It appears that Kevin Lankinen is their target. Lankinen had a very strong 2 seasons in Nashville and made $2 million last year. The Canucks salary cap situation will likely make this very difficult to pull off.
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) August 22, 2024
Lankinen, 29, started 17 games for the Nashville Predators last season, finishing with an 11-6 record, a 2.82 goals against average (GAA) and a .908 save percentage (S%). The undrafted free agent has been a relied-upon backup throughout his four-year National Hockey League career, accumulating a 45-43-12 record with a 3.07 GAA and a .905 S%.
Suppose Demko’s rehab isn’t progressing fast enough for him to be ready for training camp or the Canucks’ opening night of the season. In that case, the backup options are thin after losing Casey DeSmith to the Dallas Stars in free agency.
The club has playoff standout 23-year-old Arturs Silovs, freshly signed 25-year-old Jiri Patera, and 24-year-old Nikita Tolipilo. The three goaltenders lack NHL experience, having a total of 17 regular season games between them.
Dhaliwal adds that Lankinen is coming off a one-year, $2 million contract and, after a strong year as a backup, would likely command around the same average annual value. Vancouver currently has $190,833 of available cap space. However, with Tucker Poolman’s $2.5 million contract long-term injured reserve available, the Canucks could still make this work, although very tricky.
If the club wants to go with a cheaper option, Martin Jones and Anti Raanta are plausible free agents they could sign.
