There are only 32 goalie coaches jobs in the National Hockey League. Landing one of them requires not only the skill to coach at the top level but also often being in the right place at the right time.
So when the Canucks and legendary coach Ian Clark decided to shuffle the team’s day-to-day goalie coaching, Marko Torenius was more than ready to take the mantle.
The 47-year-old Finnish native is far from an unknown in hockey circles. Torenius has been developing elite goalies for over a decade and a half, including some current NHLers. But as the new guy in Vancouver, he’ll be taking on his first NHL job in a market where fans are used to knowing all the goings on with their goalies and the guy training them.
Torenius started his pro coaching career in 2006 with SM-Liiga’s Espoo Blues, a role he held until 2014. Torenius simultaneously began working with SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL, training a number of future NHLers, including Igor Shesterkin, Pytor Kochetkov, and Yaroslav Askarov.
The partnership Torenius had with Shesterkin was undoubtedly his most fruitful. The pair worked together from 2014 until Shesterkin left for New York in 2019, as the Russian evolved from an 18-year-old rookie into a regular strong starter for St. Petersburg.
Torenius joined the Canucks organization in 2022 after former AHL coach Curtis Sanford left for a bigger opportunity in Toronto. His experience working with prospects like Shesterkin made him a top candidate to work alongside Clark and Abbotsford Canucks General Manager Ryan Johnson.
In his two years with the organization, Torenius had a crucial connection between Clark and the big club with the young goalies in Abbotsford, working with Arturs Silovs and Nikita Tolopilo as well as travelling to view the progress of prospects like Aku Koskenvuo and Ty Young. Silovs and Tolopilo have made consistent strides at the AHL level in his time with Abby. Now, Torenius and Silovs are graduating together and continuing that relationship in the NHL.
Torenius will be walking into a tough situation in Vancouver for his first month on the job. The unknowns around Thatcher Demko’s health and who the team will replace him with for the time being are going to be some of the first decisions he helps the Canucks’ organization make. So it should come as no surprise the free agent goalie the Canucks are most interested in adding is former Torenius pupil Kevin Lankinen.
No matter which two or three netminders he has at his disposal on the Canucks roster, Torenius will certainly have his work cut out for him in year one.
