The biggest positive for this last Vancouver Canucks season, was probably the emergence of goaltender Kevin Lankinen.
After a very successful playoff run from Arturs Silovs, the Canucks had a decision to make regarding bringing back Casey DeSmith, or giving Silovs the promotion to backup goalie. Upper management tried to bring DeSmith back; however, his desire was to move on from the organization after he wasn’t given the crease back in the playoffs.
Now with Silovs in the driver’s seat to be Thatcher Demko’s backup, the Canucks signed Jiri Patera to a two-year deal to take over the reigns with Abbotsford in the AHL. Come training camp, we learn the news that Thatcher Demko would not be ready for the start of the regular season.
And there was a Finnish free agent goaltender, training overseas, just waiting for a call. The Canucks picked up the phone and called Lankinen, signing him shortly after and he was on his way to Vancouver to prove he could be NHL starting goalie calibre.

Kevin Lankinen’s season

Having joined the team late, Lankinen could only get into two games of preseason action. He finished with a 0-1-1 record, with a 2.48 goals against average and a .897 save percentage. With not a big sample size with the Canucks, Silovs earned the opening night start.
Everything was looking positive that Silovs would carry on as the teams starting goalie after the Canucks took a 4-1 lead after the first period against the Calgary Flames. But then, a three-goal third period and an overtime goal against for Silovs gave Rick Tocchet no choice but to turn to his new goaltender.
Despite the losing effort, Lankinen looked solid. He stopped 29 of 31 shots faced, holding a 1.85 goals against average and a .935 save percentage against the Philadelphia Flyers. Silovs allowed three goals in the following game, and Lankinen was given another shot, and he ran away with the job.
Lankinen earned the next four starts, including a shutout over the defending champion Florida Panthers. And a stellar performance that stole them a point against the Carolina Hurricanes:
This was then Tocchet realized he had a starting goalie.
The Finnish netminder started 14 of the next 17 games, where he went 9-4-1 with a 2.88 goals against average and a .900 save percentage with another shutout. Not to mention, he’s stepping up and stealing games with one of his top two centres on a leave of absence while the other one was slumping and a previous 40-goal scorer out of the lineup with a concussion.
Making highlight reel saves along the way:
Lankinen’s efforts throughout the first few months of the season earned him a spot on Team Finland’s 4 Nations Face-Off lineup, serving as Juuse Saros’ backup.
But now came the fork in the road. Thatcher Demko returned after that stretch of games. What do they do? Ride the hot hand with Lankinen and ease Demko back in? Or give the starters crease back to Demko? Well, Lankinen was playing too well not to play him. So they began splitting time, with Demko earning a bit more of the lion’s share of starts.
Demko started six of the following 10 games, despite holding a 2-1-3 record with a 3.46 goals against average and a .876 save percentage over those games. Meanwhile, Lankinen had the better numbers in only four games, with a 2.28 goals against average, a .900 save percentage, and a shutout.
Well, it was short-lived as Demko again found himself on the injured list after missing a few games with a back injury. This was right in the heart of the Canucks’ most difficult road trip against five straight playoff teams.
Demko returned halfway through that road trip for a game against the Hurricanes, where the Canucks put forth one of their worst efforts of the season. Not only did they have to play the next night in Toronto, but their plane couldn’t take off that night, and they had to leave in the morning.
But that didn’t stop Lankinen from stepping up for a 20-save shutout performance with some incredible saves when his team needed him the most:
The following game was a little more difficult, as Lankinen allowed six goals en route to a thumping by the Winnipeg Jets. After this, Tocchet leaned on his Vezina runner-up goaltender from a year ago, parking Lankinen on the bench for seven of the following 11 games, despite his stellar 2-0-1 record, with a 1.94 goals against average and a .909 save percentage.
It was during this stretch that Demko started to find his game again, and questions started to arise about what to do with Lankinen moving forward. Do the Canucks re-sign him, or do they trust Demko after a long stretch of game that his health would hold up?
Well, that was short-lived, as in the game before the 4 Nations break, Demko exited in the first period with an injury.
Lankinen came in cold off the bench, holding the high-flying Maple Leafs offence to just one goal on 22 shots, including this incredible save on the penalty kill:
After this, Lankinen was off to 4 Nations, where he wasn’t expected to get much game time. But after a tough game for Juuse Saros against Team USA (allowing six goals against), Lankinen got the call to start against the Swedes in their next outing. The Finns lost the game, but Lankinen stopped 21 of the 24 shots he faced. Lankinen earned his second consecutive start in a win-and-you’re-in game against Team Canada. However, this game wouldn’t go as well for Lankinen, as he allowed four goals on 13 shots and got yanked for Saros.
Heading back into regular season action, the Canucks found out that Demko’s injury was going to keep him out longer than originally thought. With Demko constantly in and out of the lineup, Canucks management had no choice but to lock up their stable new goaltender, Kevin Lankinen to a five-year extension, holding a $4.5 million AAV.
The weight of the biggest contract in his career and the disappointing last game at the 4 Nations did not weigh Lankinen down in his first game back with the Canucks. He was as steady as always, keeping his team in the game against the Vegas Golden Knights, stopping 32 of 34 shots, despite the losing effort:
With the Canucks in the heart of their playoff push, Tocchet heavily leaned on his freshly-extended netminder, starting him in 13 of the following 16 games – including a stretch of 11 of 12 games.
You could tell fatigue started to set in for Lankinen, as his game started to slip, allowing 14 goals over his last three starts before Demko finally returned.
Lankinen finished the season on a high note over his last four games, holding a 2.13 goals against average and a .936 save percentage.

The Final Stats

Here are Lankinen’s final stats for the 2024-2025 season:
Lankinen had a career year, setting career-highs in games played (by 14), games started (by 12), wins (by eight), goals against average (by 0.13), and shutouts (by two).
Across the league of goaltenders to play 35+ games, Lankinen started the 21st most games, won the 22nd most games, had the 13th best goals against average, the 18th best save percentage, and the seventh most shutouts.
While it was a rollercoaster season for the entire Canucks organization, their lone bright spot was the stability between the pipes with Kevin Lankinen. He single-handedly kept them in games, stealing them multiple points in the standings for his efforts, in games the Canucks had no business winning.
He came up big when the team up front gave him no run support:
He didn’t waver when the pressure was at an all-time high in overtime:
On multiple occasions:
And was consistently the team’s best penalty killer:
And in just one season, Canucks fans grew a sense of trust in a new goaltender, one that they will see for the next five seasons.
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