After nearly a month of Vancouver Canucks fans being left in the dark regarding the health of Vezina runner-up Thatcher Demko, he met the media on the first day of training camp to address all of the looming injury questions. Still without a clear timeline to return, the club made the choice to address their goaltending depth on Saturday afternoon.

General manager Patrik Allvin announced after Day 3 of training camp that the club had signed Kevin Lankinen to a one-year, $887,000 deal.

Shortly thereafter, Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet met with the media and spoke about his excitement levels to have additional goaltending help with Demko’s status remaining uncertain.

“Yeah, I mean, it just adds to the whole goalie department,” Tocchet said. “We’ve done a lot of film on him and he’s a good goaltender. We’re excited to have him. He picked our team cause he likes the way we play – he told Patrik that. That’s nice to hear. He’s a really good NHL goalie.”

With three days of training camp in the books before the club made their signings, Tocchet was asked if performances thus far in camp convinced him and Allvin that adding some depth was crucial. Here’s his reply:

“Well I think a little bit of it. When you have a chance like Patrik, looking at that position, he feels like, ‘Hey, if we can get a quality guy in there, [why not?]

Tocchet further mentioned that new Canucks goaltending coach Marko Torenius may have some ties to his new Finnish netminder. Tocchet also informed us that the plan is to get Lankinen on the ice in Vancouver on Monday and that the plan regarding his goaltending rotation with the chaotic preseason schedule remained up in the air.

Here’s what Canucks Allvin had to say regarding the signing:

“Kevin is an experienced NHL player who will add to our depth in goal,” said Allvin. “He had a solid season last year in Nashville and has the size and skillset we like in a netminder. We look forward to getting him here to start working with our group.”

Lankinen will join a goaltending room of Arturs Silovs, Jiri Patera, Nikita Tolopilo and Ty Young as they battle it out for a chance to earn the starters crease in Vancouver’s season opener on October 9 against the Calgary Flames.