<p>The NHL&#8217;s promotional team deciding to make this Goalie Week couldn&#8217;t have come at a more strange time for the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/blueger-suter-canucks-centre-earns-3c-role-training-camp">Vancouver Canucks.</a></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In case you&#8217;ve been enjoying the last couple weeks of summer instead of paying attention to hockey in late August, we&#8217;ve had:</p>
<ul>
<li>The return timetable for Thatcher Demko jumps from the start of training camp to the first weeks of the regular season.</li>
<li>Goalie coach Ian Clark moving away from day-to-day coaching while being promoted(?) out of Director of Goaltending.</li>
<li>Former Abbotsford Canucks goaltending coach Marko Torenius promoted into Clark&#8217;s old coaching job, with Justin Pogge arriving to fill the void left in the AHL.</li>
<li>The Canucks looking to fill the temporary gap left by Demko&#8217;s absence without the cap room to really do so.</li>
</ul>
<p>That&#8217;s a lot of position-specific news to happen in just over a week and a half, which left us with a lot of different topics to tackle in so little time. That&#8217;s why I&#8217;ve put together this summer notebook edition of <em>In The Crease</em> to hopefully shed some light on a crucial month or so ahead for the Canucks and their netminders.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s dive in.</p>
<h3>On Clark and Demmer</h3>
<p>Unless something miraculous changes in the next couple of weeks, Thatcher Demko&#8217;s return to the ice will certainly be the biggest story when the Canucks arrive for training camp in Penticton. As will the sudden absence of Ian Clark, with Marko Torenius succeeding him as the team&#8217;s new head goalie coach. And after so many successful years working together, some have raised the question of whether Clark and Demko&#8217;s relationship had taken a hit and prompted a change.</p>
<p>Insiders like <a href="https://x.com/taj1944/status/1828567532112126463">friend of the blog Kevin Woodley</a> have vehemently dismissed that any friction between Clark and Demko was at the source of the coach&#8217;s reassignment. And while others have pointed to disagreements on workload as a key sticking point, that&#8217;s not out of character for any other goalie-coach relationship.</p>
<p>Like any competitive athlete, goalies will try to play every single game each season if you let us. That leaves the coaches in charge of preventing them from taking on such a big workload, or the human body itself will hit the brakes in an ugly, ugly way. Someone has to be the voice of reason or the bad cop; the strongest partnerships between a goalie and their coach requires some headbutting to work to the fullest.</p>
<p>We won&#8217;t get too deep into the potential divide between Clark and the Canucks right now, but removing the Director of Goaltending title from Clark is a particularly odd move. If anything, <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/friedman-timing-ian-clarks-role-change-canucks-questions-demkos-workload">not having to run day-to-day drills would free up a director&#8217;s time to focus on larger franchise objectives</a>, so why not let him keep the title even temporarily?</p>
<p>As far as losing Clark&#8217;s day-to-day insights go, that loss will certainly be felt early on. Nobody gains a reputation as remarkable as Clark&#8217;s without an established resume to back it up, and his legacy in Vancouver will be establishing one of the best goalie pipelines in the National Hockey League. No matter how you slice it, the new guy will have very big skates to fill.</p>
<h3>Justin the name of Pogg-ress</h3>
<p>You might remember <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/abbotsford-canucks-hire-justin-pogge-goaltending-coach">Justin Pogge as the goalie</a> from the Canadian World Junior team in 2006 or as a journeyman netminder whose career took him to NHL stops in Toronto, Anaheim and Arizona, as well as internationally in Sweden and Germany. Now he&#8217;s taking on a new challenge as the new coach for the Abbotsford Canucks, marking his first full season in charge at the pro level.</p>
<p>Pogge retired from competitive play after the 2022-23 season, during which he had simultaneously started games for Grizzlys Wolfsburg in the DEL <em>and</em> served as a goaltending consultant for Hockey Canada. Last year, he moved into coaching full-time, working as a consultant for the Columbus Blue Jackets and with Canada&#8217;s goalies during the Hlinka Gretzky Cup earlier this month.</p>
<p>Pogge might be a little green in the teaching department, but what he does have is more recent professional experience than most of his compatriots. And being able to relate to the experience of pressure on young guys like Nikita Tolopilo and Aku Koskenvuo could prove helpful.</p>
<p>But as is the case at the AHL level, Pogge&#8217;s biggest job will be executing development goals set by the recently promoted Marko Torenius, who will chart the franchise course as the Canucks&#8217; new netminding czar. Working under Torenius means Pogge will get his own crash course in developing prospects – not a bad first AHL job to land.</p>
<h3>The Three-Goalie Problem</h3>
<p>Last season, the Montreal Canadiens were in a bit of a pickle. They were in the enviable position of having three capable goalies in Jake Allen, Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau, but only two spots available on the bench. Either the Canadiens would have to make a difficult cut ahead of opening night, OR they could use a valuable healthy scratch spot to keep all three until the clear favourites rose up.</p>
<p>That ended up taking approximately 75 percent of the season until the Habs officially handed the reins to Montembeault and Primeau while solving their surplus by trading Allen to the New Jersey Devils. And even though the goalies never publicly raised a problem, it surely caused some headaches for three guys who were all fighting for their fair share of ice time.</p>
<p>On paper, the three-goalie plan can work, but <em>only</em> if you&#8217;re willing to rotate your starters regularly. If a team trusts the third netminder on the depth chart enough to play them as a 1C, then you&#8217;ve got positional strength that 31 other franchises wish they could.</p>
<p>The obvious problem with this plan is that trying to provide equal playing time also makes it harder to please all parties involved, especially if somebody is playing head and shoulders better. Unless the coach is willing to institute a set scheduled rotation – think a pitching staff in baseball – one goalie will almost inevitably become the odd man out. And without regular opportunities to play, his readiness for action will undoubtedly suffer. Just ask Mikey DiPietro, who lost an entire season of games as the Canucks&#8217; taxi squad goalie in 2021.</p>
<p>In this injury-specific scenario, whoever the third goalie is will get starts alongside Arturs Silovs; once Demko is ready for action again, all bets are off.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s where <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/dhaliwal-canucks-continue-look-goalie-lankinen-target">Kevin Lankinen</a> potentially comes in. The Canucks don&#8217;t have the cap room to add another goalie without some LTIR relief and a few tough cuts, which makes the PTO route a lot more desirable until Demko&#8217;s status is more concrete.</p>
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Predators&#039; Kevin Lankinen Sprawls Out To Deny Calle Jarnkrok Of Surefire Goal With Unreal Save" width="1424" height="801" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9qJ7ZbaUUis?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p>As far as the available free agent options go this late in the offseason, Lankinen is far and away the best option, having served as Juuse Saros&#8217; backup for the last two years in Nashville and putting up strong numbers in 40+ games of work. Lankinen also has experience working with new goalie coach Torenius, which could also help the Canucks in securing him for a more team-friendly deal. However, the situation remains contingent on other teams meeting his current asking price before mid-September.</p>
<p>If those plans fall apart, it&#8217;s very likely we&#8217;ll be hearing Jiri Patera&#8217;s music during the preseason.</p>
<p><strong>Sponsored by bet365!</strong></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>


The NHL's promotional team deciding to make this Goalie Week couldn't have come at a more strange time for the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/blueger-suter-canucks-centre-earns-3c-role-training-camp">Vancouver Canucks.</a>
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2111" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="329"></div>
&nbsp;

In case you've been enjoying the last couple weeks of summer instead of paying attention to hockey in late August, we've had:
<ul>
 	<li>The return timetable for Thatcher Demko jumps from the start of training camp to the first weeks of the regular season.</li>
 	<li>Goalie coach Ian Clark moving away from day-to-day coaching while being promoted(?) out of Director of Goaltending.</li>
 	<li>Former Abbotsford Canucks goaltending coach Marko Torenius promoted into Clark's old coaching job, with Justin Pogge arriving to fill the void left in the AHL.</li>
 	<li>The Canucks looking to fill the temporary gap left by Demko's absence without the cap room to really do so.</li>
</ul>
That's a lot of position-specific news to happen in just over a week and a half, which left us with a lot of different topics to tackle in so little time. That's why I've put together this summer notebook edition of <em>In The Crease</em> to hopefully shed some light on a crucial month or so ahead for the Canucks and their netminders.

Let's dive in.
<h3>On Clark and Demmer</h3>
Unless something miraculous changes in the next couple of weeks, Thatcher Demko's return to the ice will certainly be the biggest story when the Canucks arrive for training camp in Penticton. As will the sudden absence of Ian Clark, with Marko Torenius succeeding him as the team's new head goalie coach. And after so many successful years working together, some have raised the question of whether Clark and Demko's relationship had taken a hit and prompted a change.

Insiders like <a href="https://x.com/taj1944/status/1828567532112126463">friend of the blog Kevin Woodley</a> have vehemently dismissed that any friction between Clark and Demko was at the source of the coach's reassignment. And while others have pointed to disagreements on workload as a key sticking point, that's not out of character for any other goalie-coach relationship.

Like any competitive athlete, goalies will try to play every single game each season if you let us. That leaves the coaches in charge of preventing them from taking on such a big workload, or the human body itself will hit the brakes in an ugly, ugly way. Someone has to be the voice of reason or the bad cop; the strongest partnerships between a goalie and their coach requires some headbutting to work to the fullest.

We won't get too deep into the potential divide between Clark and the Canucks right now, but removing the Director of Goaltending title from Clark is a particularly odd move. If anything, <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/friedman-timing-ian-clarks-role-change-canucks-questions-demkos-workload">not having to run day-to-day drills would free up a director's time to focus on larger franchise objectives</a>, so why not let him keep the title even temporarily?

As far as losing Clark's day-to-day insights go, that loss will certainly be felt early on. Nobody gains a reputation as remarkable as Clark's without an established resume to back it up, and his legacy in Vancouver will be establishing one of the best goalie pipelines in the National Hockey League. No matter how you slice it, the new guy will have very big skates to fill.
<h3>Justin the name of Pogg-ress</h3>
You might remember <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/abbotsford-canucks-hire-justin-pogge-goaltending-coach">Justin Pogge as the goalie</a> from the Canadian World Junior team in 2006 or as a journeyman netminder whose career took him to NHL stops in Toronto, Anaheim and Arizona, as well as internationally in Sweden and Germany. Now he's taking on a new challenge as the new coach for the Abbotsford Canucks, marking his first full season in charge at the pro level.

Pogge retired from competitive play after the 2022-23 season, during which he had simultaneously started games for Grizzlys Wolfsburg in the DEL <em>and</em> served as a goaltending consultant for Hockey Canada. Last year, he moved into coaching full-time, working as a consultant for the Columbus Blue Jackets and with Canada's goalies during the Hlinka Gretzky Cup earlier this month.

Pogge might be a little green in the teaching department, but what he does have is more recent professional experience than most of his compatriots. And being able to relate to the experience of pressure on young guys like Nikita Tolopilo and Aku Koskenvuo could prove helpful.

But as is the case at the AHL level, Pogge's biggest job will be executing development goals set by the recently promoted Marko Torenius, who will chart the franchise course as the Canucks' new netminding czar. Working under Torenius means Pogge will get his own crash course in developing prospects – not a bad first AHL job to land.
<h3>The Three-Goalie Problem</h3>
Last season, the Montreal Canadiens were in a bit of a pickle. They were in the enviable position of having three capable goalies in Jake Allen, Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau, but only two spots available on the bench. Either the Canadiens would have to make a difficult cut ahead of opening night, OR they could use a valuable healthy scratch spot to keep all three until the clear favourites rose up.

That ended up taking approximately 75 percent of the season until the Habs officially handed the reins to Montembeault and Primeau while solving their surplus by trading Allen to the New Jersey Devils. And even though the goalies never publicly raised a problem, it surely caused some headaches for three guys who were all fighting for their fair share of ice time.

On paper, the three-goalie plan can work, but <em>only</em> if you're willing to rotate your starters regularly. If a team trusts the third netminder on the depth chart enough to play them as a 1C, then you've got positional strength that 31 other franchises wish they could.

The obvious problem with this plan is that trying to provide equal playing time also makes it harder to please all parties involved, especially if somebody is playing head and shoulders better. Unless the coach is willing to institute a set scheduled rotation – think a pitching staff in baseball – one goalie will almost inevitably become the odd man out. And without regular opportunities to play, his readiness for action will undoubtedly suffer. Just ask Mikey DiPietro, who lost an entire season of games as the Canucks' taxi squad goalie in 2021.

In this injury-specific scenario, whoever the third goalie is will get starts alongside Arturs Silovs; once Demko is ready for action again, all bets are off.

That's where <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/dhaliwal-canucks-continue-look-goalie-lankinen-target">Kevin Lankinen</a> potentially comes in. The Canucks don't have the cap room to add another goalie without some LTIR relief and a few tough cuts, which makes the PTO route a lot more desirable until Demko's status is more concrete.

https://youtu.be/9qJ7ZbaUUis?si=mGOvu7SJgV-o0Y69

As far as the available free agent options go this late in the offseason, Lankinen is far and away the best option, having served as Juuse Saros' backup for the last two years in Nashville and putting up strong numbers in 40+ games of work. Lankinen also has experience working with new goalie coach Torenius, which could also help the Canucks in securing him for a more team-friendly deal. However, the situation remains contingent on other teams meeting his current asking price before mid-September.

If those plans fall apart, it's very likely we'll be hearing Jiri Patera's music during the preseason.

<strong>Sponsored by bet365!</strong>
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Making sense of Ian Clark’s new Canucks role, Demko’s return, and can a three goalie system work?: In the Crease

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