The Vancouver Canucks have signed goaltender Kevin Lankinen to a five-year contract extension with an annual average value of $4.5 million. General manager Patrik Allvin made the announcement early Friday morning.

Lankinen, 29, signed with the Canucks during training camp on a very team-friendly 1-year deal worth $875,000. Lankinen has registered a .905 save percentage through 34 starts this season.

Lankinen’s extension comes on the heels of news that Thatcher Demko would be out week-to-week with yet another injury. Demko is heading into the final year of his five-year contract — worth $5 million annually — in 2025-26.

Lankinen’s new deal will kick in next season, and expire at the end of the 29-30 season.

After beginning his pro career in Liiga, Lankinen made the jump to North America in 2018, signing with the Chicago Blackhawks. During the 2020–21 season, he recorded a 17-14-5 record. The following season, he served as a backup to Marc-André Fleury, concluding the season with an 8-15-6 record.

In July 2022, Lankinen joined the Nashville Predators on a one-year contract, later signing a one-year extension in March 2023. Over two seasons with Nashville, he achieved a 20-14-1 record and a .912 save percentage. To this point in his career, Lankinen had yet to prove himself as a reliable NHL starter.

Thus, when he hit free agency in 2024, the offers made were less than ideal, and ultimately left him without a seat at the table. Vancouver turned out to be the perfect fit, however, as with the continued issues surrounding Thatcher Demko’s health and reliability, Lankinen has managed to end up on pace to earn a career-high number of starts. And now, he’s pivoted that into the long-term home he was hoping to find last offseason.

Uncertainty remained when it came to the Canucks’ plans for Lankinen, as it was reported recently that he turned down the Canucks’ last extension offer. Clearly, with that uncertainty being turned up a notch with Demko proving to be undeniably injury prone at this point in his career, the Canucks felt it was time to fortify their plans at the goaltending position.

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