Vancouver Canucks sign goaltender to address injury crisis in crease

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Liam McCormick
September 21, 2024 (2:49 PM)

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The Vancouver Canucks have announced that they've signed goaltender Kevin Lankinen to a one year contract for $875K.

Lankinen is a 29 year old Finnish goalie with 119 games of NHL experience, and he may be asked to carry a significant portion workload to begin the season. At the moment, both Canucks goalies are dealing with injuries.

Arturs Silovs will be ready to begin the pre-season, but he was pulled from a recent Olympic Qualifying game due to knee inflammation. Thatcher Demko will be out indefinitely as he's hit a setback in recovering from his injury that forced him to miss last playoffs. Demko recently spoke to media and revealed that no other hockey player has dealt with the type of complex muscle injury he has, and there's no timetable for a return yet. Demko will be back, but Elliotte Friedman has suggested he'll have to play through this injury for the rest of his career.

With an injury to Demko and Silovs not quite at 100% yet, the Canucks clearly needed to bring in a goaltender before training camp. Lankinen is a solid bet as a goalie that can give you a chance to win a game. He broke into the NHL with an incredible run with the Blackhawks in 2020-21, and since played the last two seasons with the Nashville Predators as a solid backup. Through his NHL career, Lankinen has a serviceable .905 save percentage.

Arturs Silovs proved last year that he can succeed against top competition, and he'll likely be asked to assume the starter role until Demko gets back. However, if Silovs stumbles, it's good insurance to have Lankinen to step in.

The Vancouver Canucks took a significant step last season and took the Edmonton Oilers to a seven game series even without their elite goaltender. After that showing, the Canucks are likely feeling extremely confident, but all taking every measure necessary to get Thatcher Demko healthy again. Maybe then they could go on a playoff run, but Arturs Silovs and Kevin Lankinen may need to get them through the regular season.