On Monday afternoon, the Vancouver Canucks announced that goaltender Spencer Martin was put on waivers for the purpose of assigning him to the AHL.
At 11:00 am pacific time, we found out that Martin had cleared waivers and will now be able to report to the Abbotsford Canucks.
Martin has had a very tough stretch since New Years Eve, he is 0-10-0 over his last 10 starts and has posted a 0.840% save percentage over those 10 regulation losses. He has allowed three or more goals in each of those 10 games and though the environment in front of him has not been good, Martin has not been good enough to make up for the Canucks’ defensive deficiencies.
The Abbotsford Canucks are currently in Calgary to battle with the Wranglers on Tuesday and Wednesday night. We will have to wait a few hours here to find out if Martin will be in net for the AHL Canucks tonight in Calgary.
Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet gave an update on the injured Thatcher Demko on Monday afternoon and said that Demko will likely need a few more practices before he is ready for game action.
Demko was a full participant in practice today, and we’ll have a full scenes from morning skate article dropping shortly. Demko said after practice that he is hoping to be back in time for the Canucks’ Saturday matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers. With Martin going down, this could mean Arturs Silovs gets called up to backup Collin Delia tomorrow. Tonight’s Abbotsford Canucks game in Calgary will give us a good idea of what the situation will look like tomorrow.
Martin signed a two-year contract extension with the Canucks last April and will retain his salary as the contract is a one-way deal.
After a heck of a run last season, Martin was thrown into the fire of being a starter when Demko went down to injury back at the beginning of December. Though Martin had success early on this season, since he was trusted into the starter’s role, he has struggled. Through it all, Martin has been outplayed by Collin Delia and it looks like the Canucks have made the decision to roll with Delia over Martin for the time being.
Martin had great numbers in the AHL least season and perhaps he just needs some time to find his game at that level before getting back with the NHL team.
That being said, an improved defence in front of him would probably help too.
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