Vancouver Canucks Goaltending Question

There is more than one Vancouver Canucks goaltending question, to be fair. We’re sure they’d love to only have ONE goaltending question, but that’s not the way of the NHL or the Canucks. So let’s look.

The Canucks Goaltending Question is Like a Popliteus Muscle

The president of hockey operations wants their star goaltender extended. The star goaltender wants to get an extension. So where’s the problem? The answer is somewhere in Thatcher Demko‘s knee. No one knows why it popped or how long it will last, but the team’s future stability relies on it.

Thatcher Demko

That may sound a touch dramatic, but it’s hard to overstate just how big this upcoming season is for the player and the team. While he won’t qualify for an extension until July 1st, all parties involved would like to get some answers first. But they won’t.

Not because no one is talking to each other, but because they literally can’t. Athletes in all sports sign contracts with a certain assumption that they will be able to continue playing for X number of years. Injuries are an assumed risk, especially for physical, high-impact games. Fortunately, most sports have been played long enough that injuries are well understood before pen meets paper.

Except Vancouver Canucks fans – and a lot of hockey teams’ doctors – learned a whole new word in September. Demko did come back to play in 23 games this season, including two brilliant performances against the Colorado Avalanche. For the most part, he was a player returning from injury.

Demko has the track record. He has been frequently brilliant, including coming second in Vezina Trophy voting last season. He’s fourth in games played for Vancouver, but third all-time in career wins and seventh in shutouts through some shaky years. In six seasons as a starter or backup, he’s had three with a save percentage of .915 or more.

Team management knows how good he can be. Thatcher Demko knows how good he can be. And they both know just how lousy his injury history is, playing more than 35 games just twice.

When A Question Isn’t

The risk isn’t one-sided, either. It would be easier if it were just a case of Vancouver dictating terms. No, the Canucks goaltending question isn’t just theirs, but Demko’s as well. At 29 years old, he is barely a veteran, never mind a greybeard. A contract as long as five or six years wouldn’t be a surprise – in normal circumstances.

Demko isn’t anything close to “normal” for next season. Yes, he’s eligible to sign on July 1st, but he’s still under contract through 2025-26. Last season was an injury-riddled trash fire, so it might not be the year on which he wants to base his salary.

Likewise, the Canucks won’t want to give either a high number or an extended term until they know he’ll be available for the duration. Yes, Demko can and often has been brilliant, but he wasn’t last season, and no one knows how long he’ll last. HOWEVER, should the number come in low enough…

The Canucks might be willing to risk carrying an injured player on the payroll if it’s, say, a repeat of his current 5 x $5 million. That gets Demko a guaranteed $25 million, whatever else happens. If his career ends all too soon, then he still has that money.

On the other hand, should he perform up to his own standard, he would be selling himself short. Even getting back to average (for him) this year means being a top-ten goalie in the league. That’s worth a lot more than $5 million, especially with the cap increase.

Kevin Lankinen

Demko’s injury risk decreases with a reliable partner like Kevin Lankinen in town, but so do his starts. It’s a double-edged sword for Vancouver’s nominal starter. If the Canucks have a goaltending question for 2025-26, it won’t be because of Lankinen.

The now 30-year-old veteran got a new contract in February, and it is for five seasons at $4.5 million per. In this case, the risk is more on the team than the player, as last season was his first to break the 40-game mark. He was pressed into action because of injuries to Demko and unreliable play from other options, but he pulled it off.

Lankinen’s .902 save percentage was pretty much middle-of-the-pack for goalies who played more than 20 games, and it showed. He wore down without regular breaks, allowing some sloppy play to sneak in. But for the most part, he held the fort when asked. He doesn’t have Demko’s brilliant ceiling, but being reliable matters. He’s the goalie of least concern right now.

Artūrs Šilovs

The assumption was that Artūrs Šilovs would get the backup position in 2024-25. And he did, but it was behind Lankinen, who wasn’t even in town when Šilovs signed his new, two-year deal. That wasn’t the only thing that went wrong for him last season, but it wasn’t a great start.

Losing his assumed role to essentially no one really put a cap on the year. He signed his two-year deal after a surprise playoff run in 2023-24 and was pencilled in, but had trouble living up to those ten games. With Demko down, there was every opportunity to temporarily claim the starter’s role. Unfortunately, he gave up a 4-1 lead in the season opener, eventually losing 6-5 in overtime.

Not the start he wanted, and a sign of what was to come. Šilovs was surprisingly shaky early on, losing the starting spot to Lankinen. He managed just two wins in his nine starts, both over the atrocious Chicago Blackhawks. Being waiver-exempt meant he could go back to Abbotsford, where he regained his confidence, doing better in two later call-ups.

He isn’t waiver-exempt this season and is in the second year of his contract. He has a high AHL salary, but the 23-year-old has shown he can play NHL games. And at just a $850K cap hit, other teams could certainly take a chance on claiming him. He led the Abbotsford Canucks past the first round, and if the team goes far, there could be interest as a trade chip.

Nikita Tolopilo

The final goaltender to play in Vancouver for the Canucks is Nikita Tolopilo, an undrafted Belarusian who signed in 2023-24. He finally got his call-up after anchoring the net with Šilovs in Abbotsford. He did decently enough in his two NHL games, but is currently an unsigned restricted free agent.

Those games got him a nice bonus payday, but also mean he is now eligible for waivers. That can limit his attractiveness to other teams if they hope to use him for anything other than an emergency call-up. That’s likely his destination next season anyway, after just two seasons in North America. If Šilovs is moved, Tolopilo should be the unquestioned starter in Abbotsford.

Jiří Patera

Speaking of seasons that did not go well at all, Jiří Patera played just seven games and is signed for one more year. His $400K AHL salary doesn’t hurt, but he didn’t get a chance to show his skills. He has eight NHL games under his belt with the Vegas Golden Knights and no doubt wants to get back to the bigs soon.

Ty Young

The last goalie on the list is Ty Young, who was a pleasant surprise. Tabbed for the ECHL, Young played 11 games in Abbotsford and picked up nine wins while there. He’s obviously nowhere close to the NHL, but could get a spot in the minors if the goalie carousel spins his way.

Answers to Canucks Goaltending Quenstion Likely A Trade

Vancouver has an oddly congested crease just now, though Tolopilo doesn’t have a contract yet. They have an NHL goaltender with a 5-year deal, another wanting one, and two good AHL-level goalies who could be more. Then there are the somewhat unknown Patera and Young pushing for ice time.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see one of these players used as part of a deal over the Summer. If they are, the others will have a bit more room to breathe and hopefully force the Canucks to consider them as the answer.