Photo credit: Nashville Predators
The Canucks are facing tough calls right now as their starting netminder is set to be on the sidelines for the next little while.
The Canucks' most recent addition, Dylan Ferguson, confirms that Demko won't be a full participant in the team's training camp. Factoring the fact that the Canucks are still in on Kevin Lankinen and that there is no set timeline for Thatcher Demko's return, massively hints that there is no confidence that he'll be back any time soon.
TSN analyst Jamie McLennan was on Donnie and Dhali earlier and gave his thoughts on the Canucks and Lankinen. According to him, Lankinen has what it takes to be an excellent NHL netminder and the Canucks are still very much involved. At the moment, Allvin and Lankinen's party can't find an agree on a contract, but McLennan strongly believes that if he needs this deal, not only will they sort it out, but Allvin should sort it out.
The Canucks had reportedly tendered an offer below the $1M mark, but according to sources the netminder isn't interested in going any lower then a $1M AAV. The Canucks have the means to get it done if they opt to move Tucker Poolman to LTIR, but it appears that given the uncertainty of Thatcher Demko's situation, they aren't willing to make a move on it just yet.
As training camp evolves, we'll definitely have more on the subject. With the Canucks' objectives of repeating last year's successes, it's hard to believe they'll be riding with Arturs Silovs and Jiri Patera if Demko misses an extended period of the regular season.
