Vancouver Canucks training camp is 16 days away, and questions in net still remain. Will Thatcher Demko be ready? What’s going on with the health of Arturs Silovs? Will the team bring in some veteran help?
Well, Rick Dhaliwal from Donnie & Dhali – The Team posted a video on X discussing all three topics. Watch the full video here:
After discussing an update on Demko’s health, Dhaliwal had this to say regarding the team’s interests on the unrestricted free agent (UFA) market;
“Canucks continue to pursue UFA goaltender Kevin Lankinen. The club has made Lankinen an offer, but it’s not good enough to get a deal done right now. But the pursuit of Lankinen continues, we’ll see where that ends up.”
In a few weeks of pure chaos from the Canucks crease, this was the first update on an outside goaltending in a while. This is also the first report with confirmed information that the team extended an offer.
Lankinen, 29, has been a career-long backup but has been solid in that role. Through 112 National Hockey League games – spending two seasons with both the Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators – Lankinen has a 45-43 record, a 3.07 goals against average (GAA) and a .905 save percentage (S%) with five shutouts in his four year NHL career.
The Finnish goaltender is coming off a one-year, $2 million contract with the Predators. Lankinen is coming off a solid season, finishing with an 11-6 record, a 2.82 GAA and a .908 S% and at this point of the offseason, is not looking for a discounted contract.
Vancouver has $190,833 of available cap space for the upcoming season and hopes to enter next season without putting Tucker Poolman’s $2.5 million on long-term injured reserve for more relief come the trade deadline.
If a deal can’t be made with Lankinen, there are a couple of unsigned veteran options that may be closer to the Canucks’ price range: Martin Jones, coming off a one-year $875K contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, or Anti Raanta, coming off a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes.
