The Vancouver Canucks had added a security blanket in net for their current situation.
On Saturday, general manager Patrik Allvin announced the team has signed goaltender Kevin Lankinen to a one-year contract. The deal has a cap hit of $875,000 for the 2024-25 season.
This move is being looked at as a safety net as the Canucks’ No. 1 goaltender, Thatcher Demko, remains out of commission for the foreseeable future. Demko told the media on Thursday that, while he continues to progress in his rehab, there is no timetable for his return.
Lankinen is now paired up with last year’s playoff hero in Vancouver, Arturs Silovs, as the two listed netminders on the NHL roster. Had the teams not signed Lankinen, the Canucks might have been looking at a tandem of Silovs and Jiri Patera, who had spent the last four seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights organization.
For the entirety of his NHL career, Lankinen has been a solid, reliable backup goaltender. The undrafted Finn came to North America when he signed with the Chicago Blackhawks in May 2018. He was added to the main roster for the 2020-21 season, making 69 appearances over two seasons with the team in the Windy City.
In July 2022, he joined the Nashville Predators as a supporting character to Juuse Saros. Lankinen played in Smashville for two seasons, both on one-year contracts. In 2023-24, he posted an 11-6-8 record in 24 games with a 2.82 goals-against average, a .908 save percentage, and one shutout. These numbers were a hair from the HIFK product’s career-best numbers during the 2022-23 campaign. That season, Lankinen went 9-8-1 with a 2.75 GAA and a .916 SV.
Across four seasons, the 29-year-old has played in 112 NHL games, registering a record of 45-43-12, a 3.07 GAA, a .905 SV% and three shutouts.
