What’s Going on With the Vancouver Canucks Goaltending Situation

Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – The Cycle of (NHL) Life episode on what is going on the Vancouver Canucks goaltending situation. Thatcher Demko is recovering from an injury. Kevin Lankinen was recently signed to a one-year deal. Artus Silovs wants to play in the NHL but he doesn’t require waivers.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

Bukauskas: “Vancouver, Elliotte, the Canucks, they signed Kevin Lankinen into a one-year deal, $875K. Seems like, I mean, we heard Thatcher Demko, early on in training camp, say he believes he’s going to get to 100% again. They still don’t have a concrete timeline, though, for his return.

Lankinen and the Canucks have been linked to here for a while. Any part of this signing and news here Elliotte send off alarm bells about Demko’s future at all?

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Friedman: “No, not alarm bells. Look, I think we all have to realize now, we should all understand what the situation here is in Vancouver. Not that it takes much to set off a five-alarm blaze in Canuck town, but we should all understand what’s going on here.

Number one, the Canucks are not going to rush Demko back. Number two, Demco understands at the beginning of the year, he’s not to rush back.

So Vancouver wants to start the season, and be prepared in case, knock on wood, God forbid there’s any kind of relapse, that they have the best possible tandem. And Lankinen is a good goal, like in a pinch, he can absolutely handle your net for you. So it’s Lankinen – Silvos to start the year. It gives them the best possible depth they can have right now, barring making a trade.

Now, there’s a couple of things that the Canucks are going to have to deal with here, and they can punt these situations until later. Number one is, you know what happens when Demko is healthy? Do you carry three goalies? Do you put Lankinen on waivers? I think you got to be really worried you’re going to lose them.

Or do you send Silovs back down the American Hockey League because he is not eligible for waivers until he plays game number 60. And Silvos right now is at 19 games, including the playoffs. So there is a chance he could hit it this year, but if not, he’s not waiver-eligible until next year.

The one thing about this is, I understand that Silovs, through his representatives, made it known that he wanted to be in the NHL this season.

Now, as a team and the Canucks will decide this later, they’ll figure out how they want to handle it. You’ve got, you’re going to say, look, we’ve got to do what’s right for ourselves. We’ve got to do what’s best for our organization, but they know that Silvos prefers to play in the NHL. It’s not anything they have to worry about now, but it’s something they will have to deal with when Demko is healthy.”

Bukauskas: “Yeah, and I think about just last season, yeah the Montreal Canadiens, they had a three goalie system for much of the year for a similar reason, because they didn’t want to lose their young netminder, Cayden Primeau to waivers. And eventually that was sorted out when Jake Allen was dealt to New Jersey.

And being around the team. I mean, I think because of the three personalities that were involved there, everyone was willing to work their way through the situation, but you could tell it wasn’t ideal having three goalies. Trying to get everybody starts. The practices. who was in the net and the rotation, and all of that.

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But, as you say, that’s a conversation for a different day for the Vancouver Canucks. Right now, they’re just trying to get Thatcher Demko healthy and have some depth of the position.”