7 fun facts about new Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen
The Vancouver Canucks goaltending situation just became more interesting.
On Saturday, the Canucks announced that they signed Finnish netminder Kevin Lankinen to a one-year contract worth $875,000.
Here are seven things to know about one of the best backup goaltenders in hockey last season.
1. Started his own book club
While studies show that Gen Z doesn’t read anymore, guys like Lankinen are apparently trying to change that.
Back in 2019, while at the height of his Finnish fame, Lankinen was asked about his off-ice hobbies, and he mentioned reading books. The book he mentioned in the interview, “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara, immediately sold out all over Finland.
Shortly thereafter, Lankinen and a publisher teamed up to create a book club that quickly gained 15,000 followers.
“I think there’s a lot of young people in Finland who like to look up to athletes, and they like to mimic what they do, so I think it’s been a good boost for literacy in Finland,” Lankinen said in this interview with The Athletic.
2. Led Finland to World Championship gold
In 2019, Lankinen quickly became one of the most recognizable athletes in Finland.
While the IIHF World Championship doesn’t get much love in North America, especially since it runs concurrently with the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it does mean a lot to European countries.
Case in point: Latvia added a national holiday after Arturs Silovs helped his country win their first World Championship medal last year.
Five years ago, Finland had an unheralded roster with barely any NHL players. That team surprised the hockey world and ended up winning their first gold medal since 2019.
Lankinen was a primary reason why they won. During the tournament, he posted a 7-1 record with a 1.50 GAA and a .942 save percentage. He shut out Russia in the semi-final and helped his team beat Canada 3-1 in the gold medal game.
3. Was named Finnish Role Model of the Year
Between his stellar performance at the Worlds and his work to promote literacy in Finland, Lankinen was named the Finnish Role Model of the Year (Vuoden Esikuva) at the Finnish Sports Gala back in January 2020.
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A lot of that had to do with the book club and the fact that a portion of proceeds from every book bought through the club was donated to a Finnish organization that granted underprivileged children the opportunity to play sports.
4. His childhood friend also plays in the NHL
Only 21 Finnish goaltenders in the history of the NHL have played at least 100 career games.
So, it’s pretty neat that two childhood friends are both on that list.
Lankinen is good buddies with Boston Bruins netminder Joonas Korpisalo. The two have been friends since playing against each other regularly back in Finland when they were both kids.
Ironically, they were both born on the same day, April 28. However, Korpisalo is one calendar year older than Lankinen, who was born in 1995.
5. Posted ridiculous numbers in Finland
Despite never being drafted, Lankinen ranks 19th all-time among Finnish NHL goalies with 112 games played.
He spent four full seasons playing in Finland’s top hockey league before signing with the Chicago Blackhawks as a free agent in 2018. He had some stellar moments, including emerging victorious in the longest game ever in SM-Liiga history. That game went into quadruple overtime, ending at the 134-minute mark.
The season before he signed with the Blackhawks, Lankinen posted some unreal SM-Liiga numbers, including a .946 save percentage during the regular season and a .936 save percentage in the playoffs.
He also played alongside a couple of current and former NHLers in Finland. Lankinen shared the crease with current Detroit Red Wings netminder Ville Husso back in 2015-16. The following season, he played alongside longtime Minnesota Wild goalie Niklas Bäckström.
6. First taste of the NHL was with the Islanders
Even though Lankinen didn’t sign with the Blackhawks until 2018 and didn’t play his first NHL game until 2021, the first time he donned an NHL sweater with an organization was in 2015.
That year, he was invited to the New York Islanders summer development camp. He spent some time there before returning to Finland for the next three seasons.
7. One of the NHL’s best 5-on-5 goalies last season
The Canucks goalie depth chart may be crowded now, but this was a signing the team had to make.
With Thatcher Demko out, it was a major risk to enter the season with Arturs Silovs and Jiri Patera, who have a combined 27 games of NHL experience, as the one-two punch in net.
Lankinen was by far the best remaining goaltender on the market. While his save percentage was above average last season, his 5-on-5 save percentage was actually one of the best marks in the NHL.
Only three netminders had a better 5-on-5 save percentage last season.
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Lankinen was stellar the season prior with the Nashville Predators, posting a .916 save percentage in 19 games. Since the beginning of the 2022-23 season, Lankinen’s .912 save percentage is the 17th-best mark in the NHL. He’s just narrowly ahead of Demko, who has a .911 SV% since the beginning of the ’22-23 campaign.