Canucks targeting Kevin Lankinen with Demko still injured: report
The Vancouver Canucks appear to have a number-one target as goaltender insurance ahead of the 2024-25 season.
News recently broke that starting goalie Thatcher Demko is still not fully recovered from a knee injury roughly four months ago. With no real options other than Arturs Silovs, the Canucks are looking for some insurance in the position, and seem to have their eye on Kevin Lankinen.
Canucks continue to look for a goalie. It appears that Kevin Lankinen is their target. Lankinen had a very strong 2 seasons in Nashville and made $2 million last year. The Canucks salary cap situation will likely make this very difficult to pull off.
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) August 22, 2024
Lankinen is widely regarded as the best goaltender remaining on the free-agent market. The 29-year-old has spent the past two seasons with the Nashville Predators, posting a 2.79 goals against average (GAA) along with a .912 save percentage (SV%) in a combined 43 appearances in a backup role to Juuse Saros.
Lankinen has played four NHL seasons to date, the first two of which were spent with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Goaltending depth wasn’t nearly as big of an issue for the Canucks a season ago, along with Demko and Silovs, they also had Casey DeSmith. Reports have since come out that management hoped to re-sign him this offseason with Demko’s health being a point of concern. The Dallas Stars wound up signing the 33-year-old, giving him a three-year, $3 million deal.
As CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal mentioned, finding a fit cap-wise for a goaltender could be difficult, as the Canucks have less than $200,000 in space. That said, they will receive some relief once the 2024-25 season gets underway, as Tucker Poolman’s $2.5 million deal will be placed on long-term injured reserve.
Should a deal not work out with Lankinen, there areĀ severalĀ other goaltenders the Canucks could look to bring in, including former San Jose Sharks starter Martin Jones.
- You might also like:
- Canucks bringing forward Sammy Blais to training camp on a PTO