Canucks need backup plan if they commit to Demko trade

Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

With rumours still swirling about the Canucks listening to calls on Thatcher Demko, if not making them, it does call for a little workshopping on what would come next.

You can’t do something like that without a plan, without an idea of where you would go with goaltending starting next season.

Within the organization there is not much to choose from. Colin Delia and Spencer Martin cannot be asked to take on even a 40-game load, much less more.

There needs to be another option, and young Arturs Silovs is not quite ready for primetime either, with a .901 save percentage so far in 33 AHL games (granted, that’s not bad for a 21 year old starter in the “A”).

So who else could shoulder the load?

Well, there’s always the trade route, but chances are it’s just a waste of an asset or cap space.

There’s a lot of usable goalies out there. They won’t get a Vezina vote, they won’t steal many games. But they can play reliably. And get you from whatever you call this place now, to the point where the Canucks either find or develop a new starter.

They could plug and play a UFA in the summer as well. There are options there, some better than others.

At the top is a player familiar to the ex-Penguins staffers and the locals around these parts.

Surrey’s Tristan Jarry has reached his UFA years, and is having his two best seasons yet en route.. he was a .919 save percentage last season, that’s up to .921 so far this year, but just might be too shiny and too expensive for what the Canucks need..

Remember when the Canucks signed 33 year old Ryan Miller to bridge the gap between Roberto Luongo and Jacob Markström?

Well maybe an older guy could be the fix? Both Carolina goalies are headed to free agency. Both are 33-year-olds, in Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta.

Neither is quite like Miller. But they’re NHL goalies to be sure.

And then there’s the hope play. The Canucks thought they were making one with Spencer Martin. Jewel in the rough maybe after a scintillating start to his Canucks career?

Well, turns out no. But maybe they roll the dice again, this time with Adin Hill.

Hill has started double digit games in the NHL over the past five seasons.. got to 25 last year, and should be around that this season. And his past four years, his save percentage hasn’t wavered below .906.

He’s 27, and will come a lot cheaper than many of the others, but he’s hardly a sure thing though.

Only the Canucks know how competitive they think they’ll be next season, and that matters in this equation, but there are options at the high- and low-end heading into next season.

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