Vancouver Canucks have no goalies left as Lankinen not travelling on road trip
Things just went from bad to worse for the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canucks, who are currently 30th overall in the NHL standings, are now heading on a road trip without their top two goaltenders.
On Tuesday morning, the Canucks announced that Kevin Lankinen won’t be travelling with the team on the road due to personal reasons. Jiri Patera has been recalled in his absence.
Patera was just sent down to the Abbotsford Canucks yesterday, as the team recalled goaltender Nikita Tolopilo in his place. Tolopilo is the Canucks third goalie on the depth chart, and he just missed a month due to injury before returning to Abbotsford over the weekend.
Vancouver was already thin at netminder after Thatcher Demko was sidelined with an injury, and the team announced last week that he’ll be out for two or three weeks.
He hasn’t played since exiting the Canucks game versus the Winnipeg Jets back on Nov. 11. Even before he exited that contest, the 29-year-old netminder was out of the lineup for two games.
Lankinen’s stats haven’t been superb this season. He’s currently 4-7-2 with an .880 save percentage. However, the fact that the Canucks are the worst defensive team in the NHL hasn’t helped his cause.
That’s reflected in the fact that his Goals Saved Above Expected of 0.01, according to MoneyPuck, suggests that he’s been completely average.
If Lankinen has already had issues stopping pucks behind this defence, how are Patera and Tolopilo going to fare?
Despite making one of the saves of the year against the Florida Panthers, Patera allowed seven goals during an 8-5 loss last week. He’s played just nine NHL games in his career with a .892 save percentage.
What a move by Samoskevich, but Patera makes an unreal glove save. pic.twitter.com/DQgTl3Crxa
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) November 18, 2025
Tolopilo just played his first two career NHL games at the tail end of last season. In the AHL this year, he’s 1-3-1 with a .901 save percentage.
The Canucks are about to embark on a four-game road trip where they will face the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche.
So far this season, the Ducks and the Avs are the two highest-scoring teams in the league.