Latest news with #Lankinen
National Post
09-07-2025
- Sport
- National Post
Canucks: Arturs Silovs' future is cloudier than ever
Article content And in Vancouver, he's clearly back to being No. 3 again, now that Demko has signed a contract extension. The plan in goal, for the near future anyway, is to have Demko and Lankinen sharing the Canucks' crease, leaving Silovs sitting behind a logjam. Article content In a sport where shooters are ascendant, there are a great many goalies who have shown themselves to be good, but not great. Given how he struggled in the 2024-25 regular season, whatever enthusiasm he has re-energized around himself will still be somewhat muted. Article content Goalies with a longer NHL CV than his, like Vitek Vanacek or Kaapo Kähkönen, draw only mid-round draft picks in trade — or like Kähkönen simply move on waivers — so Silovs' trade value likely isn't huge. Article content Whatever value in trade Silovs might have will be at its maximum coming out of training camp. Another team may have a need for a goalie because of an injury and won't want to wait to see what other goalies might be exposed on waivers. Don't forget that last year's initial No. 3 goalie in Vancouver, Jiri Patera, was claimed by the Boston Bruins on Oct. 2 but was then reclaimed on waivers by the Canucks five days later. Injury limited Patera to just seven games with Abbotsford last season. Article content He wasn't the only goalie claimed on waivers last season. James Reimer and Kähkönen both found new teams through waivers. Both, though, had longer NHL track records than Silovs. Article content
New York Times
01-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
NHL contract grades: Canucks take a risk giving big money to Thatcher Demko
Goalie Thatcher Demko signs a three-year deal with the Canucks with an $8.5 million AAV. When Demko is firing on all cylinders, he can be a game-changer in net. His 2023-24 captured just how high his ceiling can be, when he earned 32 quality starts and saved 25.8 goals above expected, which ranked fourth in the league. But that season also showed what makes him such a wild card in Vancouver: his durability. Injuries ended Demko's year early and limited his postseason to just one game. That carried into 2024-25. And just when he started to shake the rust off in goal after a delayed start, he ended up missing more time with injury. That's why management invested in Kevin Lankinen with a five-year deal carrying a $4.5 million cap hit. Advertisement That Lankinen contract isn't starting goalie money, it's more in the range of a 1A-1B. So there was still room to invest in Demko to form a balanced tandem that gives Vancouver insurance with that injury wild card in mind. It just doesn't make sense at this cost, or this early. By extending Demko now, management solidifies a Lankinen-Demko tandem. That gives Canucks a chance to sell high on Arturs Silovs, after he won MVP-honors in the Calder Cup. The free agent goalie market is incredibly thin, and Silovs is very cost-effective, so there could be buyers. As much as it makes sense for management to know that Demko is locked in for another couple of years before dealing Silovs, this extension does hurt Vancouver's trade leverage. But the biggest risk is the fact that this contract is done a year early, because who knows what might happen this year. Can Demko get back on track after all of last year's ups and downs? He is reportedly healthy and already training, but will that last? Can he get through a full season in an even rotation with Lankinen, or as a 1A, and carry this team into the playoffs? If the answer is no, the team just sunk $13 million into a crease it can't be confident in. That's why it's a short-term deal. But that only protects the Canucks so much. From Demko's perspective, the contract makes a ton of sense. His last year was filled with ups and downs, and a lot of durability question marks. Now he doesn't have to worry that an injury would derail his chance of a lucrative extension — he already has one in place. Sure, it doesn't have the long-term certainty of a six-plus year deal. But if all goes well over the next three years, the door should be open for another solid contract when he is 33 years old. The trade-off is an $8.5 million cap hit, which is the same as … Connor Hellebuyck. Only three active goalies have a higher AAV — Andrei Vasilevskiy, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Igor Shesterkin. And while that doesn't account for cap inflation ($8.5 million will be worth 8.2 percent of the cap in 2026-27, while Hellebuyck's cap hit percentage is 8.9 percent), it doesn't move the needle away from bonafide starter money. Contract grade: B-
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Wild inch closer to playoff berth, rallying to beat the Canucks 3-2 in OT
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Mats Zuccarello scored at 2:47 of overtime and the Minnesota Wild beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Saturday night to inch closer to a playoff berth. Zuccarello beat goalie Kevin Lankinen on a breakaway after Kirill Kaprizov freed him in the zone with a nifty pass. With one game remaining, Minnesota holds the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, a point ahead of St. Louis and five in front of Calgary. The Blues have two games left, and the the Flames have three to go. Minnesota overcame a 2-0 deficit in the third period, cutting it to one on Brock Faber's goal 22 seconds in the period and tying it on Marcus Foligno's goal with 6:46 remaining. Filip Gustavsson made 12 saves for Minnesota. Marcus Pettersson opened the scoring for Vancouver early in the first, and Jake DeBrusk scored in the second. Lankinen stopped 30 shots for the Canucks. Takeaways Wild: Minnesota rebounded from a 4-2 loss at Calgary on Friday night. Canucks: Defenseman Derek Forbort was hurt during a fight with Yakov Trenin early in the third period. The Minnesota forward was handed a game misconduct for punching Forbort while he was down on the ice. Key moment Capitalizing on a failed Canucks clearing attempt, Ryan Hartman passed to Foligno and the Wild winger popped a shot in past Lankinen to tie it. Up next The Wild host Anaheim on Tuesday night in their regular-season finale. The Canucks close the season at home against San Jose on Monday night and Vegas on Wednesday night. ___ AP NHL:
Reuters
13-04-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Wild top Canucks in OT, inch closer to playoff spot
April 13 - Mats Zuccarello scored the winning goal 2:47 into overtime as the Minnesota Wild continued their late playoff push by rallying to beat the host Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Saturday. Zuccarello snuck behind the Vancouver defense and took a pass from Kirill Kaprizov then deked goaltender Kevin Lankinen as the Wild (44-30-7, 95 points) clawed their way back from a two-goal deficit to start the third period. Brock Faber had a goal and an assist and Marcus Foligno scored for the Wild, who entered the contest needing a regulation win along with a regulation loss by St. Louis to clinch a Western Conference wild-card spot. The Blues (43-30-8, 94 points) lost in a shootout to the Seattle Kraken, earning them a point. Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson stopped 12 of 14 shots. Jake DeBrusk and Marcus Pettersson scored for the Canucks (37-29-14, 88 points). Quinn Hughes got his 59th assist of the season while Lankinen stopped 30 of 33 shots. Hughes became just the seventh defenseman in league history to record three consecutive 75-point seasons. Pettersson opened the scoring for Vancouver at 3:11 of the first with a shot that beat Gustavsson to the short side. DeBrusk scored a power-play goal at 13:08 of the second to give Vancouver a 2-0 lead. DeBrusk beat Gustavsson with a shot to the blocker side that looked similar to Pettersson's. Faber got the Wild's rally started by threading a shot through the legs of the Canucks' Conor Garland and past Lankinen just 22 seconds in the third to cut the Vancouver lead to 2-1. Foligno scored at 13:14 of the third to tie the game 2-2 and set the stage for overtime. This was the teams' final meeting this season. The Wild won the first game at home 3-2 in overtime on Dec. 3, then the Canucks returned the favor against the visiting Wild 3-1 on March 7.
Fox Sports
13-04-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Wild inch closer to playoff berth, rallying to beat the Canucks 3-2 in OT
Associated Press VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Mats Zuccarello scored at 2:47 of overtime and the Minnesota Wild beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Saturday night to inch closer to a playoff berth. Zuccarello beat goalie Kevin Lankinen on a breakaway after Kirill Kaprizov freed him in the zone with a nifty pass. With one game remaining, Minnesota holds the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, a point ahead of St. Louis and five in front of Calgary. The Blues have two games left, and the the Flames have three to go. Minnesota overcame a 2-0 deficit in the third period, cutting it to one on Brock Faber's goal 22 seconds in the period and tying it on Marcus Foligno's goal with 6:46 remaining. Filip Gustavsson made 12 saves for Minnesota. Marcus Pettersson opened the scoring for Vancouver early in the first, and Jake DeBrusk scored in the second. Lankinen stopped 30 shots for the Canucks. Takeaways Wild: Minnesota rebounded from a 4-2 loss at Calgary on Friday night. Canucks: Defenseman Derek Forbort was hurt during a fight with Yakov Trenin early in the third period. The Minnesota forward was handed a game misconduct for punching Forbort while he was down on the ice. Key moment Capitalizing on a failed Canucks clearing attempt, Ryan Hartman passed to Foligno and the Wild winger popped a shot in past Lankinen to tie it. Up next The Wild host Anaheim on Tuesday night in their regular-season finale. The Canucks close the season at home against San Jose on Monday night and Vegas on Wednesday night. ___ AP NHL: recommended
