G Mantas Armalis
Next up is another goaltender, Mantas Armalis of Djugardens IF in the Swedish Hockey League. As opposed to Niederberger, Armalis is indeed reported to have garnered interest from NHL teams, with the Toronto Maple Leafs being the favourites to land him.
Armalis is a Lithuanian-born goalie who moved to Sweden to play hockey at an early age. After going through all of Swedens junior, as well as the third and second-tier men’s leagues, the 23-year-old just completed his second season in the SHL, posting a .918 save percentage while splitting the crease with Mikael Tellqvist.
At 6-foot-4, Armalis is five inches taller than Niederberger, but the German looks like he might be the better goaltender at this point.
Whichever way things shake out, if the Vancouver Canucks decide they want to sign another goalie, Niederberger, Armalis, Demko and Yale’s Alex Lyon are all interesting options. Looking at how Miller and Markstrom have been doing this season, signing some young help might not be an entirely bad idea.
Next: D Linus Hultstrom