3. Jacob Markstrom gets traded
This is supposed to be a bold prediction, right?
This isn’t to say that Jacob Markstrom definitely will get traded, or that he should get traded. But if Thatcher Demko manages to steal the starting job from Markstrom, then Benning will have a difficult choice to make.
Markstrom is coming off the best season of his career, but Demko has long been viewed as the goalie of the future here on the west coast. Markstrom also happens to be entering the final season of his contract, and with the Seattle expansion draft just two years away, Vancouver has to be thinking about the long-term future.
The Canucks will only be able to protect one goalie for the draft, and it’s hard to envision them exposing Demko. That’s why it’s reasonable to think that unless Markstrom outplays Demko by a country mile in 2019-20, the 29-year-old could find himself being traded at the deadline.
It’s just hard to see how the Canucks will be able to continue the Markstrom-Demko tandem beyond next season, unless the former is willing to re-sign for one year — which would allow the Canucks to protect Demko from Seattle in two years. This would mean they don’t have to worry about protecting Markstrom, and he could always re-sign following the expansion draft
I strongly believe that Demko is going to take giant steps in his sophomore season, and there will be immense competition in the crease throughout the year. There will be some goalie-desperate teams at the deadline, and Benning might decide to get something for Markstrom, rather than risk losing him for nothing in free agency or in the 2021 expansion draft.