Almost too many Canucks goalie story lines to handle

It never seems to be quiet when it comes to the Vancouver Canucks. However, the organisation went into overdrive on Sunday, with several headlines involving just their goaltender position alone.

From Ty Young to Artūrs Šilovs to Thatcher Demko, there was plenty to digest. We can even throw Kevin Lankinen in there, as we dive into the different story lines involving the Canucks' netminders.

Ty Young

It's been quite the season already for Young, who made his professional debut last month in the ECHL, with the Kalamazoo Wings. He looked the part too, as he stopped 38 of the 39 shots he faced in a 3-1 win over the Cincinnati Cyclones and was awarded the First Star of the Game.

Now, after a whole two professional games, Young has been called up to the NHL. The surprising recall was announced on Sunday morning by Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin.

Certainly the talent is there, for a goalie who has excellent balance and composure, along with an innate ability to make himself seem bigger than he actually is. Further, Young impressed with a strong training camp, but what gives?

The fact Young was down in the ECHL in the first place, was due to the reality he just wouldn't have got enough action in Abbotsford. Yet now he's jumped all the way up to the NHL without any starts in the AHL.

Is this really a case where the Canucks think so highly of Young, that they already trust him to be their main NHL backup? While it would make for a fantastic story, there's other factors to consider.

Artūrs Šilovs

These factors relate to Šilovs, who had actually started the 2024-25 season as the Canucks main man for their home opener against the Calgary Flames. On Sunday he went in the opposite direction to Young, as he was assigned to Abbotsford.

On some levels this was understandable, given how poorly Šilovs has played so far this season. In three starts -- all of which the Canucks lost -- he produced an awful .797 save percentage and 5.00 Goals Against Average.

Still, the decision to assign Šilovs was somewhat of a surprise, for a goalie who had impressed so much during last season's playoffs. However, as we suggested when writing about the assignment, there was actually a sensible reason for the move by the Canucks.

We theorised that the reason for the assignment to the AHL, was to give Šilovs the start in Abbotsford on Sunday against the Bakersfield Condors. It was their second game of a back-to-back, which would also give him some invaluable playing time after starting just one of the Canucks' past 10 games.

And so it came to pass, as Šilovs did indeed start in Abbotsford and saved 23 of the 25 shots he faced in a 4-2 win over the Condors. We suspect his assignment in the AHL will be short-lived, but we'll know soon enough with the Canucks' next game being on Tuesday night.

Thatcher Demko

We're almost loathe to bring Demko up, just because of the snail-like progress of his recovery from a rare popliteus muscle injury. A lot of fans are at the point now, where they just want to know when he will actually play in a game again.

Still, there have been some encouraging updates regarding Demko of late, including working with goalie coach Marko Torenius on the ice amid speculation he is finally close to a return. In this respect, we now have another positive update.

More specifically, Sunday saw Demko as a full participant in practice and taking shots, for the first time in 2024-25. Of note, he did not appear to be limited in any way, which is course an extremely important development.

Having said all this, as per Jeff Paterson of Canucks Army, head coach Rick Tocchet did quickly shoot down the possibility, when asked if Demko would be the back-up for the Canucks' next game. Still, we seem to be closer than ever to the 28-year-old returning, at a time when we believe it is sorely needed.

Kevin Lankinen

Finally we come to Lankinen, who is coming off his toughest start of the season on Saturday night. He undoubtedly had a terrible time of it against the Edmonton Oilers, as he allowed seven goals in a decisive 7-3 loss.

The loss also meant Lankinen missed out on setting a new team mark, fo the longest points steak to start a season for a Canucks goalie. At least his name is still in the record books alongside Kirk McLean (set in 1991-92), with both netminders recording points in their first nine games of the season for the team.

As we've already stated, we're not going to be critical of Lankinen, after everything he's done for the Canucks so far this season. Without him the team could have already been in serious trouble, especially when combined with how poor Šilovs has been.

Further, Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet said following the Oilers game, that Lankinen was the least of his worries. Still, it will be interesting to see how he responds in his next start, as the seven goals on Saturday night represented an NHL career-worst.

Overall, whether you consider the Canucks as being in a good or bad situation right now with the goalie position, comes down to perception. From our perspective we are encouraged, but this can quite easily change is Demko experiences any type of setback, or the team has another game where they allow seven goals!

Recent Posts