Canucks could land veteran goalie help close to home for a reasonable price

The Vancouver Canucks are coming off a season where they showed excellent progress defensively as a whole. This included ranking tied fifth-best in goals allowed and tied eighth-best in team save percentage.

Of course this alludes to the stellar play between the pipes, particularly from Thatcher Demko. Even though injuries impacted the end of his season, he was still good enough to be named as one of the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy.

However it wasn't all just Demko, as Casey DeSmith provided solid backup during the regular season. Then Arturs Silovs came out of nowhere, to become the main option in Demko's absence during the playoffs.

Are Silovs and Patera enough?

This flipped the script in a manner of speaking, with DeSmith now an unrestricted free agent and Silovs in contention to be the main backup in 2024-25. This is of course assuming that he accepts his qualifying offer from the Canucks. (In fairness, there is talk that the qualifying offer is a place holder, as Silovs and the organisation work towards a potential long-term extension.)

In any event, the Canucks did go out and add some insurance/depth at the goalie position just in case. More specifically, they signed Jiří Patera to a two-year, two-way deal worth the league minimum of $775,000 at the NHL level per season.

The question though is if this is enough? Especially after recent speculation seemed to indicate the Canucks ideally wanted some veteran NHL experience as backup in net, with Silovs and Patera clearly not representative of this preference.

A seemingly ideal fit for the Canucks

With this in mind, what remaining options are out there in free agency, that could fill this void? Well, Joel Wegman of the Score seems to have one solution, with him picking Martin Jones as a good fit for the Canucks.

Certainly, Jones makes for an intriguing possibility in Vancouver. Even though he's now on the downside of a career that promised so much, there's still life left in the old dog!

Consider that during this last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the 2017 All-Star provided just what you expect and need from a backup. He went 11-8-1 in 22 games -- including 19 starts -- in the process producing a .902 save percentage and 2.87 Goals Against Average.

The 34-year-old still has decent athleticism, to go along with his imposing presence at 6 foot 5 and 203 pounds. He has the experience of being part of a Stanley Cup winning team, with 18 starts for the 2013-14 Los Angeles Kings during his rookie season.

Seemingly no negatives with Jones

Jones' career totals also make for really solid reading, with a 236-171-36 record in 448 starts (466 games overall). Along the way he recorded a .905 save percentage and 2.72 Goals Against Average, which would be more than acceptable and useful to the Canucks.

On top of all of this, Jones is from the area, having been born in North Vancouver in British Columbia. This almost seems like too perfect of a match, with him getting the opportunity to potentially finish his NHL career close to home, and with a team shaping up to be a genuine contender again next season.

In respect of the potential cost, this shouldn't be too expensive, which is of course always good news for an organisation to hear. Consider that Jones received $875,000 with the Leafs this past season, alluding to him accepting around the same to sign with the Canucks (or whoever).

One final factor to consider, as per Wegman, is that Jones can be placed on waivers if he does for some reason turn out to not be a good fit in Vancouver. Overall, he is just what the Canucks need, and they would do well to sign him as soon as possible.

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