In an ideal world, the Vancouver Canucks would be looking at beginning the 2024-25 season with Thatcher Demko as their number one, (more than) ably backed up by Arturs Silovs. However, as is often the case in the world of professional sports, the reality is not quite the same.
People will have interpreted Demko's meeting with the media last Thursday in any number of ways, and rightly so given the lack of clarity on his health. However, one thing which does seem painfully clear from a Canucks' perspective, is that he will not be available for their regular season home opener on Oct. 9 versus the Calgary Flames.
As a result, the Canucks needed to find some short-term -- they hope -- relief, while awaiting Demko's return. This led to the signing of Kevin Lankinen to a deal, which was announced by the team on Saturday.
Lankinen makes a financial sacrifice
The contract is for one year, which was always suspected to be the case when the Canucks were pursuing Lankinen. However, what might have surprised some was how team-friendly it was, at a value of $875,000.
The reason the deal had taken so long to be finalised, was apparently because the 29-year-old goaltender was holding out for more money. This made sense, given he played for $2 million last season, and $1.5 million the season before that.
In the end Lankinen relented however, probably realising no better offers were coming, particularly given that training camps around the NHL had started. At some point you have to take whatever is on offer, rather than risking potentially spending the entire season not playing for anyone.
A beneficial deal in other ways
If nothing else though, while the Finland native might not have done as well as hoped financially, he did manage to help himself out in another way. As per PuckPedia, his deal with the Canucks includes a eight-team no-trade clause.
This is noteworthy for Lankinen, as it is the first NHL contract of his career, which includes any such proviso. While we have no doubt he would have preferred more financial reward in the deal, it's not a bad second benefit to have in offering him some control over his fate during the coming season.
It will be interesting to see if and how this eight-team no-trade clause comes into play, as the season progresses. Of course first of all for the Canucks, they need to see Demko return between the pipes and then remain healthy.
What happens when Demko returns?
Another aspect to consider in all of this, is who the odd man out will be, whenever Demko does return? With Silovs the younger and more long-term option, in theory it should be Lankinen who draws the short straw.
However, as we wrote on Saturday, Silovs has one more season of waiver exemption remaining. As such, it could well be a case of him being sent down to Abbotsford, with no inherent risk of losing him.
At the same time, what if Silovs has been playing better than Lankinen during Demko's absence? Well, one option in that case could be to move the former, which then brings us back to his eight-team no-trade clause.
It all makes for an intriguing potential set of scenarios moving forward. First things first though, the Canucks need to hope Demko is back sooner than later, with Lankinen and Silovs ably manning the goalie position in the interim.