The Vancouver Canucks this past Friday announced they had signed goaltender Kevin Lankinen to a new five-year extension that carries a $4.5 million cap hit. Vancouver signed Lankinen just before the regular season started as there was some uncertainty surrounding Thatcher Demko and the injury that plagued him during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Lankinen has been a big reason why the Canucks are in the playoff mix in the Western Conference. But there is still a lot of drama coming out of Vancouver. Not only is there the Kevin Lankinen and Thatcher Demko situation but what comes next with Elias Pettersson?
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Even though the Canucks may not be trading Pettersson right now, is this something the team re-visits in the summer? Similar to Thatcher Demko, who is eligible for an extension on July 1st. With the new extension for Lankinen, does this mean Demko’s time is up in Vancouver?
TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger was on the Flames Nation Podcast and was asked about the Demko-Lankinen situation and how the Canucks will proceed with that. Dreger also mentions the Canucks are looking for a centerman and provides an update on what is going on with Pettersson and the Canucks.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Host: “So Demko is up in a year. He has one year left at $5 million. There’s the injury stuff, but this is the summer you’d extend him if he’s your guy, right? It kind of sounds like they made the decision he’s not going to be their guy. Like, you can’t pay a backup four and a half. Demko, if he’s right, is going to command seven to 10. It feels like this has been that you’ve written the end of Demko as a Canuck into the next 16 months.”
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Darren Dreger: “I don’t know that to be true, but the way you explain it makes sense, and we’ve talked about that kind of privately as a group here as well. It does feel like Vancouver is open to possibilities, pretty much at every position, right? I mean, we know that they’re scouring looking for a center man. Last time we spoke, I think we were a little bit unsure as to what the next move might be with Elias Pettersson. Did you see him play for Sweden at the Four Nations?
Like, look, I’m not burying the kid. There’s still time left in the regular season. He can still make an impact in locking things down and maybe make an impact in the postseason. But if he doesn’t, what does that tell you? You know, that has to be enough for Canucks management to go may come back to burn us, if this guy, all of a sudden finds his spark. But it doesn’t appear like it’s going to be in Vancouver, so we need to utilize whatever asset he is, and on top of that, the cap space that comes along with the transaction we’re going to do.
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Now, I’m not saying that this is going to happen between now and March 7th, it’s possible, but you can drift that into the off-season and then retool, and maybe that’s where the Demko conversation comes in as well.
But you better get a goalie back. You’re going to need something with a little bit more stability unless you feel like you’ve covered all your bases up.”
NHLRumors.com Note: Look if the Canucks move on from Elias Pettersson and Thatcher Demko, they will need solid returns. Similar to the J.T. Miller deal, the Canucks may not be winning either of those deals. But you can’t spend $11 million or more in 2026-27 and beyond on goaltending even with the cap going up. The reason being half of that duo is always injured. So this deal for Lankinen was a backup plan with the future in mind. It will be interesting to see how the Canucks provide with Pettersson and Demko moving forward.
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