I don't know how to feel about this. Seems too long
Just to expand on this, I think there's a ton of value in locking in a goaltender without too many miles on their body that has seemed to have found a very solid home in Tocchet's system, especially given the uncertainty around Demko (4 injuries in a calendar year!) and Silovs' regression. Would I have been happier with 3 years? Sure. But I think this is a gamble the team needed to take.Great signing!
Technically we can run both Demko and Lank next year and if Demko can play a starter workload, we can extend him and trade Lank if Lank’s numbers are also good as well. I mean this covers the worst case scenario with Demko and if Demko can bounce back, the AAV is not at all unreasonable that he becomes untradable.If the Canucks were going to get a goaltender of this level, or any starting goaltender for that matter, this is the term you’d be looking at. The cap hit is low enough to be solid as well.
With Demko’s health being so uncertain, the Canucks definitely needed to take steps to solidify their goaltending position. Lankinen in many ways is the reason we are still talking about possible playoffs right now. Maybe he and Demko form a 1A/1B if Demko can ever stay healthy again, but the more likely outcome right now feels like Lankinen is our starting goaltender going forward.
I think the cap hit of $4.5M is a nice win, especially with a rising cap. Five years is a bit on the long side, but probably the price of keeping that cap hit down.