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Woohoo, I love to have Finns in the team! Great deal for the canucks
No no, Virtanen is finished.For the longest time I thought he was Finnish like Jake Virtanen was Finnish.
Legend has it that if you say "Jake Virtanen" three times in front of a mirror in a candel lit room, you can hear him turning a corner somewhere in midtier hockey in Europe.No no, Virtanen is finished.
DeSmith had a good year last year, barring a couple stinkers. He started 27 games but a good chunk of that was once Demko was already hurt. I expect Lankinen to be better than DeSmith, but hope he is given a healthy run of games even when Demko is back to full strength. Between Lanky and Silly I'd like to see them start 35-40 regular season games at least.Solid goaltending depth is proving to be more and more important in an era where we have giant goalies constantly in danger of blowing out knees and hips.
Coaches are still very reticent to manage the work load of a goaltender who has a hot hand.
Hopefully, last year showed Tocchet and Allvin that they need to ease off a bit on Demko. And they can do so by having some reliable options that they aren't afraid to play.
DeSmith had a good year last year, barring a couple stinkers. He started 27 games but a good chunk of that was once Demko was already hurt. I expect Lankinen to be better than DeSmith, but hope he is given a healthy run of games even when Demko is back to full strength. Between Lanky and Silly I'd like to see them start 35-40 regular season games at least.
Only until Demko is ready, at which point they send Silovs down, or am I missing something?Well, there goes the Canucks' $191,000 in cap space. I guess they'll have to operate off of LTIR again, once Poolman is placed on this list before the first game of the season.
Too bad in some ways. Even operating a couple of hundred grand below the cap threshold carries advantages in the regular season.....because the cap space builds up cumulatively. But realistically, the Canucks had little choice.
As good as he was in the playoffs, there's no way you want to go into the regular season with a rookie goaltender in Silovs, who's only played 20 games in the NHL. And if Demko were to end up on LTIR to start the season, then that creates a chunk of cap space.
DeSmith and Lankinen had pretty comparable statistical years, actually. I’d say they are similar in terms of being reliable backup types, but obviously Lankinen is materially younger.
Clearly prefer to have Lankinen on this contract versus DeSmith’s AAV and term.
I'm not sure about that they will trade anyone. (1) there is always the likelihood that one of the goaltenders is hurt on any given day and (2) I think the plan is to get Silovs a lot of game action and I believe he is waiver exempt. I think they want to get him to 50 games this year. He did a competent job in the playoffs but ultimately he still needs a lot of seasoning. That is only going to come with minutes.Over-depth signing which basically means we’ll get a free 3rd round pick from a desperate team in a month when Demko returns, either by trading Lankinen or Silovs.
Only if you include a 4thOver-depth signing which basically means we’ll get a free 3rd round pick from a desperate team in a month when Demko returns, either by trading Lankinen or Silovs.