Goaltender Kevin Lankinen refuses to sign with Canadian team for ridiculous reason
The Vancouver Canucks have reportedly offered a one-year contract to free agent goalie Kevin Lankinen but he declined to accept it.
The Canucks are currently in a very tricky situation with their goaltenders. Thatcher Demko is dealing with an injury he sustained last season, and to make matters worse, it is reportedly not something that can be fixed with surgery. As a result, he will need to do physical therapy to learn how to play through this injury for the remainder of his career. At this point though, we still do not know exactly how serious it is and whether or not he can still perform at his best. Regardless, it appears as though he will not be available for the start of the season, which means the team needs another netminder.
One potential option was Antti Raanta, but he announced today that he is going back to Europe for next season and his career in the NHL is effectively over. As such, the Canucks have reportedly turned to fellow Finn Kevin Lankinen, but they have not had any success there either. It sounds like the team offered the 29-year-old a league-minimum deal, but he is looking to make at least 1 million dollars next season, so he rejected their offer.
Lankinen, 29, went 11-6-0 with a .908 SV% and 5.56 GSAx with the Nashville Predators (NHL) 🇺🇸 last season.
To be fair to Lankinen, his numbers last season are certainly worth a million dollar contract. After all, that really isn't that much more than league minimum anyway, and the team could always bury him in the minors without a cap penalty if they need to. However, the Canucks have essentially no cap space whatsoever at the moment, so every dollar counts.
That being said, there aren't many teams looking for a goaltender at this point in the summer, so Lankinen may very well be forced to accept this deal. Be sure to stay tuned in the coming days to see if he caves or not.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 14 | 262 ANSWERS Goaltender Kevin Lankinen refuses to sign with Canadian team for ridiculous reason Do you think Kevin Lankinen will eventually swallow his pride and accept the deal the Canucks offered him? | ||
| Yes | 107 | 40.8 % |
| No | 155 | 59.2 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mikko Rantanen | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jake Debrusk | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Dylan Guenther | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jack Eichel | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Brock Nelson | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Clayton Keller | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Anthony Cirelli | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jonathan Drouin | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Roman Josi | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kirill Marchenko | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kyle Palmieri | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Matt Duchene | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Samuel Girard | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Claude Giroux | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Oliver Kylington | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Anton Lundell | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jonathan Marchessault | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||