Few goaltenders have been as integral to their team’s success as Jacob Markstrom for the Vancouver Canucks this season.
The Swedish netminder has been crucial to the Canucks’ surging into the lead in the Pacific Division standings. Vancouver also finished Saturday with a five-game winning streak following a 4-3 overtime victory over the New York Islanders, with Markstrom posting his 20th win of the season.
Now it appears that the Canucks are about to reward their goaltender for his hard work.
“Certainly there’s contract talks going on now,” said Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston during the Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada. “This is a tough one to get a read on. I don’t think Jacob Markstrom wants this to play out too much publicly. [Canucks general manager] Jim Benning was on today with Dan Murphy on the Sportsnet broadcast and said they wanted to get something done.”
“Word was going around this week that there was a two-year offer from the Canucks to Jacob Markstrom, a raise on what he is making now. That is not confirmed from anyone yet. But it does seem as though, behind the scenes, they are trying to see if there is a fit.”
Markstrom, who celebrated his 30th birthday on Friday, has a contract with an AAV of $3.66 million which is set to expire after the season, per CapFriendly. He’s accumulated a 2.70 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage along with a 20-13-3 record this season.
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