VANCOUVER — Since the Vancouver Canucks brought in someone to challenge for Arturs Silovs’ job, the rookie goalie has shown in two strong performances that he plans to keep it.
The projected opening-day starter for the Canucks due to Thatcher Demko’s lingering knee injury, Silovs was excellent Tuesday in Vancouver’s pre-season opener at Rogers Arena, stopping 18 of 19 shots in a 3-1 win against the Seattle Kraken.
On the final day of training camp on Sunday, the day after the Canucks signed veteran Kevin Lankinen as goaltending insurance, Silovs was the star of the team’s only scrimmage, stopping all 16 shots he faced.
Between the Lankinen acquisition and Silovs’ form, there is suddenly a lot less unrest in Canucks Nation about goaltending short-term than when Demko told reporters on Thursday that there is not yet any timeline for his return.
Asked after Tuesday’s win if he felt urgency to make a statement with his play, Silovs said: “I mean, you have to perform. It doesn’t matter which game you play… you do your best that you can.”
Ben Meyers scored the only Kraken goal on a two-on-one, and Silovs made a handful of difficult stops, especially early on when the Canucks were sloppy with the puck. He also made big saves late in the third period against Jaden Schwarz and Andre Burakovsky.
Nils Hoglander and Filip Hronek scored power-play goals for the Canucks, and Pius Suter added an empty-netter, assisted by No. 1 prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki.
“I thought some of the kids played well,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “And Silovs played really well. (He was) very calm. There were some breakdowns and he was right there. He just doesn’t get rattled. I really enjoy that.”
SPECIAL TEAMS ROLL CALL
Few NHL jobs are actually up for competition in Vancouver, but margins are fine for anyone just trying to climb depth charts. Proving capable on special teams is always an advantage.
Lekkerimaki was the only non-NHLer on the first-unit power play. The 20-year-old who was rookie of the year in the Swedish Hockey League last season made several clever plays with the puck but misfired on a couple of shots. Top minor-leaguers Aatu Raty and Linus Karlsson combined to set up Hoglander on PP2. In his breakthrough season last year, Hoglander scored 24 goals — none of them on the power play.
Karlsson and Raty were also featured on the penalty kill, along with prospects Max Sasson and Elias Pettersson.
Raty was outstanding in the faceoff circle, going 14-4, and Pettersson finished with 21:07 of ice time on a fairly experienced Vancouver defence and led all Canucks with four hits.
VIKING ALRIKSSON
Vilmer Alriksson is a 19-year-old, fourth-round draft pick still learning to play in his six-foot-six frame. The teenager is likely headed back to junior hockey this season, but his rambunctious first-period shift impressed Tocchet and probably made a lasting impression on Canucks staff.
Not only did Alriksson run over Seattle’s Logan Morrison with a legal check, but he also stood up for himself when challenged by Kraken veteran John Hayden. The Swede held his own in the scrap with Hayden, a 29-year-old journeyman with 41 fights in his professional career.
Alriksson had 33 points and 35 penalty minutes (and one fight) in 67 games last season for the Guelph Storm. He does not project as an overtly physical player at the pro level, but it was encouraging that he was neither intimidated nor overmatched on Tuesday.
“I don’t care if he fights,” Tocchet said. “But just to stick up for himself and the team was great.”
MORE GOALIE STORY
Silovs was the night’s star, but Lankinen was the big story Tuesday morning as the newest member of the Canucks had his first practice in Vancouver. Signed to a one-year, $875,000 contract on Saturday as a free agent from the Nashville Predators, Lankinen practised with the Canucks’ non-playing group.
Lankinen won’t join them for Wednesday’s pre-season game in nearby Abbotsford, but Tocchet said the 29-year-old Finn could get a game this weekend.
“I feel comfortable already,” Lankinen told reporters. “I love this city. I obviously spent a lot of time here (as a visiting NHL player), not only last year, but the previous years as well. I know a couple of guys from my previous years, so I can’t wait to get going and get some game time maybe soon.”
Lankinen played with new Canucks winger Kiefer Sherwood last season in Nashville and with Vancouver centre Pius Suter at the start of their careers with the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Canucks wanted Lankinen as a hedge against an extended absence by Demko, whose knee injury from last season is reportedly a torn popliteus muscle. But Lankinen waited until Saturday to finally sign, more than two-and-a-half months after he became a free agent and weeks after first contacted by Vancouver GM Patrik Allvin.
Lankinen spent the last month doing homework on the Canucks, their staff and their system. He watched them first-hand last spring when Vancouver eliminated the Predators and Nashville’s starting goalie Juuse Saros in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Lankinen appeared in 24 games last season and posted a .908 save percentage, just above his career average of .905 through 112 regular-season games.
“I was just keeping it calm and waiting for the right opportunity,” Lankinen said. “Had some good discussions with several teams and when this opportunity turned out, I kind of did the research, did the homework, and felt like it would be a good fit. I’m excited to work with Thatcher, to work with Arturs — they’re both great goalies. Thatcher has shown he’s probably one of the best goalies in the league, so from my own previous experience working with top-end goalies like (Marc-Andre) Fleury or Saros the last couple years, there’s always something you can learn from those guys, too.”
The addition of Lankinen complicates the Canucks’ salary-cap picture, but cures any goaltending insomnia that Tocchet was suffering with Demko out indefinitely.
“I think it’s a great signing because it just strengthens your goaltending,” the coach said Tuesday morning. “You know, there’s not a lot of stress. Listen, injuries happen. They come in twos, sometimes in a week. So you’ve got to be ready for it. So I think having Lankinen, who is a quality goalie, here just strengthens our whole department.”
NOT QUITE A BLAZE
When Sammy Blais won a Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, it seemed like a perfect launch to the winger’s NHL career.
Blais was a well-regarded, 22-year-old prospect who had earned the trust of head coach Craig Berube and was starting to establish himself as a speedy, physical, bottom-six forward. Five years later, in what should be the prime of his career, here is Blais on a tryout with the Canucks, desperate to earn another NHL contract.
He was relatively quiet Tuesday in his first pre-season game, starting on the fourth line of the Canucks’ split squad and registering no shots and three hits in 13:47 of ice time. This is a critically important week for Blais, who was a wrecking-ball winger before he fell out of favour with the Blues last season soon after Berube was fired in December and replaced by Drew Bannister.
“It was pretty tough mentally, to be honest,” Blais said Tuesday morning of spending the summer waiting for a one-way NHL contract that never materialized. “I knew going into free agency that I didn’t really have a good year last year, but I didn’t really expect not to get, like, any one-way offers. I think I still belong in the NHL… but it’s up to me to show that I deserve a contract here. It kind of, like, pushed me a little bit just to be even more hungry when I come here.”
Blais skated on a line with rookie prospects Alriksson and Sasson and was the least noticeable of the three.
He has averaged more than three hits per night during his 257-game NHL career, which includes a two-year detour to the New York Rangers before he returned to Berube and the Blues as part of the Vladimir Tarasenko trade in February, 2023.
Blais missed most of the previous season in New York after a skate-on-skate collision with former New Jersey Devils defenceman P.K. Subban destroyed his knee, tearing the ACL and MCL ligaments as well as the winger’s meniscus. That injury appears to have changed the trajectory of his career.
“But I think I got stronger mentally because of the injury,” Blais said. “I won a Cup with St. Louis and for me, it was, like: Who doesn’t want a guy that won a Cup on their team? But hockey is a business and I’ve got to prove myself all over again.”