Why Thatcher Demko And Kevin Lankinen Will Be A Big Factor In The Canucks’ Success This Season
The Vancouver Canucks’ goaltending tandem of Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen have received praise, for the most part, heading into the 2025–26 season in terms of how they compare to the rest of the NHL. Demko is a very strong goalie on his own, when healthy, and Lankinen had a career-best season the year before that saw him help his team to near-playoff contention. It’s no secret that these two are among the best in the NHL — The Hockey News ranked them fourth in the league in terms of goalie tandems back in July. But regardless of where they stand compared to the rest of the NHL, these two will play a massive role in whether the Canucks can make the playoffs or not come April.
2025–26’s Condensed Schedule Means More Goalies Will Play
With the 2025–26 season being an Olympic year, the NHL schedule as a whole will be much more condensed compared to past seasons. Vancouver hasn’t even played their 10th game of the season and are already facing their second back-to-back this weekend. One of their toughest stretches will be in January, leading up to the Olympics, as they play 16 games in 31 days and will travel to Buffalo, Detroit, Toronto, Montréal, Ottawa, and Columbus within the span of less than two weeks.
This cluttered schedule is when having a solid 1A/1B tandem will greatly come in handy. With so many back-to-backs as well as condensed road trips like last week’s run of five games in five cities, teams will need a solid tandem in order to ensure that their starter gets the rest they need. There have been many cases of goaltenders playing too often and getting injured leading up to playoffs — Canucks fans are unfortunately familiar with this — which is why a competent backup is necessary. For example, as strong as Connor Hellebuyck has been over long periods of time, the Winnipeg Jets can’t rely on him for another 60+ game season when he’s likely to be Team USA’s starter at the Olympics as well.
Lankinen Helps Demko’s Health
As mentioned, Demko plays at his best when healthy for long chunks of time. Plenty of Canucks fans have witnessed seasons in which Demko plays long stretches of games only to get injured. With last season feeling more like a ‘settling back in’ year for the former 2014 draft pick, it’s in both his and the team’s best interest not to have Demko starting 60 games — especially if there’s the chance that he could represent USA at the Olympics.
Lankinen’s presence in the organization gives Demko much more relief than what he may have had in previous seasons. Since taking up the starter’s role in Vancouver, Demko has played in nearly 70% of games per season on average during years that he was not extensively injured in. In 2024–25, Lankinen proved that he can handle a heavier load of games than what many expect from backups, as he posted a solid record over his 51 games played in. We’ve already started to see the Canucks take the 1A/1B route with Demko and Lankinen these few games into the season, as after Demko started last week’s games against the Dallas Stars (October 16) and Washington Capitals (October 19), Lankinen took the games against the Chicago Blackhawks (October 17) and Pittsburgh Penguins (October 21).
Both Goaltenders’ High-Danger Numbers Are Positive To Start
The 2025–26 season is only a few games in, so it’s hard to take goaltenders’ current numbers too seriously as of right now. However, both Demko and Lankinen have passed the eye test, and it seems their high-danger numbers are decent as well.
Demko has played more games than Lankinen, so naturally, his numbers are more positive. Of goaltenders in the NHL who have played three or more games so far, Demko ranks seventh in SV% with .927. He has faced the 12th-most high-danger shots against, the third-most of goaltenders who have only played five games, and ranks fourth in high-danger SV% with .891. Even without factoring these stats in, Demko has visibly proven that he’s back. He’s been nimble, acrobatic, and timely in his saves while facing over 30 shots per game in his past four outings.
Lankinen has only played in three games so far, and while many may not be as impressed with his play thus far, he’s still putting up solid numbers. The Finnish goaltender ranks 30th in SV% among goalies who have started three or more games with 0.883, and 32nd in GAA with 3.60. However, he has also ranked 2nd in shots faced (94) of goaltenders who have played three games this year.
One stat to be optimistic about is Lankinen’s high-danger saves. He has faced the most high-danger shots of goaltenders who have played three games (tied for 20th among all goaltenders) with 36. He has stopped 30 of these chances, totalling in a 0.833 high-danger SV% that ties him with Igor Shesterkin for 15th among all goalies. While some of his starts have appeared as slightly lacklustre compared to the previous season, fans should keep in mind that Lankinen had played in double the amount of games at this point in the season the year prior. Moreover, this team had a set way of playing that they were already familiar with — with injuries and a new coaching staff, they’ve had to adjust on the fly plenty of times already.
There’s no telling what this Canucks team will look like in the coming months, as they’ve already been greatly impacted by the injury bug. Whatever moves they do or don’t end up making, it’s clear that their goaltending tandem will play a big role in their final place in the standings.
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