Photo credit: NHL/Vancouver Canucks
An NHL insider has revealed who will take over as the Vancouver Canucks third goaltending option this season with Arturs Silovs traded away earlier this summer.
Now that Arturs Silovs is no longer apart of the Canucks organization, the team will now have a new third goaltending option in case of an injury to either Thatcher Demko or Kevin Lankinen, and one insider shared who he thinks should take over that role.
Insider shares who he thinks should be Vancouver Canucks’ third goalie this season
Aside from Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen, the Vancouver Canucks have some solid goaltending depth in their system, headlined by Aleksei Medvedev – who is returning to the OHL this season, along with Nikita Tolopilo, Ty Young, Jiri Patera and Aku Koskenvuo.
One of the latter four are going to have to assume the role that was occupied by Arturs Silovs and NHL.com’s Kevin Woodley recently shared that it should go to Jiri Patera, who has some, albeit limited, experience at the National Hockey League level while with the Vegas Golden Knights.
“I get biased because I really like guys that are no stone unturned and Patera is one of them. He works really hard on his game.” Woodley said.
He added, “Much like the number one goalie in Vancouver, he missed most of the year because of a serious injury. But if he’s healthy and going into it, if you get the guy that you signed for two years, because you liked his ability to fill the 3 hole to move up you saw upside in his game…how many things is he being asked to change under this goalie coaching staff as he comes into training camp? How many times have we seen a goalie come into Vancouver and need like six weeks to two months in the American Hockey League before they’re comfortable with those changes? It’s not flick a switch instant.”
As mentioned by Woodley, Patera suffered a major injury last season that limited him to just seven appearances for Abbotsford, where he had a record of 2-2-2 along with a 2.79 goals against average, an .899 save percentage and one shutout.
While it’s basically guaranteed, barring any injury in training camp, that Jiri Patera will end up on waivers in order to be sent down to the AHL in early October, GM Patrik Allvin shouldn’t have to worry too much about the possibility of him being claimed given that the Czech netminder hasn’t played since November 2024.
In Abbotsford, Patera will be competition for the starting role with Nikita Tolopilo, who had another solid season in the AHL, splitting the duties with Arturs Silovs for the majority of the year enroute to a Calder Cup championship.
Previously on CanucksDaily