Photo credit: Bob Frid – Imagn Images.
The Vancouver Canucks have announced a roster move on Monday under emergency conditions involving a rookie netminder, with the NHL’s Olympic break now over.
The 2026 Winter Olympics have come to a close and the Vancouver Canucks are nearing a return to game action, with the club set to face off against Mark Scheifele and the Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Arena.
Vancouver Canucks announce roster move under emergency conditions
In a post on social media on Monday morning, the Vancouver Canucks announced that they’ve called up goaltender Nikita Tolopilo under emergency conditions, while assigning Aku Koskenvuo back to the American Hockey League.
“General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that G Aku Koskenvuo has been assigned to Abbotsford (AHL) and G Nikita Tolopilo has been recalled from Abbotsford under emergency conditions.” the Canucks announced on social media.
The biggest reason for Nikita Tolopilo’s recall has to do with netminder Kevin Lankinen, who will probably be given the night off on Wednesday after flying back to Vancouver from Milan where he represented Team Finland, who took home the bronze medal on Saturday following a 6-1 win over Juraj Slafkovsky and Team Slovakia.
During his two-week stint in the American Hockey League, the Minsk, Belarus native was able to make six starts, going 3-3-0 with a 3.35 goals against average and an .871 save percentage.
While his overall numbers weren’t great, he did have a couple of stand out games, February 7th against the San Jose Barracuda and February 14th against the Ontario Reign, both of which he finished with a 1.00 goals against average and a save percentage of .975 and .969, respectively.
Given the Vancouver Canucks’ plans to rebuild, it’ll be very interesting to see how they approach their goaltending situation for the remainder of the 2025-26 season and if Nikita Tolopilo is given the majority of the starts in the final 25 games.
Puck drop for Vancouver’s first game post-Olympic break on Wednesday is set for 7 pm PT and can be viewed regionally in British Columbia on Sportsnet Pacific.
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Vancouver Canucks announce roster move under emergency conditions involving rookie netminder
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