PENTICTON, B.C. – Sometimes something ugly can lead to something beautiful. Take Arturs Silovs’ infamous paisley T-shirt, for instance.
The goalie’s hideous salmon-coloured smock, which Vancouver Canucks veteran J.T. Miller wore for the morning skate of a playoff game last spring in Nashville (to ease tension and punk his rookie teammate), eventually led to a car deal for Silovs in his native Latvia.
The 23-year-old got a free Porsche out of it, and all he had to do was wear the ugly shirt. So, that was pretty cool.
“Same shirt,” Silovs said Saturday at the Canucks training camp.
Maybe something beautiful will also occur from the unattractive knee injury to star goalie Thatcher Demko, whose uncertain status means the inexperienced Silovs could be the Canucks’ starting goalie when the National Hockey League season begins for Vancouver on Oct. 9.
But just in case, the team announced Saturday that it has signed free-agent goalie Kevin Lankinen, 29, to a one-year, $875,000 contract.
“It just adds to the whole goalie department,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said Saturday afternoon. “We did a lot of film on (Lankinen) and he’s a good goaltender. He’s a really good NHL goalie.”
Until Saturday, he was also unsigned. Joining the Canucks Monday in Vancouver, Lankinen will get pre-season chances to win the interim starting job ahead of Silovs, who since the end of last season has been Demko’s projected backup. Tocchet said the goaltending hierarchy will be sorted out over time.
Everyone, of course, would rather have Demko healthy. This is so goaltending isn’t shading what has otherwise been a bright and encouraging training camp ahead of a regular season when much is expected from the Canucks.
Lankinen posted a .908 save rate in 24 games for Nashville last season and his 112 NHL games dwarf the sum experience of the six healthy goalies at training camp. Adding Lankinen undoubtedly helps the Canucks in the short term. He is a savvy, albeit pricey, insurance policy.
But with Demko unable to say on Thursday when he might be ready to play after hurting his knee last April, and with the Canucks’ crease in transition with the redeployment of goaltending guru Ian Clark in August, there will continue to be some unease about Vancouver netminding.
Still, the landscape is not nearly as ominous as it felt a couple of weeks ago when Silovs was also nursing an injury, theoretically making minor-league, free-agent-acquisition Jiri Patera (eight NHL games) the organization’s No. 1 goalie.
Silovs said Saturday he has been “100 per cent” for about a week and hasn’t been bothered at all by his knee through the first three days of training camp. He withdrew from Latvia's Olympic qualifying games in August due to inflamed ligaments.
“In June and July, I wasn't looking at the internet, wasn't, like, following anything,” Silovs said of the goaltending plot twists. “I was just doing my training, just enjoying my summer in Riga. In August, I was. . . getting prepared for the qualifiers. And then I heard Thatcher was having problems. And then our goalie coach, Marko (Torenius) gets promoted and Clarkie goes away. A lot of big things. . . happened in August.”
One month ago, Canucks management granted Clark’s request to be re-assigned for medical and personal reasons – while also removing his Director Of Goaltending title – and promoted Torenius to replace him at the NHL level.
This seismic change is part of the goaltending undertow at camp.
None of the Canucks’ six goaltenders fully participating in Penticton has looked particularly sharp. To be fair, however, most of the practices have been shooting galleries as Tocchet runs sessions intended to generate more attacking speed and scoring chances.
As Tocchet said, “it’s hard to evaluate goalies when you’re having four-on-twos.”
“Honestly, when I signed, I didn't really know that Thatcher was injured,” Patera, who spent four seasons in the Vegas Golden Knights’ system, said Saturday. “The main reason why I signed with Van was just seeing Thatcher being one of the best goalies in the league and Arty's progress in the last three years. Pretty much, the goaltending development here. . . I just wanted to be in the same organization, trying to get myself playing better.
“I don't think (Demko’s situation) has changed my outlook.”
But signing Lankinen changes Patera’s standing.
Barring Demko’s return, the Canucks almost certainly will start the season with a Silovs-Lankinen tandem. There are six pre-season games, including five in seven nights starting Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Arena, for Tocchet and his staff to decide which goalie will play first.
Silovs, of course, thrived in the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring after he parachuted into the first round as a minor-league callup. Injuries to Demko and veteran backup Casey DeSmith gave Silovs an opportunity that he seized despite the pressure.
The amiable, six-foot-four goalkeeper started the final 10 playoff games for Vancouver and went 5-5 with a .917 save percentage at five-on-five. He also had a memorable 1-0 shutout in Nashville to eliminate the Predators in the opening round.
As he showed during his country’s historic bronze medal run at the 2023 World Championships, Silovs proved in the playoffs that he is unintimidated by the big stage.
But is he ready to start in the NHL?
“I mean, it's going to be a new experience, right?” Silovs said. “Playing a lot of games, it's not easy. You have to always be careful about your body. Just the playing style and being a goalie, it's, like, exhausting. It takes so much from your body, your hips and your knees. You have to be really careful about those things and, like, take care of it.”
He described his playoff adventure as “getting thrown into a cold bath.” There may be another icy plunge looming.
“I mean, you always have to prove yourself,” Silovs said. “Every day is a competition, right? You have to explore your game, improve your game, and just be the best version you can. And then show up in every single game.”
For as long as necessary.
CAMPFIRE – There was another goalie change Saturday; junior Ty Young was elevated to NHL-heavy Group B while Dylan Ferguson, who is at camp on a tryout, was dropped to Group C. . . Tocchet praised the intensity and play of defenceman Filip Hronek through three days – “He’s just been tremendous. There’s no dropoff” – and said the forward line of Nils Hoglander, Aatu Raty and Conor Garland has been one of the best at camp. . . Garland is spending a lot of time in Penticton with friend and teammate Dakota Joshua, who is not participating at camp after undergoing surgery in August for testicular cancer. “He’s one of my best friends off the ice,” Garland said. “We talk a lot and right now it’s not about hockey.”
