Nevertheless, he is incredibly lowering his guard given the many uncertainties surrounding the health of the two starting goalies for the Vancouver Canucks.
Regarding Thatcher Demko and Arturs Silovs, both of whom have doubts surrounding them, the Canucks’ head of hockey operations told Postmedia on Wednesday, “Fair to say that we will wait until they get their training camp physicals.”
Even though Demko was almost back to play by the time the Canucks were defeated in Game 7 of the second round by the Edmonton Oilers, he suffered a knee injury in the opening game of the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring. Since then, he has allegedly made only modest progress toward getting back to full health. Silovs is addressing “knee:
The Canucks have been downplaying the matter thus far.
However, they have also made overtures to Antti Raanta and Kevin Lankinen, two goalies who are free agents. The Canucks could ideally bring one in for a professional tryout (PTO), which gives them cover in goal for the preseason without committing the team to the player.
It’s obvious that Lankinen would prefer a full-on contract offer.
Although Raanta’s personal interests are unknown, it is noteworthy that the seasoned Finn spent four seasons as a member of the Canucks bench under coach Rick Tocchet in Arizona.
Rutherford was so determined to downplay the situation that he even admitted to not knowing if he, an NHL goalkeeper with extensive playing experience, was a viable candidate for a PTO.
When questioned if his 75-year-old knees might be up to the task of a training camp, 41 years after he last suit up for a professional game, he laughed, “Haven’t had my physical yet.”
Regardless of the team’s goalie situation, the Canucks front office is constantly talking about backup plans and potential trades. You never know when one of the players will become free.
The Canucks’ cap position is the main factor in all of this. Rutherford did admit that they would like not to have to employ the benefits of salary cap reduction that come with placing a player on long-term injured reserve.
“Our goal is to begin the season without any individuals on LTIR,” he declared.
Such an important admission. The Canucks were irritated with their cap position at the deadline of the previous season since they were over the cap and most of Tucker Poolman’s salary was placed on LTIR.
They are currently below the cap, despite Poolman being placed on traditional injured reserve. Additionally, if they continue to play below the cap throughout the season, the savings will mount up and might make a sizable sum come trade deadline time, when they might add an experienced player to make a run at the playoffs.
They had no banked cap space from the previous season, thus that was not feasible. There was a strong possibility they could have added a winger like Tyler Toffoli or a defender like Chris Tanev if they had.
The Canucks’ goalkeeper position will continue to be a mystery in the interim. Both of the team’s goalies are working very hard to get ready for the season, Rutherford told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre.
Apparently, Demko
