It appears as though former Nashville Predators backup Kevin Lankinen made the right choice in waiting it out this off-season and signing with the Vancouver Canucks. He is more than proving himself to be a capable starter in the NHL with the opportunity he got.
Lankinen has started the season winning eight games in a row on the road which is one back of the NHL record held by Cam Talbot (2023-24 with the Kings) and Glenn Hall (1965-66 with the Blackhawks). Lankinen moved within one of the record with a shutout against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.
That wasn’t the only historic mark that Lankinen and the Canucks are playing with. He also helped Vancouver tie the second longest road win streak in franchise history with eight. The only other time the Canucks accomplished this feat of exactly eight road wins in a row was in 2003-24.
Lankinen waited it out this past off-season as he chose to leave the Predators and search for a better opportunity to play more games. In his two seasons in Nashville, he started 18 games in 2022-23 and 17 games in 2023-24. The 29-year-old has already started 15 games and his numbers are none the worst with two shutouts this season.
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Lankinen might have only signed a one-year, $875,000 AAV contract with the Canucks, but he is 10-3-2 with a 2.56 GAA and .909 SV%, so he is going to get a fair bit more money on his next deal, whether that be with the Canucks, which is likely at this point, or elsewhere on the free agent market.
It is one thing for a goalie to prove to be an effective backup, but to put up similar or better numbers as a starter is even more impressive. The starter of a team is played against most of the best teams and Lankinen has handled that very well this season.
It is unfortunate that the Predators couldn’t bring him back, but Juuse Saros needs next to no help in net as he’s having another great season despite the team in front of him struggling.
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