Canucks, Kraken, NHL goalie 9
1) Good on Thatcher Demko and his agent — and I wish the Canucks goaltender nothing but good health, happiness and success — but given the last two seasons, who decided it was a bright idea to give him a three-year deal worth $8.5-million per. This Canucks management team loves to spend money on risky acquisitions and deals.
That said, should Demko suffer more setbacks and end up getting dumped on to long term injured reserve, the team and Canucks owner have insurance to cover some or much of the cost.
I’m looking more into that NHL insurance program, one that I was vastly unaware of.
For now, like most of last season, Kevin Lankinen is the number-one in Vancouver for the Canucks.
2) Speaking of Demko, and given the risks and the fact he’s out for at least two to three more weeks, he’s essentially no longer a factor for Team USA at the Olympics in Italy. For a moment there, early season, it looked like he was seriously playing himself back into the conversation.
Combine Demko’s issues with those of Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets — he’s out of action until relatively close to the games — and what was a strong suit for the American squad has become somewhat of a question mark. Obviously Jeremy Swayman of the Bruins and Jake Oettinger of the Stars are still around to be counted on, but so far this season, aside from solid victory totals, their standard goaltending statistics aren’t very good.
Also, we learned first hand from the 4 Nations Face-off, that goalie handicapping/prognostication is a risky business. Considered a weakness or disadvantage during the tournament in February, Canadian goaltending in the name of Jordan Binnington proved to be the difference. He was the key to Canada’s Gold Medal overtime win.
Although he’s off to a bad start, with the 61st best save percentage in the NHL this season, Binnington is a big game goalie, as proven in the 4 Nations and in the 2019 playoffs when he won a Stanley Cup with the Blues.
By the way, Team USA’s third goalie for the 4 Nations was a Seattle Kraken netminder whom were getting to next.
3) Down the road in Seattle, the Kraken’s experiment of carrying three goaltenders on the NHL roster, usually shunned because it rarely if ever works out, has done just the opposite. Part of it is because of injuries. When team number-one Joey Daccord went down briefly, it left Seattle with two veterans to hold down the fort in Philipp Grubauer and Matt Murray.
The competition has apparently done wonders. “Grubi” has played as well as he ever has since joining the expansion franchise as an original Kraken in 2021. Murray has been solid also. Prior to suffering a lower-body injury on November 16th, Murray posted a 2.21 goals against average and a .921 save percentage over his five appearances.
For now Daccord and Grubauer are back to being the pair du jour while the club has the 2nd best GAA in the NHL.
4) The past eight months have been devastating for the NHL goaltending fraternity. We lost a friend and excellent broadcaster in April when Greg Millen died of a heart attack at the young age of 67.
Then in September, many of us lost a huge chunk of our childhood when Ken Dryden, Ed Giacomin and Bernie Parent all passed away during a unbelievable 16 day time period.
I had interviewed all of them at least once, done a fun bit with Dryden for a TV show (see below this story), and last chatted with “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie,” at Madison Square Garden during a Rangers team reunion about 15 years ago.
Losing a legend is one thing, but three of them between September 5th and 21st?!! Beyond horrible.
5) When I ran into Giacomin at MSG we had a cool reminiscence. I was anxious to see if he remembered something from thirty years earlier and he did.
Living in the Detroit area, Eddie came in to the high school radio station I worked at and sat down for an interview with me. He was the first professional athlete, retired or active, I ever interviewed. It was the spring of 1979. I have to check, but I’m almost positive I still have the cassette tape.
6) One of that group’s contemporaries is Jim Rutherford, presently the President of Hockey Operations for the Vancouver Canucks. He was my favorite Red Wing on some bad teams and I loved his mask. Apparently we’ve had a falling out, but no one bothered to inform me.
7) With Hellebuyck’s season shortened, who’s your Vezina Trophy favourite? How about Andrei Vasilevskiy of the surging Tampa Bay Lightning. He won the award back in 2019. And how about Daccord as a darkhorse.
8) I don’t get to run into Canucks TV play-by-play man John Shorthouse very often any more, since I was banned from the Canucks press box three seasons ago — still ongoing — but we definitely agree on one thing. Lose the trapezoid!!
For every Daccord, who handles the puck wonderfully on most occasions, there’s always a Dominik Hasek or a Patrick Roy in the league. Yes, two Hockey Hall of Fame goalies who definitely weren’t enshrined for their stickhandling skills. Their consistent flubs often led to goals against.
Let the goalies roam. If would be way better to prevent them from stopping and playing the puck in behind the net, where it’s legal now. Let them skate to the corners to play it if they want to, right “Shorty”?
9) Some of you more veteran folks are aware of this, but one NHL record that will NEVER be broken, is Hockey Hall of Famer Glenn Hall playing in 502 consecutive games for the Chicago Blackhawks over eight seasons ending in 1962. Different game, different breed back then.
Hall used to puke before most games, out of nervousness. The position was downright dangerous.
Apparently the trauma didn’t affect him too much as “Mr. Goalie” is still kicking around in Alberta at age 94. He’s the oldest living ex-NHL netminder and I believe 5th oldest ex-player in general.
Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the hockey action and the netminding!!
Earlier Canucks:
— Canucks “Must Win” Turns Into Bad Loss; 5-2 To Flames
— Canucks Power Outage: Lose To Stars 4-2
