Could the Canucks Run a Three-Goalie System Next Season?
In today’s NHL, most teams stick pretty tightly to the traditional two-goalie setup. You carry your starter, your backup, and everybody else stays in the American Hockey League (AHL) playing games and waiting for injuries. Simple enough. But the Vancouver Canucks might actually be one of the rare teams where carrying three goalies next season at least makes some sense.
And there’s logic behind it.
Thatcher Demko is the linchpin of the conversation.
A big part of the conversation starts with Thatcher Demko and workload management. When healthy, Demko is still clearly Vancouver’s number-one goalie, but the Canucks also know they probably can’t keep running him into the ground with 55-to-60-game seasons and expect him to stay fresh long term. That’s where the idea of a rotation starts becoming interesting.
The thought process would be something like this: Demko handles somewhere around 35 to 40 starts, Kevin Lankinen gets another 30-ish games, and then younger goalie Nikita Tolopilo gets occasional NHL action while still practicing regularly with the big club.
On paper, carrying three goalies usually creates headaches. You lose roster flexibility somewhere else. Maybe you carry one fewer extra forward or defenseman. Coaches also tend to prefer consistency in net, and goalies themselves usually like knowing when they’re playing instead of constantly rotating around.
Why is the Canucks’ situation in Vancouver a little different?
The Canucks are quietly one of the younger organizations in the league right now, especially when it comes to developing players who move between the NHL and AHL. A lot of their younger depth pieces can still move through waivers more safely than veteran-heavy teams can. That gives Vancouver more flexibility than most clubs would normally have, trying something unconventional like this.
There’s also the reality that the Canucks may not be operating under all-out Stanley Cup pressure next season. They’re still building toward something bigger. And because of that, there may actually be room to experiment a little with development and roster structure instead of forcing everything into the standard NHL template.
Would running three goalies increase the Canucks’ stability?
The biggest benefit might simply be organizational stability. Instead of constantly sending goalies up and down or risking losing one on waivers later, Vancouver could simply keep all three around and manage things carefully over a long season.
Will they actually do it? Hard to say. Most NHL teams still prefer the cleaner two-goalie setup for good reason.
But if there’s a team uniquely positioned to at least explore the idea, the Canucks might quietly be near the top of that list.