Perhaps it’s the bad taste the Roberto Luongo-Cory Schneider melodrama left in everyone’s mouths, the underwhelming return in the Eddie Lack trade, or the questionable signing of Ryan Miller. Maybe it goes back even further than that, when former General Manager Brian Burke labeled the Vancouver Canucks a “goalie graveyard.” Whatever the case, there has been some consternation among Canucks fans over whether Vancouver’s goalie succession plan of Miller to Jacob Markstrom to Thatcher Demko will be able to provide the stability between the pipes for the next decade-plus that many are hoping for. Let’s take a look at where each netminder fits within that plan.
Outlining Vancouver’s Goalie Succession Plan
Ryan Miller
After Luongo departed and Lack was run mercilessly into the ground to close the 2013-14 season, new General Manager Jim Benning wanted to shore up the goaltending position by bringing in a solid, veteran presence. Enter Miller, who Benning signed to a three-year, $18 million deal.
The thinking at the time was that Miller would be able to hold the fort in the crease while Lack and Markstrom (the return in the Luongo trade) continued on their development paths. So far he’s done just that, providing league-average goaltending while taking the majority of the starts. Plus, the contract isn’t as much of an albatross as it seemed at first as, in theory, by the time Miller’s time in Vancouver is up, Markstrom should be able to fully take the reigns.
Jacob Markstrom
The inclusion of Markstrom in the Luongo trade was both curious and logical; curious because the Canucks already had a young, skilled, Swedish potential starter in the form of Lack and logical in that the team naturally needed a goaltender back in exchange for their franchise netminder. Plus, the club was hedging their bets, in case Lack struggled as the de facto starter.
What the club didn’t foresee when he was brought aboard was just how dominant Markstrom would become. Long lauded for his AHL numbers, Markstrom took it to the next level last season with the Utica Comets, posting a dominant .934 SV% and 1.88 GAA in the regular season before leading the Comets to the Calder Cup Final . He was so good that Benning and co. decided Markstrom would be the choice over Lack to succeed Miller.
However, there is just one problem with that plan, and the biggest point of contention among the Vancouver faithful when it comes to the team’s goaltenders: Willie Desjardins. The club’s head coach has continued riding Miller hard this season, not giving Markstrom the starts he needs to finally transform into an everyday starter at the NHL level. By all accounts Markstrom is ready, as his work with Canucks goaltending coach Rollie Melanson has transformed his game. If the team expects to run with Markstrom for three-four years after the departure of Miller and before the arrival of Demko, now is the time to begin giving him the reps he needs.
Thatcher Demko
Which brings us to Demko, the Canucks 36th overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. The 19-year-old is absolutely destroying Hockey East this season playing with Boston College, with a .953 SV% and a 1.23 GAA . In 13 games, the junior has allowed just 16 goals and posted six shutouts.
If this sounds familiar, it should, as Schneider was also dominant while tending Boston College’s crease from 2004-2007 before making the jump to the AHL. If anything, Demko has been even better than Schneider, and the thinking is that if Demko can follow a similar progression, we can expect to see him as a fully-fledged NHL starter in four-five seasons, perhaps even sooner.
The Plan
In a perfect world, the plan should be pretty straight-forward. Over the course of this season, the Canucks ease Markstrom in with more and more ice time as Miller likely fades down the stretch.
Next year, the club should expect Markstrom will take the majority of the starts, allowing Benning to possibly trade Miller around the 2017 trade deadline. In the summer of 2017, Demko will turn pro (if he hasn’t already), and likely earn his stripes in the AHL with the occasional NHL cup of coffee over the next two-three seasons.
From 2017-2019 the Canucks will run with Markstrom in the crease while going with a veteran free agent backup, as the team returns to contender status near the end of that time frame.
The 2019-20 season should see Demko make the jump to the NHL full-time and split duties with Markstrom, similar to what we saw with Luongo and Schneider. At this point Demko will be in his mid-20’s and ready to assume a full-time starting role in the 2020-21 NHL season, and hopefully run with it for the next decade. The Canucks can at this point trade Markstrom, thus avoiding another Luongo-Schneider-style quagmire.
It’s a nice story. If it works, it sets up the Canucks perfectly for the club’s projected rebuild timeline, and also potentially for the next ten years. In theory, a 35-year-old Miller, 25-year-old Markstrom and 19-year-old Demko following each other makes a lot of sense. There are, however, a number of pitfalls.
The first and most crucial is happening right now, as Markstrom attempts to finally translate his AHL success to the NHL, and the key is in Desjardins’ hands. If “Coach Willie” can give Markstrom a few more looks this season, it will go a long way towards determining whether or not this plan fails before it even gets off the ground. If it doesn’t work out, and Markstrom is never able to make it at the NHL level, the club runs the risk of holding on to an aging Miller for too long, rushing an inexperienced Demko, or being forced to either sign or trade for another NHL-quality ‘tender.
The club has a golden opportunity with Miller, Markstrom and Demko in the fold and where they are in their individual careers to finally dispel the “goalie graveyard” mystique surrounding the Vancouver crease – if they do it the right way. What the Canucks do over the next year has the potential to impact the franchise for the following 15 years between the pipes.
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