Vancouver Canucks staring down major goalie decision as Western Conference rival offers veteran for free
Photo credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images
The Vancouver Canucks have been left with a big decision to make as the team's biggest rival has placed a veteran goaltender on the league's waiver wire on Sunday.
Goaltending has been a big issue for the Vancouver Canucks this season, with the club allowing a league-high 199 goals in 55 games entering action on Monday.
Because of this, the Vancouver Canucks have brought in a familiar face - Ian Clark - who has reportedly been more involved day-to-day after taking a step back to become a scout and the club's goaltending developement coach.
"I'm hearing Ian Clark has been more involved with the Canucks in the past few weeks...That's something to keep an eye on. Certainly sounds like he's more involved with the Canucks lately." Dhaliwal said while making an appearance on Halford and Brough.
With Thatcher Demko's season now over due to a lower-body injury, the Canucks are left with Kevin Lankinen and Nikita Tolopilo as their tandem going forward, however an interesting opportunity has been presented to Patrik Allvin and the rest of the NHL, with a decision needing to be made by 11 a.m. on Monday morning.
Vancouver Canucks' rival places veteran goaltender on NHL's waiver wire
In a social media post on Sunday, the Edmonton Oilers announced that they've placed goaltender Calvin Pickard on the National Hockey League's waiver wire in order to assign him to the AHL's Bakersfield Condors ahead of the Olympic break.
"The #Oilers have placed goaltender Calvin Pickard on waivers." Edmonton said on their X account.
Pickard hasn't had the greatest of seasons, with a 5-6-2 record through 16 games with the Oilers along with a 3.68 goals against average and an .871 save percentage.
Now, the Vancouver Canucks don't necessarily need to add a goaltender at the moment, but there is a case to be made for placing a waiver claim on Calvin Pickard on Monday morning and it comes down to the play of Nikita Tolopilo.
The Minsk, Belarus native has been lights out for the Vancouver Canucks lately, making 71 saves on 73 shots in the team's last two games - a win over the Anaheim Ducks and a shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada.
Amid the team's rebuilding plans, the Vancouver Canucks need to get the highest draft pick possible in order to have a chance at selecting Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg and claiming Calvin Pickard would help in that way as it would force Patrik Allvin to send Tolopilo down to the American Hockey League, where he could get consistent minutes as the team's starter.
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Previously on Vancouver Hockey Daily