How Vancouver Canucks Goaltender Leevi Meriläinen Is Adjusting To Life As An NHL Starter

Leevi Meriläinen has had an interesting start to his career with the Vancouver Canucks. After being claimed off waivers from the Ottawa Senators during the pre-season, the 24-year-old has been thrust into the starter's job with 13 starts through the team's first 21 games of the campaign. So far this season, Meriläinen has a 2-9-1 record, an .885 save percentage, and a 3.52 goals-against average. 

While Meriläinen has been a bona fide starter before, it has never happened at the NHL level. Before being claimed, the Finnish goaltender had started just 32 games and had never played more than 20 games in an NHL season. In an interview with The Hockey News, Meriläinen was asked how beneficial getting a long run of games is as he adjusts to life with the Canucks. 

"Game-wise, yeah," said Meriläinen. "I bet every goalie wants to play almost every night, or that's what they would tell you. I'm sure of it. So yeah, it helps."

Playing for a rebuilding team that is still learning new systems is never easy, especially for goaltenders. No team in the league has given up more high-danger chances at even strength this year, while problematic positioning on the penalty kill has led to scoring chances that few goalies in the league would be able to stop. While his numbers aren't where he wants them to be, Meriläinen feels his game is trending in the right direction. 

"Fairly happy with it for sure. I feel like it's been going all right myself. But at times, you need to find more saves to win some games here. No one's ever happy with (losing). It's never good enough to lose this much. So still need to work on my game. That's for sure. Lots to learn."

At 24, Meriläinen is still developing his overall game. This includes working with Goaltending Coach Marko Torenius and teammate Kevin Lankinen whenever he gets the opportunity. As Meriläinen explained, he is always looking for ways to improve his game that will help him not just today, but for the foreseeable future.  

"There's almost quite a lot. We've been going over a lot, and I think we've done a pretty good job at that for now. And of course, it's a long-term thing. You can't learn things overnight, but I think we're starting to see some progress on those. Yeah, there's been quite a few things."

It will be interesting to see how heavily Vancouver leans on Meriläinen throughout the rest of the season. He has started eight of the last nine games, but as mentioned, has never been tested to this extent at the NHL level. If Meriläinen can keep sharpening his skills, the results should eventually flip in his favour. 

Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.

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