After a strong first year with the organization, Kevin Lankinen is back with the Vancouver Canucks. The Finnish goaltender signed a five-year extension with Vancouver last season, which helped the Canucks secure one of the top goaltending tandems for the 2025-26 season. Prior to training camp, Lankinen spoke to the media about returning to Vancouver and expectations for next year.
The 2024-25 season was Lankinen's best in the NHL. The 30-year-old recorded a career-high 25 wins and set an NHL record. Now entering his second year with the Canucks, Lankinen is ready to get the season started and build off his 2024-25 campaign.
There's a lot of excitement, said Lankinen. "Always with the new season, it's good to see the boys after a little bit of a break. So same mindset going forward where don't look back, looking ahead. So I can't wait to get things going."
Last off-season was a complicated one for Lankinen. He only signed with Vancouver at the end of training camp, meaning that he didn't get an opportunity to work with his teammates until the pre-season. As for this year, it is a completely different situation, with Lankinen knowing not just where he is going to be playing, but also who his teammates are.
"It's obviously fun to be here. Being familiar with all the faces and the circumstances here, but at the same time, the fire and the hunger is bigger than ever, because I feel like there's so many steps we can take as a team, but most importantly, as an individual. So I've been preparing this summer as hard as I ever could. I'm in a better shape I've ever been stronger than ever before, so I can't wait to keep going."
As Lankinen mentioned, he is coming into the season in better shape than last year. He worked out with other NHLers in the off-season, which should help him take another step forward in 2025-26. During the off-season, Lankinen also spent time analyzing the 2024-25 campaign to help him prepare for this year.
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"A lot of recapping review in the season. What I can take, what I can learn, was that was a great learning experience for me, again, and took a little bit of time off the ice just to make sure I'm ready to go when the things start ramping up here but now I've been skating for the last couple months, and doing some extra work in the gym to make sure I'm stronger than ever."
For the first time since 2014, NHLers will be headed to the Winter Olympics. While Lankinen wasn't among the first players selected to play for Team Finland, he is projected to be one of their three goaltenders in Italy. Making the team is one of Lankinen's goals this year, where he would have the opportunity to join an exclusive list that includes Miikka Kiprusoff, Tuukka Rask and Niklas Bäckström.
"This is a really unique situation where the NHL player hasn't been part of the Olympics in a long, long time, just being part of that discussion and being part of Team Finland brings more fuel into my fire. So I hope I can make it this year."
As for a key storyline heading into the season, that involves Lankinen and Thatcher Demko, who will be Vancouver's goaltending tandem. With injuries hopefully in the past, there will be some internal competition for starts throughout the year. As Lankinen explained, he and Demko have been getting to know each other better over the last few weeks and are ready to do whatever is needed to have success this year.
"That's what we've been doing here already for three or four weeks now. Feel like it's a good chemistry where obviously, we know each other better than we did last year, and we know kind of the strength of each goalie and individual, and there's something we can learn from each other. I see it's really good for the team, most importantly for the both of us as well."
If the Canucks are going to qualify for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, they will need another strong year from Lankinen. Even if he only plays 30 games, Vancouver will need some clutch performances and wins from the Finnish goaltender to stay in the post-season race. In the end, if Lankinen can replicate his season and Demko can return to his Vezina-level form, the Canucks could finish the year with the best goaltending duo in the NHL.
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