Thatcher Demko and Artūrs Šilovs have lots to keep Canucks Nation excited about heading into the 2024-25 season.

The William M. Jennings Trophy is awarded to goalie tandems who “played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it.” Previous winners of this award are Connor Hellebuyck, the duo of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, as well as Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta. With all of these tandems being broken apart coming into this season (aside from Hellebuyck, who won the award by himself), could we see Thatcher Demko and Artūrs Šilovs competing for this trophy? Here’s why we think they will, as well as who they could be stacking up against.

Having already earned himself a Vezina nomination for the 2023-2024 season, the results of which had him finishing in second with 70 points, Demko is sure to compete for more awards. As a steady starter who will likely play 40-60 games in the upcoming season, he’ll provide the Canucks with a save percentage above .910 — something he has achieved four times out of the six regular seasons he has played in.

While Demko is undoubtedly a great goalie, tandems aren’t supposed to showcase only one player. The beauty of goalie tandems is how two players are able to defend their team’s net, collaborating to bring the team success. Luckily, with his shocking performance in the 2023-2024 postseason, Canucks fans can look forward to Šilovs making skillful saves alongside Demko. Having recently signed a two-year contract with Vancouver, Šilovs is likely to be a mainstay in the Canucks’ lineup. Outside of his impressive playoff run, the 23-year-old has shown promise during his time with the Abbotsford Canucks, posting a 2.74 GAA in the most recent regular season.

As a starting goaltender, there aren’t many who can compete with Demko, which was proved in the Vezina finalist voting for the previous season. However, this doesn’t mean he’ll cruise to the awards with little competition. Entering his 10th season in the NHL, Hellebuyck is looking to win the third Vezina Trophy of his career — and if he does so next season, it will be his third in five seasons. Hellebuyck has consistently been a top goaltender in the league, finishing four of his regular seasons with above a .920 SV%. The Jets’ starting goaltender is a force to be reckoned with, but Winnipeg can’t depend on just Hellebuyck all season. Free agency pickups Eric Comrie and Kaapo Kakhonen will help lighten the load, but in the event of an injury, it’s uncertain whether or not the Jets would be able to stay afloat.

A tandem that turned heads the previous season was that of the New York Rangers. With stellar records in his first five regular seasons (he was particularly spectacular in the 2021-2022 season), there aren’t many who doubt the work of Igor Shesterkin. There were, however, Jonathan Quick doubters. The former Conn Smythe winner with the Los Angeles Kings and the winningest American-born goaltender signed with the New York Rangers after winning his third Stanley Cup last season. Coming off a few disappointing seasons that saw him post save percentages under .910, Quick was bound to bounce back. When Shesterkin went down midway through the season, Quick stepped up and helped the Rangers along with a personal seven-game win streak. His record was impressive; however, at 38 years old, questions may arise about how sustainable the veteran goaltender’s successes will be.

The Rangers aren’t the only New York team that could give the Demko-Šilovs tandem a run for their money. While their offence isn’t anything to write home about, the New York Islanders goaltending packs a one-two punch that is majorly characterized by Ilya Sorokin. However, like Shesterkin, when Sorokin’s play began to diminish this season, the team was lifted up by the play of veteran Semyon Varlamov. Varlamov has had consistently good seasons, but his .918 SV% came as a surprise for the 36-year-old goalie. Sorokin and Varlamov are a good tandem, but with a stretch of poor performances following two seasons in which he notched six and seven shutouts, respectively, can Sorokin climb back to his peak?

A team that also features a young and skillful American-born goalie is the Dallas Stars. Following a breakout campaign in the 2022 playoffs, Jake Oettinger has frequented many hypothetical Olympic rosters for the USA. Alongside former Canuck keeper Casey DeSmith, Oettinger could make a push to be part of one of the best goaltender tandems in the 2024-2025 season. However, his performance in the 2023-2024 regular season left some fans questioning his calibre. In all fairness, his play this year was characterized by injuries and health issues that were no doubt a factor in this outlying season. However, even if Oettinger comes back to his tip-top form, he and DeSmith will still have to compete with a healthy (fingers crossed) Demko and Šilovs.

The most significant factor that could upset Demko and Šilovs’ bid for the best tandem is the frightening i-word, injury. It's the same one that kept Demko out for an extended period in the regular season as well as all but one Canucks playoff game this season. As we can see, the advantage that Demko and Šilovs have over these other tandems is their youth. With Demko turning 29 this season and Šilovs having just turned 23 in March, these two tenders’ combined ages are the youngest of every tandem on this list. With youth on their side, tackling any health problems should be feasible. If Šilovs is able to bridge the gap, taking on more responsibilities to lighten Demko’s load, then this Canucks tandem could be the first to win the William M. Jennings Trophy since Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider.

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