- Canucks claim goaltender Leevi Merilainen off waivers from the Senators
- Vancouver becomes the first team to make a claim on this year’s preseason wire
- Read below for what it means behind an injured Thatcher Demko
The Vancouver Canucks just added some much-needed depth in net.
Vancouver claimed goaltender Leevi Merilainen off waivers from the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Check out his report:
It marks the first successful claim of this year’s preseason waiver wire. Merilainen was one of 61 players placed on waivers across the league that day, and PuckPedia’s rundown shows Vancouver was the only team to pull the trigger, with everyone else on that list clearing unclaimed:
Thatcher Demko’s continued absence is the real driver here. Vancouver has been without a timeline on its injured starter all preseason, leaving Kevin Lankinen and Nikita Tolopilo to carry the crease.
Kevin Lankinen shouldered a heavy load last season and it showed. He went 11-27-5 with an .876 save percentage across 47 games while Demko battled his own injuries, managing just an 8-10-1 record and an .895 mark in 20 games.
Merilainen arrives with holes to fix in his own game. He went 8-10-1 with an .860 save percentage in 20 games with Ottawa last season, a real step back from the 8-3-1 record and .925 save percentage he posted the year before.
Ottawa took him in the third round of the 2020 draft, 71st overall, and he’s played 34 NHL games since debuting in 2022-23, plus 84 more with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, where he went 39-29-10. He signed a one-year, $1.1 million deal with the Senators this summer and would have been an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent next July had he not been claimed first.
Saturday’s preseason finale against the Kraken is next up before the Canucks open the regular season Sept. 29 against the Oilers, and Vancouver’s goaltending picture just got a lot more crowded with Merilainen in the mix.
