The newest Vancouver Canucks goalie is full of praise for his new coach.
On Tuesday, Kevin Lankinen spoke with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance on Sportsnet 650’s Canucks Talk, where he opened up about Canucks goalie coach Marko Torenius.
“Marko’s great, I think he’s one of the best goalie coaches out there. He has a special goalie mind,” Lankinen said. “He does his homework. He wants to be the best. He wants these guys to be the best and he’s always geeking out with other guys and what they’re doing to be successful.”
Lankinen and Torenius share a birthplace, Helsinki, and have been training together in Finland for the last few summers. It’s this familiarity and mutual trust that made the 29-year-old’s transition to the Canucks a comfortable one.
“Working with him the past three, four, five years back home in Helsinki with goalie skates during the summer, that familiarity helps … there’s a couple things we’re going to keep working on and I think he’s the right guy to help me take another step in my career,” Lankinen said.
On September 21, the Finnish star signed a one-year contract with Vancouver, worth US$875,000.
With the Nashville Predators last season, the netminder recorded a 2.82 goals against average and a .908 save percentage in 24 outings.
The six-foot-two netminder has appeared in 112 career NHL games with Nashville and the Chicago Blackhawks. Lankinen has an overall record of 45-43-12, with a 3.07 goals-against average, a .905 save percentage, and three shutouts.
“Kevin is an experienced NHL player who will add to our depth in goal,” Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said in a statement on Saturday.
“He had a solid season last year in Nashville and has the size and skill set we like in a netminder. We look forward to getting him here to start working with our group.”
Vancouver has dealt with uncertainty between the pipes ahead of the season, with star goaltender Thatcher Demko still nursing a Popliteus muscle injury despite finally getting on the ice on Day 2 of training camp. His status for the start of the regular season remains in the air.
