The Vancouver Canucks finally got a more ordinary night on Saturday, and Leevi Meriläinen was a big reason why.
After two chaotic games to open the 2026-27 season, Vancouver settled things down and beat the Calgary Flames 4-1 to move to 2-1-0 through three games. Meriläinen, the Finnish goalie who has already made an early impression, backed it up with another sharp outing.
This was Meriläinen’s first start, coming on Oct. 3 against Calgary, but he had already logged meaningful minutes two nights earlier in the 9-7 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. He entered for Kevin Lankinen and turned aside 10 of 11 shots, good for a .909 save percentage.
Against the Flames, he was even better, stopping 23 of 24 for a .958 save percentage. Across his first two appearances, he owns a 1.32 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage.
That GAA ranks 11th in the NHL, while his save percentage sits ninth.
What makes this start even more notable is that Vancouver clearly liked what it saw before Meriläinen ever wore their sweater. The Canucks claimed him off waivers from the Ottawa Senators, but according to insider Rick Dhaliwal, they had been tracking him since the summer. There’s also a belief inside the organization that he could be part of the picture for the long haul, beyond the current contracts of Lankinen and Thatcher Demko.
Aatu Raty summed up the buzz around the pickup after the waiver claim, saying, “Yeah, great pickup…Just a really good goalie, works really hard, and just a great guy. So really happy to get him on our team…He’s one of those goalies that’s just really calm.
Tall, good reach, really good glove. Sometimes … actually, he’s my goalie now, so I don’t want to give away too much.
I just think he’s really athletic.”
Meriläinen, 24, signed a one-year, $1.1 million deal with the Senators on July 2. When that contract is finished next summer, he’ll be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent. That makes his next deal worth watching, especially with Lankinen and Demko both signed for at least the next three seasons.
For now, though, the Canucks have found something useful in a goalie who has stepped in and looked comfortable immediately. That kind of instant fit is not something teams get every day, especially when the player is joining a new group on the fly. It’s why the early returns have people wondering whether this could turn into something similar to the Brandon Bussi situation the Carolina Hurricanes had last season.
There’s still a long way to go, with 81 games left, and Vancouver is only at the start of its rebuild. But if Meriläinen keeps giving the Canucks nights like this, the picture in net gets a lot more interesting.
Head coach Manny Malhotra and general manager Ryan Johnson will eventually have a difficult call to make once Demko is ready to return from rehab. A roster move to make room for three goalies would not be a simple decision, and nobody around the team will envy that process. Until then, Vancouver will roll with Lankinen and Meriläinen, and the early signs suggest that arrangement can keep the Canucks in the mix for more wins in 2026-27.
For a rebuilding team, that matters. The losses will come, but so will the stretches that give fans something to latch onto. Right now, Meriläinen is giving the Canucks exactly that: a young goalie with promise, and a glimpse of what the future in net might look like.
In Other News...
Flames Loss In Vancouver Exposed A Familiar Problem Again
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Flames Send An Early Message With Lineup Changes After Ugly Opener
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Ryan Huska said the adjustment came down to puck management, a clear sign the staff is looking for cleaner decisions after the opener went sideways. The shuffle gives Calgary a chance to reset quickly, and it also sends an early message that the margins for error are going to be thin as the Flames try to get back on track. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Face Early Test Of Discipline In Seattle Rematch
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Mikael Backlund pointed to the obvious place the Flames need to clean up: discipline. For a team trying to settle into better habits, the message was less about tactics than about avoiding the kind of penalties that can drag a game off course before it ever really takes shape. Against Seattle, that means Calgary will need a sharper, more composed effort if it wants a different result this time around. [Read more 🡒]