Chris Driedger’s path back to the NHL has never been tidy, and that’s exactly why the Canucks are taking a look.
The Vancouver club has brought in the 32-year-old goaltender on a pro tryout deal, giving him another crack at a league that has barely had a chance to see him in one place for long. Since his first NHL appearance with the Ottawa Senators on Mar. 25, 2015, Driedger has logged just 67 games, a number that feels smaller than the journey attached to it.
That first NHL cameo came when Andrew Hammond, “The Hamburglar,” had already given up five goals to the New York Rangers. Driedger came off the bench and stopped all 10 shots he faced in 23 minutes. After that, the work was mostly elsewhere: one more game for Ottawa in 2015-16, another in 2016-17, and long stretches in Belleville and Springfield of the AHL along with Brampton and Manchester of the ECHL.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Winnipeg native finally got a real opening with the Florida Panthers. He made the most of it immediately, posting a 27-save shutout against Nashville in his debut on Nov.
30, 2019. Across 35 games over two seasons with Florida, Driedger put up a .931 save percentage and a 2.07 goals-against average.
That kind of production caught Seattle’s attention, and the Kraken selected him in the 2021 expansion draft. In their inaugural season, Driedger set career highs with 27 games and 1,478 minutes, going 9-14-1. At 27, it looked like he’d found a place.
Instead, the next chapter turned brutal. While playing for Canada against Finland in the gold medal game of the 2022 IIHF World Championships, Driedger tore his ACL. Surgery was followed by eight months of rehab, and his return finally came with AHL Coachella Valley on Feb. 27, 2023, when he made 30 saves in a 4-3 overtime win over San Jose.
His return to the NHL was even more memorable. Back in Seattle’s net against the Flames in Calgary on Dec.
27, 2023, Driedger delivered a 37-save performance in a 2-1 Kraken win. It was his first NHL start since May 1, 2022, and he described the stretch afterward as “The most adversity I’ve ever faced in my career,” telling the Canadian Press, “It’s been a long road, lots of hours spent with the medical staff, putting in hours when the guys are skating and watching from the stands.
To finally get back in, it was pretty emotional.”
He also said, “I felt great, especially to do it here in Calgary. I’ve logged a lot of minutes here in my junior days. It was a long process, do the rehab, go to the minors, start this year in the minors, it’s a lot of adversity and it feels good to get this one.”
But Seattle had moved on. Joey Daccord had seized the chance to share the net with Philipp Grubauer, and Driedger no longer had a regular place. He played only one more game for the Kraken before heading back to the AHL, spending time with Florida and Winnipeg farm clubs while waiting for another NHL call that never came.
Last season took him to Russia, where he played 23 games for Chelyabinsk Traktor of the KHL before leaving last November. Now he’s back on the North Pacific coast after what he called “a long off-season.”
Speaking with The Province, Driedger framed the comeback in familiar terms. “It’s a bit of that underdog mentality for me.
I’ve always played my best with that underdog mindset. It’s not usually the smoothest transition to come back from Russia, and I knew it would probably be on a contract where I’d have to prove myself.”
With Thatcher Demko still working his way back, Driedger knows the door is open if he can force his way through it. “I’m good fighting for every opportunity.
I know what I’m capable of and it seems like there’s an opportunity with the Canucks. I’m excited to get things started.”
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