The Vancouver Canucks’ crease is the kind of situation that can tilt a whole season, and heading into 2026-27, Nikita Tolopilo sits right in the middle of it. Vancouver has three NHL-caliber goalies on the depth chart - Thatcher Demko, Kevin Lankinen and Tolopilo - and the club’s next move may come down to what happens in training camp and the preseason. How Demko looks health-wise, and what general manager Ryan Johnson and head coach Manny Malhotra decide fits the rebuild best, will shape whether the Canucks keep all three or settle into a tighter tandem.
Tolopilo, the undrafted Belarusian, just finished a season that was split almost evenly between the American Hockey League and the NHL. He played 19 games in the AHL and 21 in the NHL, and the numbers weren’t pretty in either stop: a 3.07 goals-against average and .897 save percentage in the AHL, then a 3.61 GAA and .881 SV% in the NHL. Still, there were moments when he looked like a goaltender who could handle a full-time NHL role, even if he allowed three or more goals in 14 of his starts.
His strongest run came at the end of January. Tolopilo opened a stretch with three straight starts and gave up only four goals across them.
The Canucks’ offense didn’t do him many favors, so he came away with just one win. That run also included what could have been his first career shutout, except it became a team shutout when he had to leave for 2:11 of the second period under the league’s concussion protocol.
He was outstanding in the 2-0 win, turning aside 32 shots, but because Lankinen had to enter the game, the shutout didn’t belong to Tolopilo alone.
Then came another sharp outing against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 31, when he stopped 39 shots in a 3-2 shootout loss and turned away a penalty shot in overtime on Auston Matthews. After that, he went back to the AHL for a month before returning to the NHL for good.
From March through April, he appeared in 11 games and started eight, but the puck kept finding its way through. He had only one start in that span where he held the opposition under two goals, a 2-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on April 7.
He did close the year with a win, stopping 24 of 27 shots against the Ducks on April 12.
What happens next with Tolopilo is still unsettled. Vancouver could trade him, keep him as part of a three-goalie setup, or move one of the veterans instead.
The trade path looks like the likeliest one. Demko and Lankinen are both on timelines that don’t line up neatly with a rebuild, while Tolopilo does; he’s 26 and could fit as a tandem option with Aleksei Medvedev down the road.
There’s also the reality that NHL teams rarely make a three-goalie arrangement work for long, because it complicates playing time and uses a roster spot that could go to a skater.
For Tolopilo, the assignment is straightforward: show up to camp ready to push. If he does, he could force Vancouver to seriously consider moving one of its veteran goalies, or at the very least raise his trade value beyond a third-round pick. If he remains in Vancouver in a three-man rotation, the expectation doesn’t really change - he has to be ready whenever called and stay in the conversation as part of the organization’s future in net or as an asset on the market.
As for what 2026-27 might actually look like, it’s hard to pin down. If Tolopilo stays in Vancouver all season in a three-goalie arrangement, a range of 30-35 starts with numbers similar to 2025-26 feels like the most likely outcome.
If the new coaching staff tightens things up defensively, those numbers could improve. If he’s dealt, the workload could climb to 40-45 starts or more.
What doesn’t seem to be on the table is a waiver assignment to the AHL. He’ll either be wearing the Orca or playing somewhere else.
In Other News...
Canucks Rebuild Could Hinge On A Surprise Prospect Breakthrough
The Canucks have spent enough time in the draft looking for value beyond the headliners to know how much a rebuild can be shaped by the back half of a class. Kirill Kudryavtsev, Dmitry Ivchenko, Lucian Bernat and Anthony Romani all sit in that mid-to-late-round window where teams are usually hoping for one useful NHL player and maybe a little more if development breaks right. For Vancouver, those kinds of picks matter because they can quietly change the depth chart and help ease pressure on the bigger-name pieces the franchise is counting on.
What makes this stretch of draft classes interesting is that the Canucks do not necessarily need a miracle, just one prospect who outperforms his slot and forces the organization to rethink his ceiling. That is the sort of breakthrough other teams have used to accelerate a rebuild, and it is why these players are worth watching even if they are not the names grabbing the most attention right now. If one of them turns into a real contributor, the entire evaluation of Vancouvers recent drafting could look a lot different. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Could Add Camp Pressure Where Young Hopefuls Feel It Most
The Canucks have at least one more lever to pull as training camp approaches, and it is a familiar one: bringing in players on professional tryout deals to make the room a little tighter. Vancouver has used PTOs before, and the appeal this time is easy to see, with camp spots up for grabs and a need to keep pressure on young hopefuls while also looking for some extra depth on defense.
Even if the club decides not to hand out any more contracts to its remaining unrestricted free agents, there is still a sense that a PTO or two could make sense. Veterans such as Adam Boqvist, Ben Hutton, Jacob Moverare, Patrik Laine and Pavol Regenda have been floated as possible fits, but nothing has been signed yet, leaving the Canucks with a few different paths as they sort through the bottom of the roster. [Read more 🡒]